She immediately looked around her and saw that she was in the room with her best friend. She fell into her embrace and sobbed.
"It's just a dream. Don't worry, you're safe now." Her friend said to her while patting her back softly to calm her down.
Being the general manager of a big multi-company, her life seemed to be a bit strange to her co-workers. Evelyn had an office on the top floor which she insisted must have no balconies. At first, the CEO thought it was a strange favor to ask, but seeing that she would rather stay on the ground floor if her demands were not met, he gave in to her request.
Her office wasn't too big, but it wasn't small either. She had a large single window which was at the other end of the office, and the only way her ventilation could be made easy was all thanks to the air conditioners in the office.
In the apartment she shared with her best friend, she lived on the ground floor, which most people also found to be confusing and weird for her type of person. Nobody knew the story behind her avoidance of high places, especially when balconies and terraces were involved, except her best friend who had always been there every night she had the nightmare that had disturbed her for the past 16 years of her life.
"Evelyn, I think you should work on this whole nightmare thing." Her friend, Zina said as they ate their dinner.
"You make it seem as if I can control my dreams. It's not my fault that I keep going back to that day every night. I might as well give up sleeping, 'cause I'm tired of it all, and I know I'm a pain in the neck for you since you always have to stay awake with me or get disturbed because of my screams. I get it." Evelyn responded.
She seemed to be a bit angry about the conversation that Zina had brought up.
"Eve, you're not a pain to me. All I want is for you to be happy, and get at least one good night's sleep. It bothers me that you might get sick because of all this. You work ten hours every day, with just a 30-minute break, and when you come home, which is supposed to be a resting place for you, you stay up all night because of the same dream. I just want to help you." Zina explained her intentions to her friend, but Evelyn didn't want to hear any more of it.
"So how do you intend to help me when these meds that I take don't help me anymore?" Evelyn asked. There was an angry look in her eyes, and it made Zina hesitate for a moment.
"We can meet a therapist, and ask for her help." Zina blurted out.
"Whoa, not only am I being reminded of my everyday life, but now you want me to go see a shrink. What would the shrink do? Would he find a way to suddenly put me to sleep? Evelyn asked in annoyance and walked out of the dining room.
Zina sighed and put down the fork in her hand. She felt bad for her friend, and she sincerely hoped she would be fine.
Evelyn had always blamed herself for her little brother's demise, and his death had traumatized her so badly that she couldn't even look down from the top of a building. She always feared that she might fall off and probably meet the same fate her little brother had met at a very tender age.
Zina had tried to convince her so many times that it wasn't her fault that her brother fell from the building, but Evelyn still blamed and hated herself, and every night since the day of the incident, she suffered the memories that kept hitting her, and when she would finally wake up, her fears would become deeper.
Some months later, Evelyn was sent to represent the company in a meeting to broker a deal. The meeting was supposed to be held at the topmost part of the building, and Evelyn battled with taking the bold step of joining the meeting, or running away before her presence could even be noticed. After some thought, she turned to leave the building, but she ran into Zina
"Did you follow me here?" Evelyn asked, wide-eyed.
"Everything isn't about you, pumpkin. I have some snacks to deliver here, and I happened to catch you trying to run away from your job. Do you know how broke we'd become if you lose your job because you lack the nerves to attend a meeting?" Zina asked her.
"What are you even saying? I've attended so many meetings over the period I've worked in this company. My reasons for leaving this one are personal and you know it. Stop making it seem like I'm scared of a bunch of CEOs and their lackeys." Evelyn tried to defend herself.
"Don't mess this up. Chin up, and go up there. If your company loses this deal, it'll cause a lot of financial harm, and plenty of emotional harm too to go around. You're stronger than you think you are. Go up there and show them that girls like us can run companies and earn millions." Zina said, and Evelyn chuckled lightly.
They hugged briefly, and Zina left to deliver the snacks the staff had ordered. Evelyn pondered on Zina's words; she knew one thing for sure, and that was the fact that she would go broke if she lost her job at the company, and she didn't want that to ever happen. She was left with one choice now, which was to fight her fears and broker the deal that could bring millions to the company, which also meant an increase to her salary.
Evelyn took a deep breath and went into the elevator. She held onto her chest and took slow deep breaths to help her keep calm.
Once she got to the top floor of the building, she dared to look down, and in that moment, her legs turned jelly, and she felt like an invisible force was trying to throw her off the rooftop. She felt light-headed, and she was convinced that she would fall over and that would be the end for her.
"Are you okay?" A voice sounded behind her, bringing her back to her environment.
She quickly looked around and heaved a sigh of relief when she saw that she hadn't fallen off from the roof.
"I'm fine." She smiled at the stranger. "The view from up here is wonderful." She added.
"Yeah, it is. Let's get started with the meeting." The man replied, and Evelyn followed him back to their table.
At the end of the meeting, Evelyn was able to sign the contract on behalf of her company, and she happily went home to share the news with her best friend. She was glad that she could overcome her fears and stay on that top floor which she hadn't dared to do since the demise of her little brother.
I wouldn't say I'm afraid of heights, but sometimes you get a horrible feeling when you see how far from the ground you are. It happens to me a lot when I'm traveling by plane, for example, that's why I went from always wanting to be next to the window, to preferring the aisle. In my country we say a lot a saying that goes ‘ojos que no ven, corazón que no siente’, which would mean ‘out of sight, out of mind’ in English, I think.
Thank you for sharing your story with us!
Thanks for reading 😊😊
I think most people get that horrible feeling when they're at high places
There’s even a video where you’ll stand on a glass and you’ll be seeing the floor just like this picture you posted
God knows I can’t stand it
I may faint…
We seem to be plenty with this fear😂
I still find it difficult to look down from my balcony sometimes
I've been afraid of heights almost my whole life. I can't even stand someone merely lifting me up, or walk up a staircase without holding onto someone or something tightly, I panick immediately...
It's nice that evenly was able to overcome hers, I hope I do someday
Hopefully you'll overcome it too😊
Thanks for reading 😊