Another year passed.
Sienna joined her university's rock climbing club.
Standing beneath the climbing wall for the first time, the coach explained how to use the safety rope. She looked up at the colorful holds. They sparkled like gemstones embedded in a cliff, stretching all the way to the gymnasium's dome.
"Nervous?" asked a blond, blue-eyed boy. He was Leo, the club president.
Sienna shook her head.
As her fingertips gripped the first hold and her toes found purchase, she pulled herself upward. In that moment, something clicked.
The people and events of the past were like gravity. They kept trying to pull her down.
But she was determined to go up.
Again and again, she lost her grip and fell halfway. The safety rope caught her every time. Her arms ached. Her fingertips were raw.
