Answer:
Don't... look... down, I thought, my heart racing. Where had it gone so wrong? As I clung to the cliff edge, my life flashed through my mind. Three-year-old me being diagnosed with acrophobia. My parents arguing in hushed tones about my future now that I had a fear. Me being enrolled in the Youth Academy for the Courage Challenged Individuals (YACCI). Meeting Laila and Michael. Going through the training. Passing the Overcoming Exam. Waving goodbye to Laila and Michael. Being caught, years later, still afraid of heights. Going through the... correction center. Living the next few years as a fearless, mindless Member of the Society. Seeing the headlines: "LAILA MELRON DECLARED UN-CORRECTABLE, TO BE EXECUTED TOMORROW FOR FEARCRIME". Breaking through the mental corrections from the center. Crying in the bathroom, watching the execution live. Joining the Resistance. Being sent on missions. And now, almost five years after joining the Resistance, being sent on a mission to infiltrate the correction center... which just happens to be isolated in a canyon gorge. After a couple encounters with the guards, the altitude-evaluator broke down and I dropped. Luckily, I swiped and got hold of the cliff edge. Which leads to my current situation: trying not to look down while finding a way to get up. What was probably second but seemed like hours passed, and a voice I thought I'd never hear again spoke, "Hey, grab on to my hand. Let me pull you up." Dazed, I reached up, and felt myself being heaved onto the cliff. The person smiled at me, "Name's Laila. Who might you be, hanging above the correction center like an escaped convict?" She took off my hood, and gasped, "No way..." I shook myself out of my stupor and wheezed, "I'm so glad you're alive, Laila. Thank you, you saved my life."
Step-by-step explanation:
So I took your prompt and kind of spun out a dystopian story (hope that's allowed) about a person in a world where fear is a mental illness, something to be corrected. At a very young age, it was discovered that they had a fear. The YACCI is basically this training place where kids "learn" to overcome their fears through rigorous testing. If the kids reach the age of 14 and still can't leave their fears behind, they go through the dreaded correction center, which does something to their brains and turns them into what amounts to a zombie. If THAT doesn't work, they're executed. The main character was corrected properly but trauma unlocked their true mind. They joined a group of people known as the Resistance that wants to overthrow the fear-controlling government. The person is then sent on a mission that goes wrong, leading to them hanging on a cliff edge. Note that the person has severe acrophobia, so their life flashing through their mind is excusable. Laila turns out to be alive and saves them, and I ended the story with the prompt. I hope it's short enough for you!