How To Get Down

Jack stared down at the challenge before him, his heart beginning to pump frantically at the thought of what he must do. A glinting bead of sweat inched down from his temple, working it's way through his coffee-brown hair down the side of his cheek. Slowly, he took a step forward, and then another, trepidation stifling the breath inside his lungs and making it hard to breath.
He looked around, checking one last time that nobody was around to witness, before raising his foot up, letting it hang over into the ghastly empty space... And hesitantly resting it on the first step at the top of the staircase.
His hand, cozily resting in a knitted mitten, shot out and hastily snatched the handrail before he fell out into oblivion. Jack's panting sounded unnaturally loud in his ears, and his mint-green knitted scarf, wrapped around his neck and over his mouth, certainly didn't help much in the breathing department. With the hand that wasn't clutching the railing in a death grip, Jack loosened his scarf enough so that he could properly breath. All this, and he hadn't even gone down two steps.
Jack tried to raise his foot again in an attempt to go down to the next step, but it felt like lead in his shoes. Swallowing hard, Jack grabbed the railing with both hands before sticking out his foot into that horrible emptiness again.
Slowly, carefully, Jack made his way down to the third step, and the fourth. With each pain-staking step, Jack descended the staircase.
After all, going down a flight of steps isn't very easy when you have a rather nasty phobia of heights.

Are you okay?

Jack's breath caught in his throat, and he instinctively reached into his jacket where his knives usually lay. Spinning around quickly, he found the source of the noise, a girl in a bizarre array of colors.
The absence of a hilt in his hand reminded him that he had left his array of knives in his room, so that this exact sort of thing wouldn't happen.
The absence of a railing in his hands reminded him that he was hanging in space.
With a sharp intake of breath, Jack forcefully fell down backwards, landing hard on the stairs behind him. He sat there, panting heavily as he stared down the dizzying height he could have just fallen down. Jack spread as much of himself as possible over the stairs, leaning his back uncomfortably upon them. Tilting his head back, he took a few calming breaths, each breath deepening as he tried to slow his heart rate down.
Avoiding looking at the girl who could have caused his death, Jack reached up and gripped the handrail, and started meticulously hauling himself back to his feet.
Making sure that he had a good hold of the handrail, Jack turned his head back to the brightly-dressed girl.
"I-I'm...." Jack mumbled, before clearing his throat and speaking in a slightly more audible tone.
"I'm fine, th-thank you..." Blushing at his pathetic display, Jack turned his head to face the wall once again, and started his gruesomely slow descent down the stairs, if not even more slowly than before, if that were possible.