The sky was as dark as the drop below me, and it seemed that a spotlight shone on this cliff that I was standing on. I tried to swallow the terror that encroached upon me by breathing deeply, clenching my fists, and willing myself to be fearless. I glanced back into the dark again, hoping for a light to appear. 

And suddenly, I saw a hallowing of gentle warmth below me, and the dark cliff caved beneath the weight of the joy, sending me plummeting soundlessly downward. I landed on sandy beaches, tense until I felt the texture of the sand, commemorating the gentle memories of the past. And as I looked around, I realized that a river had lain beneath the cliff the entire time, and I presumed it had three parts. I stood here in the past. What lay ahead could only be known as the present and the future. 

The very idea of these locations terrified me, and I hid my eyes from the forward current of the river, choosing instead to remain and relax within these sweet memories of the past. Dipping my hand in the water, I saw my sister, dancing with me to her favorite song. I lifted the water to my mouth, and I saw the best friend I had only known in childhood. I took a slight sip of the water, and I found that it was pure, if tangy, just like the champagne my father had let me taste all those years ago. 

I groaned in ecstasy, wading deeper into the river, trying to bathe myself in remembrance, but I went too far, and I was swept into the current leading to the present. As the wind and the waves carried me away from my safety, I cried out in fear, but there was nothing I could do about it. Rocks began to appear in the water, jutting outwards and tormenting me with their existence. 

My body slammed into each of them, slicing my skin apart and delivering my blood to these pain-filled waters. I cried to God to save me. I prayed and prayed, but God seemed not to answer, and I saw no means of deliverance. I was wet and trembling, and the tears coursing down my face could have only be more of the water that encased my body. I fought to stay afloat, but the winds and the waves were too much for me, and my head fell underwater. 

As the water began to make its way through my body, filling my lungs with a foreign substance, I retched and gagged, praying for God knows what...and the memories returned, breaking me apart with their ferocity. I saw the people I had built my life around crumbling and crushing me. I saw the person I had loved, abandoning me for someone else. Again, I relived my role model in all things, dying...and I was there again beside his hospital bed, crying and crying and crying and crying... 

And suddenly my head broke through the surface again, and the waves had died down. The wind had stopped. Everything had fallen still. And I took a moment in which I merely breathed, and I heard the song of a bird in the distance, proof that there was still life amid all this darkness. With that, I remembered the bird that I was nursing back to life. 

With that one small memory, all the good things came rushing back as well, and I recalled the laughter my sister and I had shared. I thought about the person I had become, and the good moments I had made. I thought about the friends who had called, bringing gifts and cards and kind words. And this time, the tears were not so much of sadness, but of missed opportunities. Did I truly want to leave all this behind? Taking a deep breath, I swam towards the beaches along either side of the present, and though the sand was studded with sharp shells that tore at my feet, it was still beautiful. 

Then, I glanced ahead to the future. Always before, the future had been sealed to my vision, cut off from my thoughts, and shrouded in a veil of mist that hid what lay beyond from my view. Yet now, as I peered vainly into its depths, I gasped as the fog began to peel away, affording me a glimpse of what lay beyond. Two channels divided outward from the river of the present that I walked beside. One was quiet, and the rivers were slow and peaceful. However, huge rocks jutted from the riverbed. Only those good at navigation could possibly manage to make it through the river. The second channel appeared rough, and the waves roared higher than my head in places. Yet, there were no rocks to bash my body against. Furthermore, both pathways led to the same destination: beautiful and crystal-clear beaches stretching as far as the eye could see. Drawn to them, I took a step forward, but the fog immediately covered the river until nothing more could be seen but the present. 

I blinked once...twice...and then the darkness was around me again. The cliff I had been standing on was now an office building, and the sky was pierced by the stars above. Below me lay only a river of traffic lights, streaming across my vision and blurring it. I took a deep breath and stepped backwards: away from the cliff and towards the future that awaited.