**_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.

_**