The Final Plunge

Even though I was trembling, my eyes sparkled with determination. I had spent a long time thinking things through, trying to find a better solution, but all my efforts had failed. This was the only option left, to end things, once and for all.
As I started climbing, I became very conscious of how overweight and unfit I was, just one of the problems in my life. My feet seemed to be made of lead, each step taking my utmost concentration and determination. In my life, I’d chickened out of a lot of things, but not this time. Well, at least after this, they’ll feel sorry for all those times they teased me.
I felt the wind ruffling my hair as I reached the top. The view from such a height was breathtaking; everything seemed so calm and peaceful, as if there wasn’t a problem in the world, so fake. For a moment, I forgot my purpose for being there, and just stood there, enjoying the freshness of the morning air. But another gust of wind soon brought me back to my senses. Slowly, I made my way towards the edge. Peering over, I suddenly felt a knot in my stomach and quickly stepped back, afraid I might throw up. Dazed by the height, and the thought of what I was going to do, I crouched down, holding on tightly to anything I could find, one last time. I closed my eyes as shadows of doubt started creeping into my mind, and reminded myself of all the reasons I was there, of why I had to do this.
Shouts from below snapped me out of my reverie, and I heard footsteps behind me. Turning around, I saw him, the only person I had ever looked up to, in fact the reason I was here, doing this. For a moment I felt relieved, but the anger in his face made me freeze. At once, I knew I had failed him.
As he reached me, he held out his strong arms. I streched my arms to hold onto him, but to my surprise, he did not hold me. My eyes widened as I suddenly felt him push me, his face more determined than I had ever seen, his eyes almost red. As if in slow motion, I felt myself lose balance, my feet sliding off the edge, arms flapping wildly, hoping that by some miracle I might be able to fly. And then I felt the weightlessness. My life flashed before my eyes as I fell down, gaining speed every second. I was just about to say my last prayer when I hit the hard water, head first.
It took me a few seconds to realize what had happened. I quickly surfaced, gasping for air and swallowing huge amounts of water. Through the buzzing in my ears, I heard people cheering, and turned around to wave at my friends. I looked up into the sky, and saw my swimming coach standing on the diving board, looking satisfied. I had finally done it. I had finally gotten through my first dive.