Riptide Rocket
The water falls out of the invisible portal like rain falling through clouds during a thunderstorm. I see people bobbing up and down with flailing arms in the air and legs pushing with power against the current, frantically trying to escape the fury of water which was grabbing hold of them in glee. Heads are sinking underneath the surface and bodies are rising up, floating like paddle boats lazily parked at the edge of a lake. There is only one problem for me though, I am one of the people fighting against the current, but I am slowly breaking down. I am slowly breaking from above the surface down into the murkiness underwater, in other words, the water rollercoaster that awaits me with welcoming hands.
The thunderstorm slows down to a drizzle.
A row of small, pale light green leaves stand out like neon lights shooting across a dark night sky, in my mind. A few leaves have fallen off their stems and are flipping in the wind while others are not quite ready to let go off their green stem. The leaves that are tumbling because of the swift wind, are changing on the inside every single time they flip, even though they appear to not be changed at all on the outside. Dew drops fall from the very tip of the leaves that are still left hanging on the stems. Leaves are scattered every where, calling the wind to change them once again.
The path is rocky. It is slimy and oozing with water. A chill runs through my back. I feel uncomfortable standing with so many people who are (another shiver) ex…. excited. Water hurriedly runs like a river between and above the miniature peachish white pebbles. My feet smash against the hard surface causing immediate but slight pain in every step. The slight pain on my feet is nothing compared to the shivers running down my back. Goosebumps erupt from my arms and legs.
“Are you excited to go on the Riptide Rocket, the first water rollercoaster that we have ever been too!” Samara(sister) yelps almost screaming drawing attention to herself.
“Yeah! This is going to be awesome!” I hear myself reply in a higher-than-usual voice. I quickly hide my mistake by coughing. I was good at faking voices because I’ve had lots of practice. And I do a pretty good job because when I said that that the ride was ‘going to be awesome’, I meant that I am scared out of my mind. My hands are shaking, my feet are jelly, and my heart has stopped beating.
The end of line is closing in on me and I struggle to breath, as though I am claustrophobic. I glance at the ride. I can feel the splashes of small water droplets exploding on impact of the soft board slamming against the water, after shooting from the green tunneled pipe sloping downwards that leads towards the pool with blueish green tiles, that the board would soon either flip on or stay straight zooming forward close to the peach ledge and metal railing, the metal railing that helps you climb the tiled stairs that leads back to the rocky path that I am standing on, except you get of at a different place with the same path. I squeeze my father’s hand. I am thinking way too much. Gulp.
Two people in front of us. The end is coming close. I can’t fake it anymore. I can’t take it. “Do we have to go?” I whimper in a small voice almost hoping that no one would hear me. Unfortunately I knew the answer to my question.
“It’ll be fun. We’ve waited in line for so long, haven’t we? We ought to try it, right?” Daddy answers, trying to persuade me. He wasn’t pursuing anything though. This ride didn’t matter. The scariest ride in the water park wouldn’t matter. I would go on it without doubt. That’s a lie. All of this matters. My feelings matter and are holding me back from realizing that I have-to-go- on-the ride.
Reality check, I will not go on this ride.
I remember the time that I was going on the ginormous dull red roller coaster in Universal Studios and how at that time I was plain excited, I know that I was a little nervous but not this nervous. This ride is even less scary than the rollercoaster I went on. I can’t figure out why I was barely nervous when going on the roller coaster in Universal Studios but now I am so nervous to go on a less scary water rollercoaster. Why?
I step forward. There is only one thick quickly braided rope with tiny strands of string sticking out clasped across two short metal poles, keeping me from going on the ride.
I stare at the dumb but super scary ride. I want IT gone - I want it to be thrown over a soaring skyscraper into the ocean and to sink like the titanic, I want it to drown like a human in strong currents, I want it to break into tiny pieces like particles in the air. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 seconds until I was gone, gone forever until the angels up above in heaven retrieve me and place me in a soft bed of cotton candy, and hopefully the cotton candy will be sufficient to hold my weight and will not drop me into hell where the devils will be expecting me.
The rain pours cats and dogs now. I stare at the rope. That rope is the line of my life. If they open it, my life will be doomed. Click. The metal clasp unclasps. My fate is chosen. It is too late.
Doom.
“Good luck, Tavishi!” Samara screeches in her loudest voice hoping that I take notice of her and glance back. Those words ring in my ears like the golden bell being hit on New Year's Eve. Although I know that Samara didn’t mean for it to sound that way, but to me, it sounded as though she was wishing me luck for my fate to change and decide that I was meant to still be alive.
Squish, squash, squish, squash. The soft, blue mat squirms under me as I plant my feet on the mat right in the center. It is cold. It is freezing cold but there is only rain and I am already wet and I am not feeling cold. No, this can’t be right. Oh, I know why. I am cold from the misplacing event that I am forced to attend, like a wedding that I am being forced to attend except today isn’t a happy day, no way, today is cold, foggy, dark day topped of with a thunderstorm. The rain has poured down so hard that it has turned back into a thunderstorm. I feel like I have committed a terrible crime and that this is my punishment. It is worse than being sentenced to death.
I lose control of my body. I am a robot. I am a silver, metal, shiny robot with red and blue buttons stuck all over me wanting to be pushed again and again. I am rusting now, because of the rain I am turning into a brown, crispy smear. But I am still functioning. Knees bent. Hands down. Bottom on the mat. I plop right in front of my father without even knowing that I have. My legs are outstretched and crossed like the the person who worked there instructed, instantly coding it into my system (a.k.a. my brain). I want to move my hands but I can’t because I am fully rusted now.
There is a long flat black escalator going up with the slightly dark shade blue board that I am sitting on, chugging smoothly. My heart is set on the fact that going on the ‘Riptide Rocket’ is a bad idea but my mind is set on changing my heart's feeling but I must follow my heart. No time to ask my heart for more details on this ride because….
We plunge!
Up and down, all around, side to side, whoosh. Splashes of terror, droplets of fear, tunnel of green swirling everywhere. Mind not thinking, eyes telling all of my feelings, hands gripping, legs staying, screams evaporating. Going slowly, going fast again, going slowly, speeding up again. “Ahhhhhhh!” I scream a short scream, then my eyes shut. Panic surging, body trembling. Uh oh. Going down, down, down, whoosh. I see light, bright light from the sun.
The water showers everywhere. The board flips. I’m underwater. Bluish green tiles are the only things that surround me. I try gripping the grey cemented cracks that lie between the tiles with my wrinkly soft fingers and wrinkly soft toes but my fingertips slip, and so do the edges of my toes. Suddenly, a wave of relief escapes me. I sigh underwater. Everything seems so calm and full of serenity. Peace overtakes me and my eyes close.
After a few seconds I swim higher up to the surface but I stop because naturally after that wave of serenity a thought occurs to me. I think about how every time you face your fear, you turn over a new leaf which means that you change. Another realization forms just as quickly as my last thought disappears. I realize that I let my fear tower over me, causing me to forget about all of the good outcomes that could happen after this ride. “I will never let my fear get the better of me,” I say out loud sincerely although I know that no one heard me as I am underwater. Bubbles escape from my mouth. I know that it’s time to go. I push off from the tiles up to the new world that awaits me with welcoming hands.
