Who doesn't love amusement parks? The colourful buildings, costumed mascots walking around, a sweet air full of people's laughter, and the rides that makes your heart race. Sure the crowd can be a bit claustrophobic and you may have to stand in line over an hour for some rides, but on the whole amusement parks are wonderful. One of the few places adults can feel like children again. I love amusement parks.
My personal favourite type of ride is the teacups. I love how they're on the ground, I'm a bit afraid of heights, and they're spinning. They're spinning fast. I don't know how to explain it properly, but whenever I'm in one of those teacups and it's spinning around I can't help but laugh. Seriously, I've tried not to laugh many times before, but for some reason my body's response to the spinning is laughter. Uncontrollable laughter. The faster the spinning, the louder the laugh. Once, when I was middle school and our class had an excursion to an amusement park I only rode the teacups and laughed until my voice was gone. It was a good time.
I love amusement parks. But there is one ride I'm not that fond of, and that is the rollercoaster. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't hate rollercoasters. In fact, they're pretty fun when you ride them. My issue is getting on the ride. As I mentioned before I have a slight fear of heights. This fear doesn't hinder me in everyday life, but it's a huge roadblock every time I'm about to ride a rollercoaster. Just seeing the twists and turns of it high up in the air makes me queasy. Even though I know that it's safe I can't help but worry about the whole construction falling apart beneath me. It is horrifying.
Now, despite my fears there have been times when friends and family have managed to convince me to join them for a ride, group pressure is incredible efficient, and I have enjoyed it every time. This time was not supposed to be any different.
I was at the amusement park together with a buddy of mine, my younger brother and my brother's girlfriend. I had won four tickets for a free day at the amusement park and we were not going to waste it.
It was the usual fun during the holiday season with the park packed full of people, something we didn't mind. The tickets were free after all. I had made two rounds on the teacups when the others flat out told me that it was enough. My brother's girlfriend, Remi, almost threw up her breakfast and refused to step foot anywhere near the teacups again. If it was up to me I would keep riding it, but since I didn't want to be at an amusement park by myself I decided to stick with them. Quinn, my buddy, wanted us to go on a tour in the obligatory haunted house, which we did. It wasn't exactly scary. A dark hallway with some props and actors poking out from time to time. But Remi, who I know is a huge horror fan and can stomach the most vile films, used the opportunity to act scared and cling to my brother. Now, she's a terrible actress and it's obvious what she was doing. Still, my brother, Max, didn't seem to mind. I think he enjoyed playing the big, strong man.
Then, before lunch, Max wanted us to ride the rollercoaster. But not any rollercoaster, the new, incredible, hold-on-to-your-hair rollercoaster. I declined. As I said before, I prefer to have my feet on the ground. They tried to convince me to come along but I didn't budge. Or. I didn't intend to budge, but it was tempting. I looked up at the rollercoaster above us. It was fast, intense, and had sharp turns. But it didn't have loops nor went upside down. I looked at my brother and buddy. They had that please-do-it look in their eyes and my bleeding heart couldn't refuse. Against every nerve in my body that screamed for me to go back to the teacups I agreed to one ride. My brother smiled and Quinn held up their phone at me and said that they needed to record proof of my agreement in case I blamed them for getting me in that ride later. We laughed and did a few goofy videos while waiting in line. My tension was gone. After all, what could go wrong?
We made it up to the ride's cars. The cars were a smooth black with yellow flames painted on them. My nervousness started to come back. We sat two and two, Max and Remi in front of Quinn and I. All other seats were filling up too. Then, as everyone were seated the ride operator the staff member in charge of the attraction, came to check if everyone's safety harnesses were in place. The operator was a young guy, looked to be about our age, and he began to pull all those seat-holsters or whatever they're called to be sure they worked, starting from the front.
When the guy got to my and Quinn's seats and reached his arm past me to check Quinn's safety a tattoo could be seen under the guy's shirt. Quinn, who themselves had contemplating getting a tattoo for the longest time, couldn't help themselves and asked the guy about it. Apparently Quinn asked the right question because the guy answered happily and the two quickly delved into a conversation. It was probably a good conversation but not a good time to have it with close to a hundred people standing in line waiting for their turn. Another member of the staff, a middle aged woman, blew a whistle that finally made the guy stop talking. He was clearly embarrassed, and continued to check the safety of those behind us.
However, there was something wrong. Something that felt out of place. At first I didn't know what. I just pretended to listen to Quinn's talk about tattoo's while going through what had happened. Then I realised it. The guy had forgotten to check my safety!
I looked behind me where the guy made his round as quickly as possible to make up for lost time. I wanted to call him over when he was done with them, no need to risk him forgetting to check another person's safety, but when he was done he didn't even look in my direction. He just ran off to the controls and started it. The car began moving. I shouted that there was a problem, but my voice was drowned in the other passengers' screams of excitement for the ride.
The ride began with a drop. Quinn next to me had their arms up in the air while I clung to my safety. Now that we were moving it was clear that my holster, safety, or whatever, wasn't secured. It didn't protect me.
I tried to get Quinn's attention, but they only looked at me with amusement and said a "Don't worry". They probably thought my panic was from my fear of heights and not that I could fly out of the car at any second.
It wasn't until a turn or two that Quinn noticed that my safety was flopping up and down. The joy on their face was immediately twisted into confusion, then terror. They tried to help me hold it down, but it was hard since they were properly secured in place. They screamed for the ride to stop, but just like my own voice theirs couldn't be heard over the other passengers. In the end, all my buddy could do was to hold my hand as we got closer to a sharp downward curve.
We arrived at the curve.
The forces of the earth pulled me out of my seat. Max and Remi had noticed that something was off and looked behind them at me. Their faces contorted in open horror. Quinn held on to my hand with all their might.
Their grip wasn't strong enough.
I was in the air.
The centre of everyone's attention.
Then I fell.
