The Ride of Regret | Teen Ink

The Ride of Regret

October 30, 2019
By Anonymous

A million thoughts racing through my head. Why did I come? Why did I agree to this? Why didn’t I just fight back? Am I going to die? 


I have heard all these horror stories of people dying and how these monstrous contraptions break down. What if that happend to me? What if I close my eyes and they never open again. 


I knew I should have fought back harder. I knew I shouldn’t have gone there. I just knew. 


I am stuck. All I want to do is run. Run until I can’t anymore. Run far away. I am out of my mind. I am screaming and kicking but no one seems to hear me. No one seems to understand that I don’t want to be here that I want to get away. That I want to run. 


Suddenly I lurch forward. Everything around me just stops. 


……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………


I woke up to the birds chirping. How can they be singing when this can most likely be the day I don’t come back home. I am already miserable. Last night my family had a vote on going to the amusement park and shopping. Of course I voted shopping but everyone else voted the amusement park. 


My Aunt doesn’t like amusement parks why didn’t us two just go shopping while everyone else has their fun. I didn’t argue I just agreed. I knew I would regret not fighting back but I went anyways.


We headed to Busch Gardens, Florida. I sulked the whole way through.  Maybe they have other rides that weren’t roller coasters. Maybe I don’t have to die. Maybe I will be able to hear the birds chirp tomorrow. Maybe. I was trying to be hopeful.


We enter the park. Seems like millions of people were there. What can be so special about this PARK OF DOOM. Don’t they understand that there is a possibility that if they close their eyes they might never wake up. Just a blink can change everything. 


I enter the park everywhere you look you see a monsterous contraption. At any given moment they could fall over or stop working. The first roller coaster my eyes set on was a huge gold and Blue one called, “The Cobra”. The Cobra was this humongous roller coaster that had a giant snake at the top. There was another big one. It was huge. It was red like blood on the sign it said, “Sheikra”.


Most of my family love roller coasters. So they want to go on the big ones with all the loops and the ones that go upside down. I got away with not going on most of them. I ended up going on the only ride that wasn’t a roller coaster which was a water log ride.


Later that night before we leave my cousin wanted to go on one more ride. This ride stopped working for most of the day because it broke down. I told him he was crazy. What if it broke down while he was on the ride. He really wanted me to go on, but I told him I would only wait in line but I would NOT go on.


We waited in line for what seemed like 5 hours. My cousin, my mom, and my Aunt were about to get on and I was going to go straight through. Then my mom stopped me and told me I had to go on. She said that since we waited 90 minutes there was no point of not going on. 


The point of not going on is so that I don’t die. So that I can fall out. So all of the horror stories that I have heard of don’t come true to me. So I am not the person they talk about when someone says roller coaster. So I’m not the person that when my name is said someone cries. So that I’m not the person. 


My mom forces me on. She tells the workers not to let me off. I should have fought back. I shouldn’t have agreed to this. I shouldn’t of come. I screamed and kicked. I was scared out of my mind. My mom knew roller coasters are my biggest fear and yet she made me go on anyways. I didn’t even care what other people thought of me. I screamed, kicked, cried, and screamed again.


The people that worked the ride signaled that they were ready. I hear the screech of the wheels on the car move forward. All of a sudden I was as quiet as a mouse. I didn’t make a sound. I closed my eyes as hard as a could and held on for dear life. 


Clickity, Clack, Clickity Clack.


Then the ride stopped moving. I thought the ride was done. I opened my eyes and we were leaning over feeling like we're about to fall. You could see the whole park from how high we were. It felt like were were a million feet off the ground. I screamed. I thought I was gonna fall out of my seat. 


Without a warning the ride started again. It felt like we were going a thousand miles an hour. I closed my eyes and held for dear life. What if my seat belt comes loose and I fall out. What if we are upside down and we get stuck. What if.


To my suprise the ride ended. I don't want to move. My mom thought I fainted and started laughing at me. She called me over dramatic. I realized that I was so loud when I was screaming because when I got out of the ride my dad and my uncle started laughing to. 


We went home and I realized that spending time with my family was really fun. I was laughing along with them. I realized that if I didn’t go on that ride we wouldn’t have anything to laugh about. I wouldn’t have anything to remember this day. I am happy that I went. I am happy that I got forced on. I am happy.


The author's comments:

I was inspired to write this because roller coasters are probably my biggest fear. When I went on this roller coaster I was very upset and I was regreting everything that had happened that day and that entire vacation. But I was really glad that I went to Florida and that I went to the Amuesment park because I made some fond memories and now me and my family can think back to this time and laugh.


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