My trembling fingers slipped against the cool, rusted bar as I attempted to grasp onto my only lifeline. The operator's voice enveloped the other passenger's and myself in anticipation. Fear. Doom. A hiss filled the air as we prepared for our departure, soft at first, eventually climbing to a loud, reverberating peak.
The passengers alongside me seemed blissfully unaware of my agony; unaware of the certain doom that was to be bestowed upon them; unaware that fate was just waiting to snatch them away from this life in their happiest moments. Little children around me fastened their seat belts, while grinning parents secured their children's leather straps with sharp, quick tugs.
As the train jerked forward, I was hit with a sudden realization: I could die here.
I could already see it in my mind: the front-page of the newspaper would read: "Girl Killed in Tragic Accident." Everyone would cry as my mangled, limp body would be placed in the ground. All because of this thing people considered enjoyable.
My pulse pounded against the side of my skull; I felt a throbbing pain course through my veins. A shiver slowly slithered across the length of my spine, making me quiver and squirm like a worm about to be baited on a hook. The hiss of the machinery sounded once again, signaling for our departure. I gripped the edge of my worn seat, my hat pinned securely between my legs.
The motion of the 'train' rocked my entire body as we began our ascent towards the heavens. The click, click, click of the wheels against the tracks echoed in my eardrums. Children and adults around me lifted their hands in the air as our 'train' continued its excursion. I felt myself becoming one with the sky; with the air; with the clouds.
And when there was no turning back, the roller coaster curved over the frightening peak and plummeted back towards the earth.
Oh Lindsey, I love reading your work. This was cute (:
ReplyDeleteYou really built up the momentum with your selective word choice, which lets a reader grasp the kind of discomfort you went through. The flow of it was kind of like a roller coaster in itself, too: the whole building it up process, the climax where you really start freaking out, and then the drop that eases the story back down to Earth (if that made any sense). Overall, it was great :D.