“I am really tired today.”

“Hello young man. Tired? Well, what time did you go to sleep?”

“A bit after 8.”

“That’s early.”

“Yeah. I just woke up.”

“You slept that long and you are still tired?”

“Yep.”

“That is pretty normal around here. Are you sick to your stomach?”

“Not anymore than usual.”

“That is a good thing. Was years before I was not throwing up after every meal. I think I just had to get so tired that my body didn’t have enough energy to convulse.”

“Are you scared?”

“Not really. Had a long time to think about it. You?”

“Sometimes yeah. I feel like I am pulled between wanting to fight and wanting the symptoms to stop. But I never want it to end.”

“You will get there. We all get to know the worst parts of ourselves here.”

“How long have you been here?”

“I am setting some records. You?”

“A week ago I had an upset stomach. Today I am here.”

“No wonder you are scared.”

“I heard there is only one way out of this place.”

“You looking for hope kid? I have never seen anybody leave out the front, but there stuff like that cannot last forever and it hasn’t happened for sure in a really long time.”

“Thanks for trying.”

“Why don’t you lie down for a while?”

“I can’t. I can’t sleep unless my dad sings me a song. He always sings me a song so I can go to sleep.”

“You wait up for him then. Keep doing that sort of stuff. It might be the only thing that reminds you that you are still alive.”

“Yeah. I am still alive, but for how long.”

“Nobody can say that for certain.”

“My doctor gave me 4 to 6 weeks.”

“That is tough. Mine told me 2 to 3 weeks.”

“I’ll race you?”

“What?”

“I will race you. First one out of here wins.”

“I don’t know if I can do that.”

“I always used to race my friends. You want to be my friend.”

“Sure.”

“Then I’ll race you.”

“I don’t know if I am comfortable with that.”

“What do we have to loose? Come on. I’ll race you.”

“Okay kid. I’ll race you. What are we wagering?”

“I will wager my Dwayne Wade basketball card. You?”

“I have a baseball card from when I was a kid. I will wager that.”

“Sweet. First one out of this place gives his card to the other. I will make sure to tell my dad. Who can you tell?”

“I don’t have anyone to tell son. Maybe you should hold on to both of them just in case.”

The old man stumbled away and shortly returned carrying a wooden box in his hands.

“Here you are son. Don’t keep it here though. Send it home with your dad.”

“Why?”

“Look at the card.”

The box’s hinges creaked.

“Who is Babe Ruth?”

“Well, how would you like it if I told you a story?”

“I would like that a lot.”

“Good. Now climb into your bed and I will tell you about the birth of baseball and the greatest player who ever played the game.”

“Where will you go?

You don’t have any money. You can barely take care of a dog let alone yourself.”

“There where only has to be not here.”

“I admit I am jealous of your fight but I just don’t think it is prudent.”

“Is it any less prudent then staying somewhere you don’t want to be?”

“I know it can be bad here, maybe even hell at times but I don’t think that is a sound reason to jump ship. Nobody voluntarily dives overboard during a storm.”

“Unless the boat is sinking and they think they have a shot at land. I know you don’t see it but I am dying here. I have to make a run for it. I have to try.”

“I know but…”

“Yeah. Nothing makes much sense. I guess that to me this is the thing that makes the most sense. Or maybe it is just the only shot at sense I can see.”

“I can’t go with you.”

“I am not asking you to.”

“But you know I cannot stand this place without you. And if you didn’t want me to go why did you tell me so far in advance.”

“Because you need to leave just as badly as I need to. You just cannot see it. I am hoping that you can work up the courage before its time.”

“How does someone like me work up courage?”

“By seeing everything there is to leave from and realizing that there is no limit to where leaving can take us.”

“You are asking me to look at the worst of this place and the best of leaving. What about looking at the best of this place and the worst of leaving?”

“I always figured you did enough of that for the both of us.”

“I am scared.”

“Of what?”

“Making a wrong decision.”

“Do you remember why we are together?” he said as he looked intently at the blank wall.

“We are a smart fit dear. Both of us are heads of our own companies in the literary field.” She quickly answered her phone.

“A smart fit? That seems so depressing. Who wants to be smart when it comes to love?”

“Who wants to be a fool when it comes to anything? And please don’t start again with that melodramatic “there’s more to life” speech. You gave it to me last week so this should be my week off.”

“We should go somewhere. Just take off for a while and do something random and completely stupid.” His eyes sparkled with the thought of adventure.

“You mean stupid other than entertaining these ideas? You know we cannot go anywhere. I have two important launch dates and you have a board session to prepare for.”

“Why did we start our own businesses?”

“Because everyone else was doing it wrong and we could do it better.”

“I thought I started it so I could afford to do things I wanted to do.”

“And you can afford to do anything you want to do but just not today.”

His gaze lifted for a moment to the woman standing next to him. She was very attractive physically, thin with ample curves to entice a second stare but he could barely stomach looking at her. She summed up the captivity of his own life. His eyes shot out of the window and across the street.

“You’re selling this place?” he said to a woman as she placed a small for sale sign in the window of a small street level apartment in the river district. It had only been one day since he ran into her.

“Yeah. You interested in buying it?” she asked in a friendly tone.

“I don’t know. I am kind of interested and kind of not.”

“Well don’t jerk me around about it or anything.” She laughed as she pulled her hair back into a pony tail.

She was intoxicatingly beautiful and not just her slender figure. There was a wildness in her eyes, a passion that stirred even his wearied soul.

“What could possibly make you give up this place?” It reminded him of the dreams he once harbored as a boy of living the wanderers’ life.

“I know. It seems foolish to give up something good but maybe there is something better out there, a horizon I haven’t seen yet that could offer me hopes I could never have otherwise had.”

Who talked like that he wondered.

“So you are going to give up a little slice of heaven for a chance at something mystical and unseen? That doesn’t seem to make much sense.”

“Why doesn’t it?” She asked almost defensively. “Why does it need to?”

“I don’t know.”

He started to walk away then turned to find her watching him as he left.

“Can I ask you one thing?”

“By all means.” She responded with a slight blush.

“What do you think you will find?”

“I don’t have any idea. That’s the point. But maybe if I can peel back the cover that stretches across my own horizon I could finally see.”

“See what.”

“Everything.”

“Get up and get ready to go.”

The voice was harsh and it drew him back from the quite recess of his memory.

“If you don’t get up and get ready you are going to be late for your board conference.”

She was met with only a blank stare. He hadn’t returned from the river district yet, not wholly returned at least.

“You have two choices. You can either keep setting there or get up. You can either live your life or not.”

With that she turned and left the room.

She was right. He had the choice.

He got up from his chair and pulled on a pair of pants and a jacket. He was going to live his life. Just not this one.

As his feet hit the pavement he knew he would never see her again. She would hate him, but he just needed a horizon that he could peel away.