The boy opened the front door of his house and slowly stepped out onto the porch. The porch was old, creaky and had holes in it. It was made of wood and every step the boy took, it would make a creaking noise. He then slowly walked over to the maroon and wooden canopy and sat down. He took a deep breath, he could just taste the freshness of the air upon his tongue. He stood up and pushed the canopy back and forth, back and forth making that creaking sound. That sound always made him feel calm. The boy then stepped down on one step and just stared at the tallest tree in his yard. He just stood watching it, staring at it and never took his eyes from it. His dark chocolate hair was blowing in the wind. He looked up in the sky and with his dark chocolate eyes saw a dark blue and purple sky heading his way. A storm was coming and he knew what he had to do. He had to conquer his fear of heights by climbing the tallest tree in his yard.

He took another step and then another, slowly making his way to the tall dark tree. Finally, face to face, the boy meets the tree. He stood in front of it, staring dead at the tree, standing still. He took a deep breath as the tree swayed with the blowing wind. The boy reached his hand out and grabbed the highest branch he could reach. He with his other hand for a branch up high.

“Here goes,” the boy said in his head.

He pulled himself up so he could put his feet on the lower branches. The boy looked down and quickly looked back up.

“Never look down, never look down,” the boy told himself.

He reached for another branch and another. One after the other, the boy was climbing, keeping his eyes glued to the top of that tree. The boy heard a rumble in the sky.

“Thunder,” he thought.

“But that won’t stop me! I will make it to the top of this tree,” he yelled confidently into the sky.

The boy stopped at mid point to rest for a second and to regain his self- confidence.

“I can do this,” he thought.

“Yea, I can do this,” he yelled in his head.

“I can do this,” yelling at the sky.

The boy took another branch and as he climbed, he kept saying to himself, “I can do this.” It began to get darker and the clouds looked heavy.

“No, not yet!” the boy yelled.

“I have to conquer it, I just have to,” he said.

All of a sudden, a really loud burst of thunder struck the sky. The boy lost his grip and let go of one branch. He was holding on with one hand and the other was waving frantically to shift himself back in front to grab the branch.

The branch he held onto with one hand was making a cracking noise.

“Oh, no, this is not happening,” he yelled.

The branch was breaking.

He tried desperately to grab a branch with the other hand but he couldn’t reach it.

“Crack.”

The branch broke in a blink of an eye. The boy was falling down the tree with his back to it. As the boy got closer to the ground, he closed his eyes tightly then he stopped. He wasn’t falling anymore but he wasn’t on the ground. The boy opened his eyes and looked to the right and to the left of him. His jacket got caught on a branch.

The boy started laughing. He turned his head and grabbed a branch with his hand and turned himself around. He put his feet on the lower branches and grabbed a branch with his other hand.

“This is a sign. Somebody’s trying to tell me to keep climbing,” the boy thought.

“And so I will.”

The boy climbed up and up and kept his eyes glued to the top of the tree. Higher and higher he climbed.

As he was mid point again, it started to rain, but that won’t stop him, he was determined.

“Billy, Billy,” he heard his mother call.

She was walking around the corner from the side of the yard to the front.

“Billy, Bi….,” she stopped and saw him climbing up the tree.

“Billy, you get yourself down from there, you hear,” his mother yelled up.

The boy didn’t stop, he kept climbing for he was just a few reaches away from the top.

“Billy, did you hear me, I said come down from there,” his mother yelled.

“Almost there,” the boy said in his head.

The mother finally calmed down and realized why he was climbing up the tree. She started to encourage him.

“Come on Billy, you’re almost at the top,” she called up.

The boy reached up until he came to the last branch.

“Come on Billy, what are you waiting for, reach up and grab it,” the mother yelled.

The boy smiled and reached up to grab the last branch.

“Yea!” the boy yelled.

He looked down at his mother. She looked so far away but he was happy that he finally conquered his fear of heights. The boy climbed back down the tree and ran to his mother.

“Yea Billy, you did it, I’m so proud of you,” she said as she held him tight.

“Come on we have to go call and tell everyone,” she yelled as she ran in the house. As the boy walked up on to the porch to go inside, he turned around and smiled at the tree as it swayed in the wind and walked inside confident and strong