Aqua Dream was even bigger, better and wetter in real life than any advertisement could ever have made it out to be! It looked amazing! I can’t even do it justice! My eyes swarmed over the parks slippery slides, rapid whorl pool and colourful décor. I was almost bounding ahead before a sudden thought hit me; I still have to get changed.
I mean, I wasn’t exactly a huge fan of heights, or water for that matter, but the slides in this place would make it almost impossible not to have a good time, I mean at least I would get away from Ben for the rest of the day.
As I expected, once I emerged from the changing room, finding the parents wasn’t exactly a hard task; look for the place with the most sun and you were bound to find them, just like moths after a flame. There they were, covered in tanning oil, lying up on three sun loungers without a care in the world. It looked so tempting, to just lie there and forget about all the cares and worries I had going on right now…that was until I came to my senses and realised I was in a frigging waterpark!
“Okay you guys, I have my sunscreen on and am ready to hit the slides!” I tell them, looking down on their relaxed bodies, “I will come back if I need anything or if I feel myself starting to get sun burn” – The joys of having auburn hair, soon to be wet auburn hair that would look even more of a mess than usual; so much for getting the hot lifeguards attention…
“Wait a second Samantha” My mother began, gazing up at my through squinting eyes as her hair fell in front of her face, “Ben will be back in just a second”
“Ben…” I reply, my mouth drooped wide at the mere mention of his name.
“Yes, we know you aren’t the strongest of swimmers and wouldn’t want anything to happen to you, so Ben agreed to watch you.”
Watch me? Did I really need ‘watched’? Was I some kind of baby who couldn’t take care of myself? Wait hold up, Ben was going to watch me? I do not want to ruin what might very well be the best day of my life with that arrogant jerk, and I can assure you that he did not ‘agree’ to this so much as be forced into doing it!
Who cares if I’m not the best of swimmers? That’s what all those hot lifeguards are there for, I mean maybe I will have to be given mouth to mouth by one of them; that would be such bad luck…
Sure enough Ben took that exact moment to stroll out of the changing rooms in his baggy red swim trunks, blonde hair blowing in the light breeze as the sun gleamed down on his body. He looked hot. Wait no he…he…abs. Damn did Ben look good in just those shorts, his god-like body on full display to the world, and he knew he had the attention of not only me but basically every girl in the park.
“You kids have fun!” Mrs Fletcher says excitedly, clearly she is having a better time right now than I am likely to have with her son. Ben grunts back at her, turning around and beginning his first trip up the long flight of steps to the top of the first slide. I guess we are going.
At least I know one thing for sure, Ben is as pissed off about the whole situation as I am right now, I don’t want to spend time with him and he doesn’t want to look at me let alone hang out. Gee, way to do wonders for my confidence Ben!
***
Having been on more slides than I could care to imagine, Ben and I began our mountain of a climb to the top of the biggest slide in the park, Velocity. To say conversation and company hadn’t been great today would be an understatement. Except for the occasional grunt or comment coming from Ben that ‘this is a kids ride’, we ignored each other and didn’t communicate; things were better that way.
Looking at the height of the slide from the bottom of the steps, I felt a knot form in the pit of my stomach, maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. I mean, heights really aren’t my thing and I would only hold Ben back from having fun, wouldn’t I? Before I could plead my case with him, Ben was already ten steps ahead and shouting back at me to hurry up and stop being such a baby. Hey look, conversation for the day just doubled.
Reluctantly, I dragged myself up the steps, holding on to the handrail for grime life, fearing that if I allowed my white knuckles to slag for just a second I would plummet back to the bottom like a meteor. I am fairly sure that Ben huffed and puffed like the big bad wolf the whole way up the stairs, but I was too focused on staying alive to take any notice of him.
Reaching the top of the steps, it was eerily quiet. Unlike the other rides this one was deserted, it truly did make the others look like ‘baby rides’, the only person brave enough to be at the top was the lifeguard, even he looked like he was there by no choice of his own.
The slide overlooked the whole park; the slides, ice-cream bar, wave pool and even the sun loungers that our parents were in, although from up this high they were more likely to resemble ants than people.
“Well aren’t you two the cutest couple I have seen all day!” I heard the lifeguard remark with a smile as we approached.
“We aren’t a couple, Aiden” I listened to Ben reply bluntly, clearly reading the name off the tag on the guys jumper.
Something about Ben saying that we weren’t a couple made me feel weird inside. I mean, I know we aren’t or anything like that and we never will be, but to be shot down like that was hurtful. I guess, it just felt like we were doing the stuff that a regular couple would do, minus the talking, communicating and general liking each other part.
“Don’t mind him, he just woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning…and every morning for that matter” I said, looking towards Ben who arrogantly flicked his hair back, almost pushing his nose into the air in a cocky fashion. “And for the record, I think Aiden is a cute name” I say with a smile causing him to blush.
“Are you going to go or are we going to stand here all day and chat up some lifeguard?” Ben scolds, looking at me and reminding me of the terrible fate that awaited me. There it was again, the light head that I had felt the whole way up the stairs.
“You go on ahead, I will catch up” I tell Ben, hoping that he will realise that I don’t want to go down this death-trap.
“Well you better be right behind me, because I don’t want to have to come back up her for you and I definitely don’t want to have to explain to your parents how you fell over the edge” he jokes, looking over the edge of the guardrail with a smug smile on his face. Part of me wondered if he was even joking.
With that Ben vanished into the dark oblivion that awaited him as the slide ate him up; there was no way I was ready for this.
“Are you feeling okay?” Aiden asked, “You look a little pale?” I look a little pale? Was he trying to make a joke or was he being serious? I mean I don’t quite feel right, but at this height I was willing to put it down to altitude sickness even if it was only a few metres.
Finally I hear the splash of Ben at the bottom of the slide and despite my best instinct telling me not too, and that I need to stop this right now, I launch myself down the slide in the same way Ben had. Call me a baby now will he?
My head spins as I whizz down the slide faster and faster, picking up speed as I near the bottom; this was not a good idea. I feel my head start to tilt from side to side as I struggle to keep it upright. All I could think of was what might happen when, if, I make it to the water, would I drown?
Suddenly a bright light rushes into view and my eyes are flooded with a bright light as I get closer to the end. But that was only for a second because before I knew it my body had given up fighting the dizziness and my head flung back against the slide with a thud.
I could see only one thing…
Darkness.
Authors Note: Hey you guys! :) Thanks so much for getting this book over 6000 reads and giving me over 800 followers; I appreciate each one of you all so much! :) Hope you liked this chapter as it was a lot of fun to write! :) The winner of the Chapter 6 competition was Pavonine_Gem3 who picked the name Aiden for a character seen in this chapter; congratulations! :) Hope you guys are all well, my exams are finally over so no doubt i will have a new update for you guys really soon! As always be sure to comment, vote and follow to show me just how much you love this book!
Thanks for everything;
As always, I am Jdot (Twitter - @thejdot95)