Learning to fly

Flight.

I’d heard it all before.

“Walk up to the edge, and look straight ahead. Don’t look down.”

“Just jump. Then you won’t have time to think.”

“It’s better to just go for it.”

But none of this advice did anything to quell my fears as I stood here on top of the world, looking deep into the dark abyss. And I’d already failed on all points hitherto advised.

What if I wasn’t ready?

“You’re going to ask yourself ‘What if I’m not ready?’ but I promise, you’re ready.”

“You just have to believe for a moment that you’ve done this a hundred times before.”

“The first time is always the scariest. There’s always something else you could do to prepare.”

I looked back over my shoulder, scraping my talons back from the edge of the cliff ever so slightly. I could see them standing there, shaking their heads. I’d been standing on the edge for close to twenty minutes now, with the same fretful thoughts passing through my head.

I’d never done this before.

“I know it’s scary but I promise, you’ll know what to do.”

“Once the air hits your wings--it’s like magic. Everything makes sense.”

“We’ve been doing this for millions of years. Do you think today will be the first time it doesn’t work?”

But what if it was?

I heard a rustle behind me, and then suddenly I was hit from behind. I scrambled for a hold down the side of the cliff as I fell toward the abyss, but I came away with talons full of pebbles. I spun round and round, shrieking in terror and betrayal with what I was sure would be my last breaths just before I hit the bottom.

The wind grabbed me and tossed me to and fro, back and forth, and I spun faster and faster. The wind caught my wings and ripped them away from my body, stretching them painfully and with much more force than I had ever felt before. I closed my eyes and prepared for impact.

But it never came.

The only thing I felt was gentle wind riffling through my feathers. What a glorious feeling! I never wanted it to stop. I shrieked again, this time victoriously rather than fearfully. I couldn’t believe I was actually doing it!

“Trust me, kid. Once you start you’ll never want to stop.”

“Flight is something else entirely.”

“You’ll regret every moment you stood there hesitating on the edge.”