Trapped

The first thirty steps, done. My heart was beating out of my chest and my breath was shortening. I told my friend Hannah, “I’m going back down, there is no way I am doing this.”

She said, “Everything will be fine, I already did this ride, and I really think you will enjoy it.”

Steve, Hannah’s brother, told me, “If I can do it you can too.”

One more flight of stairs and then I would be at the top, and then there was only one way down. The slide is known as Poseidon's Revenge. I had been dreading this all day. This was the one ride I knew I did not want to go on. I had already spent the morning conquering my fears, going down slides I never dreamt I would go down. I thought “that’s enough, no one will make you do anything else. You proved them all wrong.” However, there I was getting ready to go in a slide that shot you up 60 kilometers an hour.

We sat in the line, which in reality was 30 minutes long, but the wait felt like an eternity. I watched as people’s faces turn from enjoyment to fear. The floor dropped from underneath them and with a blink of an eye, they were gone. They were either having the time of their life or going down that slide wishing they were anywhere other than there. As we were approaching the front of the line the couple before us each got inside a tube. The woman was in the far tube on the other side of the platform, and was hyperventilating and something looked wrong. I realized she was just as scared as I was, but she did it. I was starting to believe that maybe I would go down the slide and be fine. The woman went down the slide screaming as if someone just died. Which, made me go back to feeling unsure about going on the slide at all.

During this whole period, of waiting my friends were telling me how everything was going to be fine. Hannah said, “I’ve gone down this and do you really think I would let you on this if I thought it was not safe?”

“No”, I said mumbling.

Unfortunately, Steve proceeded to tell me “I came up to go on this slide earlier and they said I might get stuck.”

“Wait, what,” I asked anxiously.

“Yeah, but don’t worry, I’m sure it won’t happen to you. And if you do get stuck, it won’t be that bad. They will just call the fire department and send you food and water through the slide,” Steve said calmly, but I could tell he was super nervous, too.

I was panicking, I didn’t want to get stuck in the slide, so much so, that I didn’t even realize we were at the front of the line. It was Steve’s turn to go. Hannah and I both looked at each other as Steve went pale. Steve slowly walked to the tube and got in. When he got in he started having second thoughts and then started screaming. “Get me out. I don’t want to do this.” The countdown in the tube started and he made the sign of the cross and then he was gone. I was too busy laughing to realize that it was finally my turn.

The man running the slide had to weigh you to make sure you had enough momentum to get up the big incline, which makes the ride so intense. The man running the slide cleared Hannah, she was good to go. The man said “Step right up,” like I was in some circus.

The light on the scale turned yellow. The worst color it could turn. This meant I would be either okay or stuck. The man said, “So you might end up getting stuck, so if you do just push yourself.”

I lost my mind, “I’m not getting on. Why would I put myself in that situation?”

Hannah said while from the tube, “You will be fine, don’t stress.”

The man said, “Yeah, you will probably be fine.”

“Alright,” I said and got into the tube.

When I was in the tube, I came to the realization that I was in a coffin, cramped, confined, and scary. The countdown started.

“Three….” Here we go, there is no turning back now.

“Two…..” I need to get out of this tube.

“ One.” I was gone.

My breath was taken away and I couldn’t even scream. My eyes were closed the entire time. Then I came to a stop, fast almost too fast. I knew this was a fast ride, but I didn’t know it was so short. I opened my eyes and everything was yellow. “Oh no,” I whispered.

I was stuck. I was stuck in a big plastic tube. I was panicking, I didn’t know what to do. I started screaming. I tried climbing back up the slide to regain momentum; it didn’t work. I tried pushing, but I was still stuck. I started remembering all the things Steve said to me, about how the fire department would have to come and send me food through the slide. I knew I was going to be stuck here for hours, so I started crying hysterically. I was banging on the side of the slide screaming “help!”I thought I was going to die. Something would happen and another person would come flying out of the tube at 60 kilometers an hour and kill me. They would hit my neck and I would be lights out. Then I saw a light and a silhouette of a person. A man with a Panama hat on opened the slide, and calmly said: “Why are you crying?”