Rayann Abbott
Short Story Draft #2
Standing in line was hard, and it became even harder when that line lead to something scary, like a drop ride. She may have been an adult, but previously when going to amusement parks, she avoided these types of rides.
“I’m so excited!” she squeaked out, tears welling up in her eyes. “I may look scared but that’s just my anxiety. Trust me, I’m very excited for this, soto keep me in line so my body doesn’t move without me making it.”
A hand grabbed onto hers, her best friend staring right into her eyes with a calming look on her face. The girl had short, colored hair that stood out brightly against her darker skin. With that calming look came with a calming voice and a squeeze of the hand.
“I know, I know.,” the girl spoke with a small laugh.
The two had known each other for over a decade now, meeting in middle school by a friend who was too pushy to share her interests, and with her being too polite to interrupt- that laugh wasn’t meant to be mean but instead was there because the girl herself knew the two of them wanted to go on this ride, only one was handling it better than the other.
“You said you wanted to experience all the rides you were too afraid to go on as a kid. So, you are going to experience them and I will be here with you along the way.”
“Thanks, Amelia,” the words mumbled under her breath, eyes now glued to the ground as she tried to pay all her attention to her knees, making sure they wouldn’t give way. with each step. “I’m so ready for this ride,.” more words managed to escape her, more trying to convince herself than her friend or the others around them.
She had gone to this park many times in her life, always avoiding these types of drop rides and always regretting it after the vacation ended. Amelia, on the other hand, had only been once. And, at the time, was too small to go on these types of rides. For both of them, this would be a new experience., but handling it in different ways.
With these older types of rides, the railings aren’t what they are now. There aren’t any stops or benches along the way.It’s just standing in the heat while waiting for a popular ride that everyone around seems excited for. Looking around, she found that tThere are children in line. She swallowed hard. How could she be so scared of something that little kids were excited for? They were practically dancing where they stood while she, a grown adult, was clinging to her best friend for dear life with shaking knees and teary eyes.
“Alright,” A woman’s voice came out of nowhere, making her break out of her trance. The woman stood there, staring blankly at the two girls. This woman, a park worker, was probably It felt as if she were being judged by this park worker, someone who had to deal with this situation with children all the time, but not with adults. That was just the anxiety talking though. She knew that t She had to remind herselt that these types workers don’t even care.hey just wanted their day to be over with or for their break to come as quickly as possible.
“How many?” The park worker continued to look at the two girls.
She tried to speak, but nothing came out of her mouth. Amelia picked up quickly on this; usually she didn’t talk to people. But, with her best friend acting this way, she quickly replied to the woman. “Two.”
No more was said from the worker, just a small nod of the head as she led the two towards the ride. A quiet “Thank you” was exchanged from the two girls and the worker, which in return replied with a small smile and a nod of the head before leaving.
“Let me go first.” She spoke to Amelia. “So I can help you out of the ride. It’s not fair that I’ve been leaning on you this whole time.” She had no idea how she was able to say so much while freaking out internally so badly.
Amelia nodded, letting her get onto the ride first. With the bar going down on their laps quickly, this was the moment where she knew there was no chickening out.
There was one more thing that she hated about these types of rides. The fact that even though there are drops, it almost never feels like there’s something comfortable to hold on to. Amelia held out a hand, and while she did take it, she still felt uncomfortable. The event itself just added onto the feeling of anxiety. When one’s anxious, having something comforting wrapped around tends to help, making the person with anxiety feel more secure and safe. This was the total opposite.
She didn’t even notice that the ride had started until they started going uphill. Most people start breathing rapidly when having this bad of anxiety, but instead she faced another issue- not breathing enough. Holding her breath and reaching out to cling to the bar in front of her was bad, but the fact that the tears welling up in her eyes making her unable to see made it even worse.
“You’re okay.” Amelia reassured. She glanced over quickly, not wanting to keep her eyes off the bar in front of her for too long. Amelia was smiling, she was living out her childhood dream of never being able to go on these types of rides. She wanted to feel happy for her, but there was too much pressure being put on her chest. The ride was leaning upwards, the weight of her body was crushing itself. She felt as if someone was sitting on her chest, just trying to make her uncomfortable.
“You’re okay.” She heard Amelia pipe up again.Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the girl glancing at her every now and then as the ride continued its a long way up. This was taking forever. This was horrible. She was shaking as tears welled up, she just wanted to cling to something that felt safer than the death trap awaiting ahead.
Light breached the top of the dark tunnel, the blue sky was replaced by a blinding white light. It would inch closer and closer as the noise of the ride creaked in her ears. Her heartbeat was blasting in her ears, yet everything got silent when they reached the top. It was like time had stopped, and there was a moment to actually breathe if you were able to get the chance. A beautiful view of the park, something to take in. It’s like a beautiful moment before plummeting to death, and that’s all she could think about. Yes, she knew she wasn’t actually going to die, but apparently her body and reactions didn’t get the memo.
The feeling of going down was horrible, her lungs suddenly felt like they had no air in them. It only lasted for a second. Her mind took in the situation, so horrible that she didn’t even remember going down.t was almost as if she had blacked out.he knew her eyes had been open as the ride fell, and even though it was moments ago, it seemed to have been erased from her brain, but the effects were still on her body.
“Wasn’t that fun?” Amelia’s voice was full of joy. She had wanted to go on this ride her whole life. “Just like the other rides right? Want to go back on again?” They had tried multiple previous rides at the park, ones she had never been on before and she had ended up liking them all. The girls ended up going on them again and again if the lines were empty. “The line’s not even that long. We should try again!isn’t that great!”
“No.” She spoke in return.Short and simple. Her legs wobbled as she stood up. After getting out of the ride and helping Amelia out, she found it hard to walk with her legs failing beneath her with every step. “I never want to do that again.”
Amelia seemed a little disappointed.With all the other rides they had gone on, she was happy and wanted to go on again. But this one had apparently crossed the line.
“Well at least you have a picture! Pull it up on the app already!” Amelia still sounded pretty happy, they couldn’t get on the ride again but at least she was able to ride it once. She took Amelia’s hand and helped her out of the ride. Pulling out her phone, the two of them walked down the tunnel towards the exit.
She did as Amelia suggested, reloading the app a few times until the photo appeared on the screen. “Noooo,” she whined. “I hate people so much!” They could have gotten it framed. It could have been a nice memory of torture that they could laugh at in the future. But no, not with this in the way.
“Dang.” Amelia whispered. “Guess we will have to go back on again.” It was a joke, but a glare was sent her way in return. “Kidding!” She laughed. “We can just deal with the rude teenager flipping a double bird at us then. Unless you feel better later and go back on again. That could work too.” The last part was whispered, a joke, but some hope was still lingering in her voice.
