There was a monster looming in front of me.
An honest-to-god, giant, red as the devil’s horns monster, yawning towards the sky. Its teeth gaped horrendously at me, swooping upwards in a deadly smile. I could still hear the reverberations of the screams of the people who had dared to go up on it and slide over the treacherous back. It was a monster pulled straight from the pages of a Greek myth, something even Hercules would tremble to face.
It was a rollercoaster.
Look, I’m not being dramatic. Have you seen the size of these things?! My mind cannot comprehend that people willingly go on those monstrosities - have they no respect for their lives? They scream their lungs out, and I think, Okay, now they’ve learned their lesson, they definitely won’t go. But what do they do? They turn right back around and go on it again! It’s baffling! The only reason I’m even in this godforsaken amusement park is because they have the best cotton candy...and well, it’s my younger sister’s birthday and I’m chaperoning her and her little friends.
As I’m sneering at the rollercoaster, Laila comes up to me and tugs at my hand, her eyes wide and pleading. I furrow my eyebrows - she’s 13, so if she’s pulling this little girl act, there’s a reason. “Can we please go on that ride, Jay?” I glance at the ride in question - an inconspicuous merry-go-round, embellished with delicate statues of fairies. Laila’s friends are looking at me with those puppy-dog eyes too, and the ride looks safe, so I sigh and move towards it.
Laila squeals, and drags me faster to a rather long line along with her retinue. It takes a while for us to finally get to the front of the line, and the helper guides us towards the ride.
I swear my heart skips a few beats.
“This isn’t the ride you wanted to go on!” I exclaim in a low whisper to Laila, and she turns to me innocently. I whirl around and notice the merry-go-round behind us. “You wanted to go on that!”
Laila laughs, and her friends join in like a pack of vultures. “Jay, why would we want to go on that kiddy ride? I was clearly pointing to the rollercoaster behind it!” The helper is looking at me with a forced smile and embarrassment floods over me. The only thing more powerful than my fear of death is my fear of public embarrassment and little girls making fun of me. So I climb into the seat and let the helper buckle me in, while I mutter prayers to every God I can think of to save my life. The belt secures me into this machine of death firmly, and the ride slowly moves forward.
I want to scream already, but the look of unbridled amusement on Laila’s face beside me stops me. Our car swerves upwards in a tauntingly slow fashion, and fear climbs into my heart and makes itself comfortable. I keep my eyes open, determined to take in as much of the world as I can before we inevitably crash. The sky is vast, a shade of blue so bright it almost hurts my eyes, and below us, I can see swarms of people, their glee visible from here. Around me, the air thrums with anticipation. We reach the top, and the car tilts down.
Then something strange happens.
A rush of adrenaline unlike anything I’ve ever known floods my system, charging me. Pure serotonin takes over my mind, and I scream - not out of fear, but joy. The world rushes past me, too fast to focus on, but I’ve never felt so ridiculously, wonderfully alive.
So this is why people go on these monstrosities.
The ride stutters to a stop after another round, and my heart seems ready to leap out of my body. A stupid smile is fixated on my face, akin to the ones on Laila and her friends’. A laugh escapes me as I utter the words I never thought I would.
“Want to go again?”
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