The Deep

by Nick Cutter

But that’s the thing about percentages—no matter how small, they’ve got to affect someone, right?

How can a rational man run away from a basement? How could he admit that he was illogically frightened of nothing?

He felt nothing but an ineffable hopelessness—which in its way was so much worse than fear.

People think it’s about winning and losing, sport, Luke told him, because he could tell his son was upset. About winning, mainly. But that’s not it. It’s about the trying. The not-giving-up. We’re all going to lose. So it’s about losing and going on, keep going on, even though you may lose again and again. You may never win, buddy, not at some things. So it’s about working as hard as you can, every day, to find your spot on the mountain. And then it’s about being okay with where you are so that you can get some enjoyment out of that, and out of the things in life that are more important than whatever place you end up on that silly old mountain, anyway.