The Last Rung on the Ladder
"The Last Rung on the Ladder" is a short story by Stephen King, first published in King's 1978 collection Night Shift. Plot summary Larry discovers his estranged sister, Kitty, has committed suicide. He recounts a fateful day, when the two were children playing in their family's barn in rural Nebraska. With their parents not home, they play a forbidden game, taking turns climbing to the top of a ladder in their barn and leaping off into a haystack. The ladder is old and unsafe, but that is part of the thrill. On his last turn, Larry realizes that the ladder is on the point of letting go. By the time he lands in the hay, Kitty is already climbing up again. The ladder breaks, leaving her clinging to the last rung. Larry piles hay below her. When Kitty cannot hang on any longer, he tells her to let go, and she does. The hay breaks Kitty's fall and saves her life, leaving her with only a broken ankle. Larry is astonished when Kitty tells him that she hadn't looked down before letting go, so she didn't know about the hay. She had simply trusted him to save her. Kitty grows