The buzzing sound of the alarm clock was the reminder that today was the day that Josh and I would be going rock climbing. As I drew back the bedroom curtains all I could see was the blazing sun in the sky. I’ve been looking forward to this day since we had planned it. As I looked down at the car I could see Josh packing the car up with the gear we needed for the climb. I had packed sandwiches, cliff cars, and bottles of water for the day ahead of us.

As Josh and I were climbing up the cliff I could see that Josh was getting tired. I told Josh,

“Why don’t you take a break for a little while?” I watched as he climbed up over the ledge.

“Hey Josh watch this!” I yelled as I was grappling down the edge of the jagged cliff. I always loved taking risks. I’ve gone sky diving, bungee jumping, and now rock climbing. Josh and I have been dating for quite some time now. While I was gliding down the cliff the red rope that was keeping me there kept getting longer and longer. I was getting farther and farther down. As I looked up at Josh and saw his expression he looked petrified.

“Annie,” Josh said, “please be careful!” I just smiled and looked up at him and said,

“I always am!” Josh had short dark brown hair, and blue eyes that could make your heart stop. He sat there watching the bright blue sky. I yelled up at Josh,

“Hey you should come back down here with me again!” When he looked down the cliff all he could see was the rushing river, and the great pine trees below. We were 1,000 feet off the ground. Josh said,

“I don’t feel so good so I think I’ll just stay up here for a little while.” Since he isn’t going to join me I’ll just come and sit with him.

“Help me back onto the ledge,” I asked Josh. I decided to take a little break on the rocky ledge with Josh and enjoy the marvelous view. The day had been going fantastic with all the climbing and site seeing we had been doing. I looked over to Josh and said,

“I think I might start to climb even higher.” That’s when everything started to go all wrong. A landslide of rocks started to tumble down to where we were sitting. The rocks knocked me of the ledge dangling me by my rope and harness. I looked up and saw that the rope was starting to break apart. Also, I could only see clouds of smoke from all of the rocks that had just fell.

“Josh,” I yelled, “can you hear me!”

“Josh!” I thought that Josh was either knocked out cold or was killed by the landslide. Panic started to overcome me as I was dangling off the cliff. I knew that I wasn’t going to make it. There was no way I was going to be able to pull myself up without the help of Josh. I could feel the blood trickle down the side of my face. It was sticking to the hairs that were now sitting in front of my face. I screamed to Josh,

“Josh, can you hear me?!” I was grasping the ledge and I knew that the rope was going to break at any moment. I tried to imagine my life back at home if I did somehow manage to pull myself back onto the ledge. I didn’t even know if Josh was dead or alive. I surely wouldn’t go back and live in the same apartment we lived in. Who would I share my morning coffee with? No matter if we both live or one of us lives life wouldn’t be the same. Surely Josh would have some sort of injury to his head. Minutes that felt like hours had gone by and I knew that Josh wasn’t going to help me back up. I thought that I could try to swing my right leg onto the ledge only to smash it into the side of the rocks. This left an irritating pain in my leg. I tried to swing my leg up again only to do the same thing. Just then I heard a faint sound come from above me,

“Annie, where are you?” It was Josh!

“Josh I’m down here,” I screamed. I couldn’t believe that Josh was Alive and now he could save me from falling to my death. I said,

“Josh I need you to pull me up,” “I don’t know how much longer I can hold on.”

“Annie I don’t think I will be able to save you,” Josh sobbed, “my legs are pinned under a massive boulder, and I can’t get my legs out from under it.” I didn’t know what to say. I said up to Josh,

“Can you move your arms?” Maybe he would be able to get into his backpack and get out the extra rope we had packed.

“Yes,” Josh said. Josh knew that with every second wasted that Annie’s grip became looser. I yelled up to Josh,

“Find the backpack that we packed and find the rope inside of it.” As Josh looked around he yelled down to me,

“Annie I think the backpack was knocked off the ledge during the landslide.” I didn’t know what to say. I lost all of my hope then. I knew I wasn’t going to make it back. “Josh,” I said, “I know that our time together will be short.”

“Don’t say that,” Josh said, “You will make it. You are strong and I know that you can pull yourself back up.

“Josh I’ve already tried,” I said, “it’s no use I can’t make it back onto the ledge without your help.” I knew that I only had minutes left remaining until I fell to my death.

Just when I thought I was going to make it back to the ledge in time a huge boulder ascending and hit me. I fell. The last thing I remember is seeing the horror in Josh’s eyes.

The next thing I know I’m in my bed and I’m breathing heavily and sweat is pouring down my face. It was only a nightmare! I jumped out of bed and raced to the window to see Josh packing the car for our rock climbing adventure. I have to tell him what happened in my dream.

“Josh,” I said, “I need to tell you something extremely important.”

“Okay,” said Josh, “what is it?” I told Josh,

“I had this nightmare last night and we were on our great adventure today, there was a landslide. I’m very frightened about it actually happening. I fell because I was off of the ledge, and you couldn’t help because you were wedged under a boulder.” Josh just stood there and said nothing.

“Well,” I said, “I don’t think that we should go today. Do you think that we should still go?” He still just stood there looking at me like I was crazy. He said,

“It was just a dream. You were probably thinking about it too much before you went to bed last night, which caused you to have a nightmare.” I told Josh,

“Well if you want to go then fine go ahead without me I’m not having my nightmares come true.” I stood there looking at Josh as he finished packing the car I knew that he wouldn’t listen to me. I told Josh,

“I can’t believe that you are still going to do this. Doesn’t my nightmare frighten you?”

“No it doesn’t,” Josh said. I gave him one last hug before he left I knew that I might not see him again. I had that feeling that something bad was going to happen and I didn’t want to be a part of it.