The Sky Coaster

My best friend and I walked toward the familiar amusement park last Tuesday as I took the crumbled piece of paper out of my pocket. I read, "The Get to Know You Party. Free dinner and rides." Mindy, Our friend Jenna, and I all worked at Lagoon and they were having an Employee Party. Everyone always said how much fun they were and, now, we were about to find out.

We followed the arrowed signs and they lead to a very large crowd. As we got closer, I noticed that that crowd was split up into lines. There was white tables at the end of each line and above the tables were signs with the names of work departments. Her eyes were about the same place as mine as Mindy read aloud, "Foods, Games, Merchandise, etc." We lined up behind the food line. I looked ahead to see a few familiar looking faces from our school. Quite a few ninth graders were working here this year. As we gradually got to the front of the line, a girl asked for my name and she checked it off a list. Then we were given three cards. One of the cards was a coupon to a free Icee, another was for a free prize, and the third one was for dinner. Then we were given a choice on the fourth card. Would we want to go racing on go-carts or would we want to ride the Sky Coaster? The Sky Coaster. Mindy and I had promised to each other that we were going to ride that together at least once before the end of the summer. We looked at each other and at the same time, we picked up a Sky Coaster card as Jenna followed.

A man who seemed to be a supervisor yelled out, "Hey employees, the kitchen closes earlier than everything else so you should hurry up and eat." Jenna found a group of her friends from her school and told us she would wait in line with them and we would meet up with her later. We both nodded and headed to the employee kitchen. It was crowded with people and we got in line. We both got cola which turned out to be flat, and took a bowl full of white rice and orange chicken as we threw our cards in a small box. Mindy picked a table where we sat and ate. I was surprised to find that the chicken wasn't that bad. I grabbed a packet of soy sauce and poured it on. "What should we do next?" I asked Mindy. "I think you know," she replied with a smile.

We started to head out of the cafeteria when I saw a few more familiar faces in line to get their food. "KELSEY!" I tackled her with a hug. Kayla was with her and I greeted her. "We have been screaming your name over here," Kayla said. I laughed. "I didn't hear anything." I was sort of deaf though.

We left the employee kitchen to see Jenna eating with her friends on a table outside. "We are going to go ride the Sky Coaster," Mindy informed her. She spoke of it as if it was nothing. I thought she wasn't at all afraid.

We started to head over in the direction as we looked up at the Sky Coaster. You have to put on these special jacket/vest things on, then you walk onto this platform where you are raised above the ground as you are connected to one or two other people by a small hook on your side.They rise you higher than the whole park by a wire then they tell one of you to pull a small string that lets you free fall straight down to your death when you swing back up in the other direction and keep swinging back and forth until you stop. It looks terrifying, but everyone who gets off says the same thing, "That. Was. Awesome."

"I'm so scared!" "Me Too!" We said to each other over and over. She walked past as if she wasn't interested in going on the ride with my arm hooked in hers. "Mindy, I am as terrified as you. If we don't go now, we are going to regret it for the rest of our lives. You know it." We spoke of it as If was a choice between life or death. She agreed. We both knew it was true. We walked to the back of the line. There was Jenna again walking with her friends. Mindy notified for her to come over here. "Get in line." "I'm so scared." We heard the familiar term. "So are we," I said, "but get your butt in line. You are riding this if you like it or not." She laughed but got in line with us. The scared feeling seemed to fade. I didn't have any feelings for the ride anymore. It felt as if I had to ride it. Nothing was stopping me. I was determined.

Then came Kelsey and Kayla. "We just rode the go-carts." We were getting closer and closer to the front of the line. The butterfly queasy feeling returned to my stomach. "Why didn't you choose this one?" "We are too scared." For a moment, I regretted our choice. Then I remembered my and Mindy's oath. "So am I, but I will regret it later if I don't do it." A woman asked for our tickets. We got them out of our pockets, then Jenna hesitated. "I can't find it!" she said to the woman. "I have waited in line this whole time, can I please ride it?" "No ticket, No ride," she replied. We all stared in disappointment. She sighed. "Well, I guess today is your lucky day." She opened the gate and let her through. We all smiled and laughed. They had us put on the weird vest things and got in place. Can I do this? "I am so scared right now!" I said. Kelsey and Kayla still stood by the gate. They were going to watch us ride. "Me too." Mindy said. I was shaking and I didn't know why. It was just a ride. I had to get the feeling in my stomach to vanish. I started to scream verrry loudly. People started to laugh. I laughed at myself. I was glad that I was making Jenna and Mindy feel better and I was making myself feel better too.

The guy opened the gate for us and we walked down this narrow pathway to this platform. These two guys hooked us together. "This isn't happening!" Mindy said. "Are we going to die?" Jenna asked in a daze. "Yes," the guy replied as he laughed. They began rise us towards the sky as we looked straight down at them. "No!" I said. "No!" Mindy said. "I don't wanna pull the string!" Jenna continued. We were almost to the top. Everything below began to get smaller and smaller. "Are you ready?" the intercom said. "NOOOO!" we yelled in unison. "Three.Two.One.." Jenna pulled the string. Everything flew past us and we free-fell through the sky. I was screaming my head off and Mindy continued laughing at me. We flew across to the other side where I saw Kelsey and Kayla staring up at us. "I LOVE YOU KELSEY!" I screamed. They laughed at us. We continued to swirl back and forth until we reached a halt. As we began to walk again, my feet felt weightless and we barley spoke. "How was it?" people asked.

We replied, "That. Was. Awesome."