Rollercoaster-

There it was, looming before me, casting an eerie shadow on the hard, hard ground. Its harsh, metal collection looked like horrid clawed hands, just waiting to snatch you up. Screams rose and faded quickly as a rickety and dangerous car went speeding by. The noise was deafening-the thunderous sounds of metal scraping against metal and wood. I shuddered. My nerves were all shaken up. The screams returned and I saw silhouettes of people flashing past me. I couldn’t see their faces, but I could bet they were afraid.

I’m never ever, ever, going to ride that thing. I thought.
Until my sister and cousin suddenly wanted to ride the rollercoaster. My determination was very short lived.
“WHAT?” I gasped. “You want to ride that-that thing?” Obviously, I had a phobia for roller coasters.

My sister didn’t share my negative enthusiasm.

“Why don’t you ride it with us?” She asked. “It’s not scary at all.”
I shook my head. “How is that not scary? Look at that drop!” To add more to my point,  I tilted my hand until it was completely down.
“Ninety degree angle right there.”
“So? That’s the fun part!”
“How is that the fun part? What about the feeling you feel in your stomach when you drop?” I cried.
My cousin frowned. “Don’t worry, Sally. It’s not scary at all.”
But despite all that effort of trying to convince me, I refused to ride that.
“That’s a death machine!”

So, evidently, my cousin and sister left me about wandering with the rest of our family, who were waiting for the two girls to come out. The steel roller coaster flipped and frolocked. It turned and leaped. It twisted and turned. It looped and and went inside out. And a yellow seating “car” followed every trail.
The sun was shining above the tall roller coaster and after thirty minutes, I was still waiting with my family outside the rollercoaster. TIme was dragging on, like it was punishing me for not riding the roller coaster and having so called fun. And so, another thirty minutes went by and another, and another, and another. And just when I was about to lose my cool cap, my sister and cousin came out of the exit. Smiles were lighting up their faces.

Obviously, I didn't understand why.

“How was the ride?” My parents and uncle and aunt asked them.
“It was really good.” My cousin responded.
My sister agreed instantly. “We’re going to ride it again. Sally, you should’ve rode it with us!”
I shook my head. “I’ll pass.”
“Sally, you have to get rid of your fear of riding roller coasters. Don’t you want to ride it just to experience the fun?”
“Nope!” I immediately said. But I paused and  considered.
“I’ll only ride those mini non-scary roller coasters. But that's it!”
My sister laughed. “You mean those kiddy rides?”                          
I frowned. Maybe she’s right, I thought. Maybe I should try riding one of those roller coasters.

The sky was crystal clear and the cotton candy clouds hung peacefully in the blue background. Laughter filled the air and the smell of popcorn rose into the gentle summer breeze.

Don’t I just love amusement parks minus the roller coasters and drops of doom and bumper cars and haunted houses and steep steel death machines. I thought.

My family walked through the huge park and we came across another-you guessed it- rollercoaster. Once again, there were screams and so on and twists and turns that would make me vomit. As usual, my very adventurous cousin and sister would ride the ride and on and on this pattern would go.  It wasn’t until we came across a wooden roller coaster that shook every time a train ran over it, when my sister and cousin continued their convincing towards me.

“Come one, Sally! Does this look scary at all?” My sister asked me.
I considered. “Not really, but still…”
“It’s not scary. Just try riding it, yes?” My cousin smiled weakly.
“It’ll be like riding the waves at the beach.”
“It’s going to be fun!”
“Even I rode this when I was younger than you, Sally.”
“You’re going to regret this…”
The two older girls stared at me.
Well, I do like riding the waves… I thought.
I sighed. “FINE! I’ll ride it! But only once.”

I eyed the roller coaster carefully. I couldn’t believe I was going to ride this splintery, ancient, and clickity ride. What makes this any different from the other death machines?

I didn’t know.

But there was something about this that made me want to ride it. It was wooden-which meant no flips. And from what I can see, there were no steep drops. So, I followed the older girls into the line. It stretched and stretched and stretched. I sighed. I’m usually impatient.

After about thirty to forty minutes, we reached the end of the line. The entire time, my cousin and sister was chatting about new music, the rides, what they were going to ride next, and so forth. Me? I was just waiting for the worst of it. So when the small glass doors swung open, we all filed into the connected cars. It had a vintage look to it.

What if this falls apart when we ride it? But that thought was quickly overrode. What if the entire roller coaster breaks down? Shock was frozen on my face, but I went on it anyway.

Already, I knew I regretted riding this.  I was crazy! But without warning, the train was lurched forward, into the open. We came out of the sheltered building and entered a new atmosphere. Only a few hundred feet off the ground, I happily looked around me. It was just going up and down, slightly. Then all of a sudden, the train lurched up, towards the sky. I knew what was coming afterwards. And I was the only one who screamed.
I didn’t stop screaming until we reached the top. I opened my eyes a little and saw us slowly following the curve before the big ninety degree angle D  R  O  P.

It wasn’t long until the train slowly tipped downwards. And soon, it dropped and dropped and dropped and dropped. I screamed until my heart stopped beating. I screamed so that I lost my voice. I screamed so loud, I made my sister deaf. I had the pivoting feeling in my stomach and my glasses nearly flew off. Dangling off the ear and nose, I held it with my left hand, holding the handle with my right. My hair blinded the person behind me and I could promise, during that moment, I was the ugliest person in the world. But did I care? Not at all. I only cared for my glasses and my life, that so much relied on the weak handle in front of me. I dangled from the car, my body leaning right then left. I felt like a rag doll being tossed back and forth between two children. But what was most surprising to me was-I actually enjoyed this. Nothing changed-I guarantee that-but something inside of me found a new spark that craved for fun and wild things. For roller coasters, really. While I was flopping like a pancake, I was enjoying and thrilling this. And this was amazing.

The ride soon ended. I stumbled off the steel strain, sparkling in the orange sun, slightly dizzy.
“How was it?” My sister asked me, perfectly fine.
I smiled. “It was good.” And before I could contain myself, I was blurting out:
“Can we ride it again?”
“Where are the other roller coasters?”
“Let’s ride it at least five times!”
“That was awesome!”
“Let’s come here again next month!”
“Why not?”

My cousin glanced at me. “We told you it would be fun.”

My sister nodded, a proud look on her face. “You see, this is why I’m the best. Let’s ride a steel rollercoaster now!”
And then my joyful mood turned into a sloppy slimy swamp.

I laughed weakly. “Uh, no thanks. Let’s take this new roller coaster thing one at a time.”

And so I ended up not riding the steel monsters, but I was satisfied with my one rollercoaster ride. I never knew that the wooden creaky rides were fun and cool. And from that day on, my thrill and eagerness for it never died and continues to thrive and flourish inside of me and onto the train that rides the roller coasters.