“Dad! Hurry up… open your parachute! NO!!!”  The sounds of her desperate screams work her up.  She had the nightmare again.  This was about the fifteenth time she’d woken up in a cold sweat after attempting to fall asleep.  Christie had stopped counting after ten.  Her big brown eyes were wide as she panted and clutched her pounding heart.  She glanced at the clock.  3:56 A.M.  She hadn’t been able to get a full night sleep for the past month.

            “Great,” Christie thought to herself, “and I have a huge chem test today.”  She flopped back down on her pillow and stared at the ceiling.  At least she hadn’t thrown herself off the bed this time during her nightmare.  She rubbed the scar on her knee where she had scraped it on the bed frame the last time she fell.

            As she lay there trying to fall asleep, all she could think about was the dream: She’s looking out over the lake behind her old house when she sees her father, tumbling from the sky as though he was an unwanted piece of trash that was just cast aside.  She tries to run around the lake to catch him, but she can’t seem to run fast enough.  Her legs are like lead as she helplessly witnesses his fall.  “Dad! No!!” she screams, arms outstretched and tears flying off her face.  A white sheet falls over her eyes just before he reaches the ground, and she wakes up.

            Why did she beg her father to take her up in the plane that horrible day one year ago?  Why did the engine have to malfunction while they were soaring through the air at 20,000 feet? Why was her parachute the only one to open?

            They had gone through the vital inspection beforehand, but she guessed that fate had other plans.  A life filled with fear and nightmares.  A life of lost dreams and broken families.  No matter how hard she tried to run away from her past, it never seemed to leave her alone.  Her mom had thought that moving to a new place would help them to start anew.  They had moved away from their old life.  Away from the place that pulled at the their heartstrings every time they’d drive by.  Away from the accident.  But it still wasn’t good enough.  Christie’s fear of heights and flying stayed with her wherever she went.  She missed the feelings of exhilaration and freedom she experienced when she was up in the air.  But how could she overcome the sheer terror of falling helplessly from the sky?

            Well, for one, his name was Dominic.

*  *  *

            Christie woke up two hours later, eager to get to school and see Dominic, the only person who she felt truly understood her.  He was everything anyone could ever want in a boyfriend: sweet, funny, cute, sensitive, caring.  Even those words were not enough.  She didn’t’ believe in love at first sight, but the moment she saw him on her first day of school, everything around her came to complete standstill.  Nothing moved except the beating of her heart, and she could swear she felt the beating of his.  When their eyes met, she knew that he was the one.  The one to save her from her downward spiral.  It was as though he was sent to fill the empty void created by her father’s death.  Christie had no idea where she’d be without him.

            As Christie pulled into the senior parking lot, she spotted Dominic sitting on the bench in front of the school garden.  She would notice his light strawberry blonde hair anywhere.  He sat with a pensive look in his bright blue eyes as he scribbled in his journal, oblivious to the world around him.  Except her.  As Christie approached him with an eager smile on her face, he quickly looked up and returned her smile with his own.

            “Hey sweetheart,” Dominic said as he embraced her.

            “Hi,” Christie chimed lovingly as she nuzzled her face into his shoulder.  She stood there for a while, holding onto him as long as she could as he stroked her hair.  “I had the dream again,” she said faintly.

            Even though her words were muffled Dominic knew what she was saying.  He gave a sigh and looked her in the eyes: the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen.  “Aw honey, is this ever gonna stop?  I hate seeing you like this, always coming into school drowsy and upset.  A girl as beautiful as you shouldn’t look so sad.”

            “I know, I know,” she repeated shaking her head as her cheeks blushed from the sweet compliment.  “I just…can’t seem to get over it.  It’s been a year and I still can’t get over it.  How pathetic is that?” she exclaimed angrily, shaking Dominic out of frustration, maybe a bit too hard.

            “Hey, hey, hey, calm down,” he said soothingly.  “You’re not pathetic.  You’re the most amazing person I know, and the strongest.  Getting over your fears takes time.  Little baby steps, remember?”  He kissed her on the cheek, his soft lips filling her whole body with comfort and warmth.

            “I guess so,” Christie sighed, giving him a faint smile.  He always knew the right things to say to cheer her up.

            “So speaking of baby steps,” Dominic remarked, “how about you and I hike up to Elm’s Rock this weekend.  We can work on your fear of heights there.  We hiked it once before, and you did great.  I’ll even pack us a picnic.”  H bit his lip in hopes she would say yes.

            “I don’t know,” Christie said shakily.  Elm’s Rock was at the top of a mountain with steep cliffs along parts of the trail.  Her heart had pounded harder and harder as they had climbed higher and higher, but once had Dominic left her side.  She remembered a great sense of accomplishment when she reached the top.  “Do you promise to hold my hand the whole way and stay clear away from the edge?” she asked.

            “I promise,” Dominic reassured her.  “And I’m sure if it came down to it, you’d be able to overcome your fears if you desperately needed to.  I mean, you used to love flying.  That has to buried in you somewhere.  Passions like that don’t just disappear.”

            “I hope you’re right,” Christie said.

            Just then the bell rang.

            “Thanks for being so wonderful,” said Christie.  She kissed Dominic goodbye and headed off to her first period class, wondering if she’d be able to stay awake the rest of the day.

*  *  *

            Saturday rolled around, and Christie was both anxious and excited to meet up with Dominic.  He pulled into the driveway and picked her up.  She brought along her backpack, water bottle, hat, and coat.  It was a beautiful day out, and when they reached the trail to Elm’s Rock, there was no one else there.  The thought of being alone with Dominic in the peace and quiet made her smile.

            They stepped out of the car and headed for trail, hand in hand.  Christie closed her eyes and took in a deep breath as she prepared herself for the hike ahead.

            “It’s alright, Christie,” she thought to herself.  “He won’t let you anywhere near the edge.  Just relax.”

            But the thought of falling off the cliffs stuck in the back of her mind.  She squeezed Dominic’s hand a little tighter.

            “It’s okay,” he assured her when he felt her change in grip.

            As they walked, they only sounds to be heard were the sound of their voices, the crunch of leaves beneath their feet, and the wind rustling through the trees.  The autumn breeze flowed through Christie’s chestnut hair, almost blowing her hat off.

            Dominic walked on the outside constantly aware of the distance he kept from the edge.  The trail was rocky and clad with tree roots, so their eyes were constantly fixed on the ground.  They hiked for about forty-five minutes until they reached their destination.

            Elm’s Rock was a huge boulder that sat at the edge of a cliff at the very top of the mountain.  The rock was covered in signatures and graffiti form previous hikers.  On the bottom right of the boulder was a heart drawn around the letters DG + CF.

            Dominic pulled out a blanket from his backpack and laid it on a fairly flat patch of dirt.  He then took out two sandwiches ad a thermos filled with hot chocolate.

            “I packed your favorite,” he said.  “Peanut butter and marshmallow.”

            Christie tried to say, “Thank you,” but was cut short.  A huge gust of wind came swooping down over them.  Before Christie could secure her hat, it blew off and headed straight for Elm’s Rock.  Christie stayed where she was, afraid to go anywhere near the boulder.

            “I’ll get it,” exclaimed Dominic.

            He quickly ran toward the rock so he could catch her hat before it was swept away over the ledge, paying no attention to the ground beneath him.  He reached out his hand to grab the hat from the air.  Suddenly, he tripped.  Christie watched in horror as he stumbled over the ledge.

            Without thinking, Christie hurtled toward the ledge, careful not to trip over the same tree root that had claimed Dominic.  She fell to her knees and looked down over the edge.  Her stomach did a somersault and possibly a cartwheel as well.  Fear surged through her veins, and every inch of her body went numb.  Her biggest fear was staring her right in the face.  Through her state of shock, she saw Dominic, lying on his stomach.  It looked as though some nearby tree branches had broken his fall, but he wasn’t moving.

            “He’s unconscious,” she thought.  “I know it.”

            She couldn’t’ explain how she knew.  Through all the terror and trauma she could feel a strong connection toward him, and it was telling her that he wasn’t dead.

            She opened her mouth to scream for help, but no words came out.  It was like someone had pushed the off button on her voice.  It was hard to breathe and her heart was pounding a thousand miles a minute, but she couldn’t leave him down there alone.  She had to get to him.  She had to be with him, and there was no other way but to climb down.

            The very thought of climbing down forty feet was almost unbearable.  As she looked down form her high perch, she could feel the world spinning beneath her, as though it was trying to throw her of the edge and have her meet the same fate as her father.

            “No, no, I can’t.  I can’t!” the voice inside her screamed.

            Her hands were trembling as she covered her eyes.  Tears stained her face as she sat there in fear, not knowing what to do.  She slowly looked up from her hands.  Through her tears, she saw Dominic’s limp body.

            Suddenly, something inside her snapped.  She knew she had to go down, and nothing, not even her fear, was going to stop her form getting to him.  She had a chance to save him.  She wasn’t helpless like before, and there was no way she was going to lose a second love.

            She swung her leg over the edge and began to scale down the cliff.  She put everything she had into every step.  All her nightmares and sleepless nights, all the pain she had endured, all her anger toward the accident, and all her love for Dominic, and for her father.

            Not once did she slip.  Although it seemed like an eternity, Christie kept willing herself to go on.  “Dominic needs me,” she kept reminding herself, each step becoming stronger than the first.  Finally, her feet hit bottom.  She paused for a second, looked up, and let out a long sigh; a sigh that had held her fears for the past year and was finally set loose.  Something told her that she would never that nightmare again.  Her dreams of flying had been restored.  She was free.

            Christie knelt down next to Dominic and stroked his hair.

            “Dominic?” she whispered softly in his ear.

            Dominic slowly opened his eyes.  When he saw her, he gave her a weak smile.

            “Don't worry,” she said, “everything will be okay.”

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