I grab my sister’s hand and pull her towards the cliff edge with me. She nods slowly in my direction. Then we jump.

When I used to hear people say they’d seen their life flash before their eyes in moments of near death or extreme danger, I’d always rolled my eyes. The whole concept seemed silly to me. But as I hold tight to my sister’s hand and plummet towards the icy, angry sea below, I realize they were telling the truth.

I see myself at four years old, sitting in the sunlit garden beside my sister, smelling a bouquet of fresh roses. An image of myself at thirteen, running from a group of neighborhood boys. Another from when I was seventeen, looking into one of those very boys’ eyes as he tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. Like a roll of film spinning faster and faster, all my memories flash by in vivid color. Only when I hit the water does the movie go black.

I am free falling. My body feels almost weightless. I cannot tell which way is up or down, right or left. I cannot open my eyes._ I don’t want to fight anymore_. I drift away.

I awake to the sounds of the ocean. The soft lapping of waves caressing the shore, the call of gulls from somewhere near. I can feel sand beneath me, between my fingers and pressed into my cheek. Slowly, I open my eyes. It is far too bright out, and it takes several minutes before I am able to make out my surroundings.

I grab her hand And pull her Towards the cliff I’m looking down

I look at her She looks at me We both nod And jump

I look back quick To make sure it’s not there

It was The Rizzler He chased us here Chased us for Days Weeks Maybe even Months

My sister was screaming As we fell

We kept falling falling falling

SPLASH __ __ We hit the water It was cold Like ice

I looked up And realized How far we had dropped Had to be at least 10 feet maybe?

Above us was nothing Except The sky The clouds And The cliff

Lucky I saw no Rizzler He must’ve lost us When we jumped

We were finally SAFE!

I grab my sisters hand and pull her towards the cliff edge with me. She nods slowly in my direction. Then we jump, we both wanted this for a while to have our skulls crushed as we collide with the ground. As we fall our dresses fly through the wind wanting to go back to the way it was. As we get closer to the ground we see spikes that grew up from the ground, i close my eyes and squeeze my sisters hand then take one last final deep breath as the spikes went through my torso making my heart stop beating. Blood spurts out of my mouth as I twitch. My eyes flicker until the light goes out. I’m now in heaven but I don’t know where to go, I have an angel guide me through the long hallway until she pushes me through this apartment that I am going to be lonely in. I jump in the bed and never came out of the room. I slept until my soul vanished from heaven where I was nothing but the wind.

Flying feet first towards the waves. My grip on my sisters hand tightens as the preasure try’s to rip us apart. We tear through the air faster and faster. We hold our breaths as we’re both pulled under but we don’t slow. The water grips our ankles and throws us about as we get deeper and deeper.

Concrete breaks our fall. My sister lies flat on her front while I rush back to my feet. We don’t have the time. My hand finds the back of her shirt as I yank her up. she’s coughing up water and it mixes with the blood that trickles down her face. I can feel the wind teasing my exposed neck already. My fingers wrap around her wrist and I’m dragging her behind me as my feet lead the rest of my body. My knees buckle and I tumble. This time it’s her looping her hands under my arms to bring me back.

Too late.

The rapid rushes off air fall away and the hard road softens beneath me. Relief washes over my sister as she sits with a satisfied sigh. Running is so much better than what we’re about to experience.

“Tell me what went wrong.” Mothers voice calls from behind us. She has the recordings. Mother already knows every eye movement, every breath that came too fast or too slow, every tiny decision that cost us.

“We shouldn’t of ran… we should of hid or-“

“Not you my sweet girl.” Her hand came to rest on my shoulder behind me giving me a silencing pinch. “You.”

Silently my sisters eyes pleaded for help. “I should of reacted quicker?” She lacked confidence. No no no… don’t show weakness.

“Yes… and?” Mothers hand was tight on her chin forcing her to face her. When she didn’t get a reply in the form of words but instead a stranggle groan she tossed her face to one side. “Clean yourselfs up… we don’t share blood in this family.”

Then we jump. Off the cliff as gravity takes us down with all our weight pushing us towards the ground. My eyes are closed as I wonder of her. I hold her tight as much as able in hopes that I break her fall, but to freedom we shall escape.

“ Huh? Did we land?” Her voice sounds.

I find myself also in the depths of confusion, opening my eyes. I look down noticing a clear fabric supporting our weight in the air. “Have we been saved?” I question in disappointment.

After looking away for a quick glance at what surrounds me, nature, I look back to the fabric yet, it’s disappeared as if never existed. I realize my sister is no longer in my arms as I see her at a distance. I look to her feet as they cast a shadow upon the ground..

I am in a laying position, and so I stand. I am above the ground as well.

Suddenly a ring filled with darkness appears as twinkling lights are blotched across it. Some appearing brighter and bigger than others. I have thoughts to enter it. My sister swims through the air rushing toward the hole.

“Wait !!” I shout. She stops looking toward me with an expression of confusion. Then suddenly her expression changes to a feeling of contentment, wisdom, and peace as if she knows something I don’t.

“ I’m going back home. Make your decision where you want to linger”she expresses with a smile. I felt her warmth and thus her trust. Wherever she goes I go, regardless of where we end up. I’ve always been her older sister and so her acts surprise me yet impress me as I’m proud. She begins toward the hole and as her body vanishes within it, I rush toward her hanging arm, grabbing ahold of her hand.

We are the stars, and we are at peace. Above and around the Earth, we see all. Our bodies have returned their contents of dust and water, as our souls swim throughout the fabrics of space.

I grab my sister's hand and pull her towards the cliff edge with me. She nods slowly in my direction. Then we jump.

I jolt awake. My heart races and sweat drips down my face. Pure adrenaline courses through my veins. That dream. It felt so real.

The clock says 4:12 a.m. Just one more hour until my alarm goes off. But there is no way I'm going back to sleep after that.

I pull my thick covers off and step onto the cold floor of my apartment. I pad over to the bathroom and turn on a light. It looks like I just ran a marathon. My hair is drenched. No, more than drenched, it looks like I just went swimming. Or jumped off a cliff into the turbulent waters below.

My sister's face comes back into view. Her face was so vivid, so real. Like she was back here, with me. Where she belongs.

But that's impossible. Because my sister has been missing for nearly a decade.

I splash water on my face, hoping that will snap me back to reality. But no luck.

I focus on myself in the mirror. My big green eyes stare back. The same eyes that my sister and I shared. I scream and smash my fist into the mirror. It shatters and shards of glass clatter to the floor.

Tears flow freely down my face as I crumple to the ground. It wasn't fair. She was gone, I am here. And it's all my fault. I couldn't save her.

“We have to go!” I yelled to my little sister. “But why?” She cried. “I will explain in the way.”I said, as I grabbed my sisters wrist and ran with her just barely keeping up. “Who were those guys that broke into our house?” I ignored my sisters questions, they could wait until I made sure she was safe. I ran towards the forest, figuring it was the safest place to hide. Once we were deep in the woods, I hid us behind a very large tree, hoping that no one would see us. “Who were those guys?” My little sister asked again. “Mom and Dad…aren’t who you think they are.” I said slowly, trying hard not to freak my sister out. “What do you mean?” She asked quietly, hardly audible. “I mean…Mom and Dad, got tangled into some pretty dark stuff. I over heard them fighting the other night about how they never should’ve made the deal, because now they were putting us in danger and hadn’t fully considered that.” “What did they get into?” “They started selling illegal drugs, and got with dangerous people. They told those people that they were no longer comfortable with the situation, so those guys are going after them…and now us too. That’s why we moved to a different city, trying to run from those guys. But they found us.” A tear slide down my pale cheeks as I saw my sisters hurt and confused face, but she needed to know the whole truth, so I took a deep breath and continued, “Mom and Dad talked to me a few weeks ago when we moved here and they told me that if anything happened, to forget them and protect you. I just didn’t realize they would find us so fast.” My sister was silent for a while, leaving me to only guess the things going on in her mind. Then she finally asked, “What does any of this have to do with us?” “Because they use us to get to Mom and Dad.” I was going to say more, but then I heard voices. They were the voices that belonged to those horrible men. “Over there!” One shouted and when I looked they were running towards us with angry faces. “Quick!” I shouted as I jumped to my feet and grabbed me sisters hand and pulled her along with me. It felt like we ran for miles, which we probably did, until we reached a cliff. “No where to run now girls.” The other said, with a terrifying smile spread across his face. “What did you do to our parents?” Shouted my little sister. I covered my sisters mouth, for I feared that if either of us talked to them, they would some how find a way to hurt us. “They’re dead!” They started laughing making me want to lunge at them. But I didn’t, for my sisters sake. They kept walking closer and closer to us, until we were finally at the very end of the cliff. They tried to grab us, but I was 10 steps ahead of them. I grabbed me sisters hand tightly, and jumped off the cliff, missing their hands by mere seconds. We fell and fell and fell, until we hit a pool of deep water. We swam to the land, and I knew a little town, about 50 miles north. When we got there, the people welcomed us and let us live there. Even swore to protect us.

“I don’t know about this.” Maisie looks uncomfortable but follows me nevertheless.

We pick our way through the worn trail, littered with uneven rocks. “I do. I want this.”

I’m ready now. I wasn’t ready, before, but now I understand that I have to do it.

The trampled dirt gives way to craggy ground and the drop off comes into view. A stab of uncertainty hits me for the first time. But I push it down, because I’m doing this. I’m doing this for my sister.

Maisie looks over at me with a steady gaze. “You’re sure?”

I meet her eyes, and it’s the only answer that we need. We’re doing it together.

I grab my sister’s hand and pull her towards the cliff edge with me. She nods slowly in my direction. Then we jump.

And we fall. Together. My stomach drops out of my body, raging instincts try desperately to reverse time, to throw me back on top of that cliff.

But I did it.

The past few months that have been like hell will never hurt me again.

I did it.

The crying, the condolences, the funeral. They will never have mattered.

I did it.

In the split second that I am still alive, I leave behind the day that my sister died.

I grab my sister’s hand and pull her towards the cliff edge with me. She nods slowly in my direction. Then we jump. The sensation of free falling might have been thrilling if i hadn’t been so terrified. It was still only a short fall into soft mud, so it didn’t do much damage. To me at least. As soon as we fell i heard my sister scream in pain, and she started to cradle her arm. But that was it. It was over. No one would follow us over, because no one knew what we knew. That the cliif edge was an illusion, set up to let us escape. That the fall was only about four feet off the ground. Right now they were seeing our bodies on the cliff face and wondering if we were crazy. But we weren’t. Not all the way at least.

I got up quickly and tried to force her to do the same. We should hurry before they sent someone to collect our bodies and discovered we were alive. We probably still had a few hours before they sent anyone, but i wanted to put as much space between us and them as possible. My sister was still kneeling on the ground cradling her arm, but it only took her another minute to get up. After that we walked quickly and in silence back to the base. I had no idea what to tell them. We had almost gotten caught and lost what we came here for in the first place, they would definitely be mad once they saw our memories. But we had no choice. We had to get them the atlas, it was the only one left. If it was destroyed then they would be the only ones with a map of the world, and the resistance would win. We couldn’t have that.

_Lena had always been the one to push the limits, the one to find the edge and stare down into the abyss just to see if she could fly. Her younger brother, Eli, was the opposite. Quiet. Cautious. He had a way of looking at the world as though everything was a riddle, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to find the answers. But today was different. The sun hung low in the sky, casting a golden glow over the edge of the world. They had wandered far from their usual hiking trail, climbing up jagged rocks and weaving through trees, until they reached the spot. The cliff. It was a place Lena had discovered months ago, a place so high that it felt like standing on the edge of everything — the earth, the sky, even time itself. Below them, the valley stretched out like a patchwork quilt, the river winding like a silver thread through the trees. The wind was cool, tugging at their hair and the hems of their clothes. "I've been waiting for you to get here," Lena said, her voice calm but with a hint of something more — something reckless. Eli stood a few feet behind her, his feet planted firmly on the ground. His hands were shoved deep into the pockets of his jacket, eyes narrowed against the wind. "I don’t think I like it here," he said quietly. "It’s too high." Lena grinned, the expression lighting up her face, making her look older than her sixteen years. "That’s the point, Eli. It’s perfect. It’s the closest you can get to flying without leaving the ground." Eli looked down, his stomach lurching as he saw the sheer drop beneath them. It made his legs feel unsteady. He swallowed, trying to push the tightness in his chest away. He wanted to trust her — he always did. But this felt different. This felt like it might be the one time she was asking him to go too far. "Lena," he said, voice shaky, "what if we fall? What if we...?" "We won’t fall." She cut him off, her voice firm. "Trust me. I’ve done this a thousand times." Eli’s brow furrowed. "You’ve done what a thousand times? Jumped off cliffs?" Lena didn’t answer at first. Instead, she took a step closer to the edge, peering over it as if there was nothing at all strange about it. Her feet dangled over the side, the wind tugging at her loose hair. Eli felt his heart beat faster, the fear twisting inside him. He knew his sister. She always found ways to push him, to show him something new, something that would make him feel alive. But this? This was different. “I’m not going to let you fall, Eli,” Lena said, turning back to him. She smiled, and in that smile, Eli could see something wild, something dangerous — but also something he couldn’t resist. He wanted to know what it felt like to be free. To be like Lena. Without warning, she jumped. The wind howled as she leapt into the air, her body flying for a split second before disappearing into the treetops below. Eli gasped, a strangled sound that escaped his throat. The space where she had been was empty now, and he was left with nothing but the terrifying silence and the thumping of his own pulse in his ears. For a moment, everything was still. Then, a soft thud echoed up from below. Lena’s voice, distant but clear, called up to him. "I’m okay! You coming or what?" Eli stood frozen, staring at the place where his sister had just vanished, his thoughts spinning. What had she done? How could she jump off the edge like that? His heart raced, his palms slick with sweat. He was scared. He was terrified. But deep down, beneath the fear, something stirred. A spark. Maybe it was the rush of freedom that Lena had always promised. Maybe it was the understanding that, somehow, this was a moment. A single point in time where everything could change. He took a deep breath. Then, without thinking, he stepped forward. Closer to the edge. His feet met the rough, cold stone, and for a second, he felt weightless, like he could almost hear the sky calling to him. He could hear Lena’s laughter rising from below, pulling him, urging him, and he knew that this was the moment. And then he jumped. For a breathless moment, Eli was falling, the wind rushing past him, the ground a blur below. His heart pounded, every nerve alive, as if the whole world had stopped just to watch him fly. His stomach churned, but it wasn’t fear anymore — it was freedom. He landed, rolling on the soft earth, tumbling to a stop beside Lena. She was already on her feet, grinning like a madwoman, her hair wild and tangled. "You did it!" she exclaimed, grabbing his arm and pulling him up. Eli blinked, still feeling the aftershocks of the jump vibrating through his limbs. He had done it. He had actually jumped. He looked at his sister, her face shining in the fading sunlight, and something inside him clicked. It wasn’t about the jump. It wasn’t even about the fear. It was about the trust. The knowing that, somehow, she had always been there to catch him. Even when she was pushing him to the edge. "Okay," he said, his voice hoarse but with a new kind of clarity, "what’s next?" Lena laughed and clapped him on the back. "Now? Now we find something even crazier." And they ran off together, the edge of the world behind them, the sky stretched wide above, and the ground at their feet solid and true, holding them up. _