Authors: Janice Hadden
As
soon as I got home, I sprinted upstairs to call Sam—pressing
her number in
speed
dial, my whole body was trembling
.
I
have previously told Sam about Tristan and all our strange
interactions. I withheld mentioning some of the strange emotions I
felt when I’m around him. It wasn’t something I could
explain, even to myself.
The
phone kept ringing. “Dammit Sam, pick up.” After an
infinity, Sam was on the other line.
“
Sam…I
did something utterly stupid.”
“
Wait…are
we talking about Katheryna here? The one that doesn’t do
stupid!”
“
I
know…I know...I don’t know what came over me…but
I followed Tristan after we all left…and that’s not the
worst part.”
“
Oh
my gosh…you found out something!”
“
No…he
caught me.”
“
Oh…that’s
bad.”
“
Are
you okay?…did he hurt you?…what did he say?”
“
Well…that’s
the strange part… he wasn’t actually mad…at least
I didn’t think so…I’m officially a stalker.”
My voice was panicked. I hyperventilated.
“
L
ook
Kat…you’re not a stalker. Stalkers are people who follow
you to hurt you…you’re just trying to find out what’s
his beef with you,” she said reassuringly. Her words did little
to ease my anxiety.
“
Either
way…I’m mad at you,” she continued.
“
What?…Why?”
I was confused at how the conversation had changed into something
entirely different.
“
We’re
best friends…If you’re going to do something stupid, I
want to be involved or at least be informed…I missed out on
all the fun.”
“
Believe
me, I almost peed in my pants…I don’t think you would
have wanted to be there.”
“
Oh,
I would. Tristan doesn’t scare me…well, okay maybe a
little.”
“
So,
what did he actually say to you?”
“
He
asked why I was following him and of course I denied it at first and
fled, but then he followed me and stopped me and I had no choice…”
“
What…you
confessed?…you never confess!…didn’t I teach you
anything?”
“
I’m
a bad liar…he already saw it on my face…anyway, I’m
not sure what I’m going to do now!”
“
You
are not going to do anything…if he asks you, say it was
PMS
,
he’ll buy that…I mean It could be true.”
“
Sam,
this is serious.”
“
Okay,
let me think of something. It might take a while…give me 24
hours.”
I
t
was about four in the afternoon when the doorbell rang.
“
Can
you get it dad!…If it’s Josh, tell him I’ll be
right down.” I quickly sprinted upstairs and decided to put my
half done make-up in the hallway. I was already dressed and thought I
had more than enough time before everybody got to my house to finish
getting ready. But it seemed like Josh decided to come a little
early. I wasn’t too annoyed by the inconvenience, but just felt
a little rushed. There was a full
bodied
mirror in the small hall next to the bathroom. I heard a creaking
sound as
Steve
opened the door.
“
Come
on in…you're, Josh?”
“
Yes,
sir. Nice to meet you.”
I
heard faint footsteps toward the living room. I sighed. I haven’t
gone in a date in a very long time…well, okay…
never
,
since I had broken up with Cash, but that’s not exactly why I
was nervous—I was a little concerned on the thought that, Josh
might
like
me more than I liked him…of course I really liked him too, but
not in the way that he probably preferred, which is one of the
reasons why I never go out on dates. He seemed really nice and the
whole reason why I decided to go out with him in the first place.
I
patted my face with powder, dotted my lids with a brown shadow, swept
a black mascara on my lashes and finished with a dab of pink lip
gloss. Smoothing my cream colored shirt, I assessed the whole look in
the mirror. I had gone down just as Josh had taken a seat on the
couch. He was originally from Texas, and that’s all I knew of
him. He brought sunflowers and handed them to me.
“
Thank
You…these are beautiful. I didn‘t realize sunflowers are
still in season?”
“
They’re
not…but I have my resources,” he smiled, adorably. He
was wearing jeans and a blue shirt. Then the doorbell rang again.
“
Hello
Becca, Jeremy…C’mon in. You kids, kinda going a little
late to this thing,” Steve said parentally after he opened the
door.
“
Well,
sorta
more fun in the dark,” Jeremy snorted. Becca gave him a harsh
nudge. “Ow, what? I was just saying it’s fun being in a
roller coaster at night.”
“
Are
you ready to go?” Josh asked too politely.
“
Yes…but
let me put the flowers in water.” I hurried my feet to the
kitchen and grabbed my mom’s crystal vase that was nicely
displayed in one of the glass cabinets. I filled the vase with water
and placed the beautiful long stemmed sunflowers and placed the
arrangement in the middle of the counter top. I admired it for a
brief second before sprinting back to join everyone.
“
OK,
dad.” I kissed him on the cheek, then wiped the trace of my
lipstick from his stained cheek.
“
Oh,
umm Kat…make sure you don’t stay out too late. It‘s
a far drive.” I kinda gave him the look like—
I’m-not-a-minor.
“
You
look nice.” Josh smiled brightly as he grabbed my hand to
escort me out.
“
Thanks.”
“
This
is Becca and her boyfriend, Jeremy.” They all shook each
other’s hands. “Nice to meet you, Josh.”
“
Thanks
for letting us tag along man. We were actually planning to go next
month, I heard they have a new ride.”
Jeremy
wore a blue t-shirt, gray jacket and jeans. Becca matched his casual
look.
“
Yeah…no
problem,” Josh said.
As
we walked outside, we stopped at a sleek, red-hot sports car. I
wasn’t sure what kind of car it was, but Jeremy fell in love
with it instantly, and admired, drooled and stroked it for about five
minutes. Becca was Irritated.
Josh
opened the passenger door and leaned the front seat to let Becca and
Jeremy in the back. Putting my seat belt on, Josh opened the top. And
as we drove, our hair bristled against the wind. It was an hour drive
to Roller Mountain and by the time we had gotten there, I would have
needed more than a light sweater, so I brought a thicker jacket and
placed it on my lap. Becca and Jeremy had spent most of the time
talking to each other for most of the drive. They usually didn‘t
see each other during the week and I could tell how excited they were
to spend time.
Looking
through the side mirror, Becca had her head rested on his shoulders,
while he leaned against her head. Josh was really fun to talk to.
After he shared about his childhood, he wanted to know more about
me—what I liked, what I enjoyed. I mostly talked about Steve
and all the things we used to do when I was a kid. It was still light
when we arrived. The parking lot was halfway full. From afar, I could
see the roller coasters curving the jagged slopes of the mountain. We
hopped in one of the many carts that had picked up passengers to get
to the front entrance.
As
we reached the gate manned by an employee wearing a muddy colored
shirt and shorts, Josh handed him four tickets. Immediately, the air
smelled of roasted cashews, popcorn, cotton candy and pecans. My
stomach growled in anticipation. “So, what do you girls want to
do first?” Josh askd eagerly.
“
Let’s
go to the game booths!” Becca initiated, as she yanked Jeremy‘s
hand, pulling him toward the carnival booths. We followed their lead
as we strolled to follow the
sign.
We played darts first. Then, we moved to the shooting range,
basketball, and then the pinball machine. Then there was the air
hockey and Foosball. Josh was very good in all, surprisingly.
“
Hey,
let’s go on the bumper cars!” I yelled, as I spotted the
mini cars on the opposite side, spinning aggressively on the tracks.
I picked a yellow car. As we were gliding along the tracks, Josh kept
bumping me. I tried to get him back. Jeremy got me as well. Becca got
all of us.
“
That
was so much fun,” Becca said as we left and moved on to the
other rides. We were on our way uphill, when we saw the train tracks
and decided to hop on a rustic looking train. On our way, we passed
some shops and couldn’t help ourselves to the smell of carnival
food.
“
Let’s
get something to eat.” We all hopped out when we spotted the
food court. Like little kids, we all ran to the aroma of buttery
popcorn, roasted corn, funnel cake, brisket and barbeques. As we were
waiting for our order, Jeremy and Becca kept kissing, making me a
little uncomfortable since Josh and I barely knew each other, there
wasn’t much we could do besides avoid staring at them.
When
we finally got our order of barbeque, sodas, and my favorite—funnel
cake, we headed to sit at the picnic tables. Becca sat on Jeremy’s
lap.
“
So,
Josh, I heard Kat spilled soda on you,” Jeremy teased.
“
Yeah,
she was so worried…I kept saying it was okay but she wouldn’t
let up with her apologies,” his mouth stretched to a grin.
“
Look,
it was my second night, I was trying to make an impression.”
“
You
certainly did. Look…here we are now,” his voice deep.
His eyes, heavy on me. I smiled, embarrassed.
It
was almost dusk and we had just finished eating. “Let’s
go ride the roller coasters.” Josh lead us this time, extremely
excited. We rode The Smash Mountain and The Boat Bonanza. “We
should ride the scariest ride, the High Velocity Roller Express,”
Josh said it with so much excitement, I felt my stomach heave. This
was the scariest ride of all. A roller coaster with a jaw-dropping,
550 feet drop at the end.
The
line was rather long—long enough for me to feel extremely
anxious and change my mind. Finally, our turn came and I decided a
few seconds of hyperventilating and screaming was not going to kill
me. Well, at least I hope not. Jeremy and Becca sat in the cart in
front of us, while I hurriedly stepped in the back cart with Josh.
As
soon as I put my seat belt on, the bar railing came down—locking
and securing us to our seats. It started to move. Jug, jug, jug. It
moved slowly at first—bumpy and nerve wracking. Josh met my
eyes, his face was thrilled with excitement while my stomach wrenched
tighter. Then it went down, hard, fast and relentless. Turning and
spinning, I automatically held on tight on the bar, as the wind
whipped my hair—lashing violently.
Lights
shot up into chaos as the carts spun and circled around, twisting and
turning. I breathed the thick, warm air. It continued on its track
and finally—the final drop. For a while, my stomach was outside
my body.
Then.
It
happened fast.
I
felt my
seat belt
unsnap—like
it got yanked from my waist. The bar raised and my body lifted with
such force, I was thrown into the air. I was falling.
Fast.
Into
the bottomless pit.
My
surrounding—everything whirls into a spin of blurry shadows,
muffled voices
and
streaks of light. It was dark. I felt cold even though I knew the air
was warm.
I
waded through darkness, clawing the invisible air, hoping each
attempted grasp would be an anchor to safety—but there was
nothing. Just—the inevitable.
Coldness
enveloped me as fast as I fell. The suffocating air blocked my scream
from my throat. Thick air buzzed in my ears. I bit my lip in horror.
I felt sick to the point of passing out—but my mind still
coherent enough to know that this was the end. I was spinning and
falling to my death. The abyss of darkness that was meant for me. My
nightmare—now a reality.