Fearless Flying with Abbie Jones

'One, two, three…'

On the count of three, I would jump. It was a simple enough action. Nothing more than jumping off of a ledge. The wind would rush through my hair as I free fall towards the Earth. And then at some point, my parachute would open and I would float gently back to ground… hopefully. I took a deep breath and prepared myself for the leap of my life. My adrenaline was pumping and my heart was racing. It wouldn’t be long now until I jumped twenty thousand feet into the air and started free falling to the Earth.

I turned around and looked down at the small plane that was taking us up to altitude. The wind was blowing wildly and it looked like it was difficult for the pilot to keep the plane steady in such conditions. That didn’t bother me too much though; I had far more important things on my mind than worrying about turbulence in a light aircraft. As I took one last deep breath and prepared myself for the jump, a thought suddenly flashed through my mind: What if this was all just some elaborate prank? What if this wasn’t really going to be a skydive, but instead some kind of elaborate joke? This thought hit me so suddenly that it took me by surprise, but somehow it felt so real that I couldn’t shake it from my head. Maybe this whole thing wasn’t even real at all. Maybe somebody had tricked me into doing this!

But who could have done that? My closest friends were all standing right next to me; we had been planning this trip together for weeks now after all! So why would they have pulled a prank on me? They knew how afraid of heights I was! Could they have lied to me about everything? Were they secretly trying to get me killed? Or maybe something worse than killed? This thought sent shivers down my spine and made my stomach turn in knots. But no, that couldn’t be right either… this whole thing had been planned for weeks. They didn’t know about my fear of heights until recently when I finally told them… which meant that they couldn't have known ahead of time because they too would have been afraid themselves! No, there was no way they could have pulled off a scam like this…

My thoughts raced as fast as the wind blowing outside the plane but eventually calmed down enough to reach an answer: This wasn’t a prank; it couldn’t be! My friends weren’t monsters; they loved me too much to trick me into doing something so dangerous! This had been planned over weeks by all of us together to give me an experience of a lifetime! But wait… if this wasn’t fake and we weren’t lying then how did I get so anxious about it? Why did I think everything was going to go wrong? There wasn't anything wrong with skydiving; people did it regularly with absolutely no issue! There were no tricks or deceptions here… just good fun! So why did I get so worked up about it?!

My thoughts continued on in this manner for what seemed like ages before finally reaching their conclusion: It doesn't matter why you're scared; you'll never overcome your fears unless you take action anyways! You might not understand why you're scared or what makes you afraid, but that doesn't mean anything bad will happen! You'll find out soon enough anyways, so just go ahead and do it already! My anxiety finally subsided as these realizations hit home within me. Everything was going to be okay; nothing bad would happen today! With a smile on my face and confidence in my heart, I turned around and faced forward towards the horizon once more.

I counted down once more: ‘One... Two... Three...' On ‘Three,' I jumped off of the edge! The wind rushed past my ears as gravity took hold of me and pulled me towards whatever fate awaited me below...

Later that day, Abbie Jones found herself back at home after her thrilling skydiving adventure. She woke up from a nap on her couch and stretched her arms wide, yawning loudly. Satisfied, she got up from the couch and walked over to her kitchen countertop where several dishes lay covered in plastic wrap, waiting for her dinner tonight with her parents. Abbie's parents always enjoyed having dinner with their only daughter every night at six o'clock sharp as part of their daily routine. Tonight, they would be discussing her exhilarating experience skydiving with her friends.

Abbie had gotten home early that day because she hadn't slept well the previous night due to her excitement about the upcoming skydiving expedition. She knew that her father would arrive home around 5:30 PM and her mother around 6:15 PM. If one or both of her parents ever worked late, she would eat dinner alone, but they still cherished the opportunity to spend quality time together each day, sharing stories and bonding over their daily experiences. With a sense of accomplishment and newfound