He was scared to jump into the waterfall, he felt scared like he was gonna hit rocks, scared that when he went into the water  he wouldn't come back out and wouldn’t ever get to see his family ever again. But it's just like swimming in the pool, that's what he thought. He seen people do it before and come out alive. Then he thought about the people that died a horrible death when they jumped into the water. He’s heard they drowned to their death, hit rocks, and get eaten by animals.  But when he saw a boy that was 4 years younger than himself do it he was realizing that it was just his imagination toying with him. And before when he went on the waterslide that goes into the same river nothing happened to him. So when he took the leap into the dark cold water he came back out alive and he loved it.