Facing Fears & Controlled Falling

----The rumbles of the engine, the passengers' screams- pounded in my ears. And I wondered how it would feel to fall.

----"HEY," said Sarah. Poke poke. "Elaine." Why is she pausing like that? "We've been in this line for an hour, right?" An odd look was on her face. I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

----"Yeah," I say, not seeing the point in her words, "And? Wow, imagine how long it must feel like to Moo-" Sara "Moocow" was waiting for us outside, since she refused to go on Bizarro.

----"Ok, that's nice," interrupted Sarah, "Now, we're already this far, so would you turn back now. Like, if I told you that the ride was super scary?" She was smiling now, in a mischievous way.

----"Oh!" (a brief hersitation), "No way! This stupid roller coaster of yours is wasting an hour of my life!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands into the air for dramatic effect. Did I mention that I didn't even want to be in this line, that I'd rather be standing outside, bored to death, with Moocow? The only reason I was doing this was a bribe of cotton candy and an immense amount of peer pressure. Ok, so maybe I wanted to ride the largest roller coaster in the park a little... But that little bit wasn't greater than my fear of that controlled falling.

----"Well..." began Sarah slowly, "It's actually really scary and you almost go upside-down and there's more big drops, not just the one right there oh and by the way it's super fast." That was in one breath, by the way.

----Hold on. Whaat?

----"Are. You. Freakin'. Kidding. Me?" In my mind, I grabbed her collar, pinned her up against the wall, and shook her violently. In reality, I was throwing my hands in the air, then smacking my forehead with the palm of my right hand. "Ugh."

----"So, you're going to turn back now?" Should I? Could I? There was no obvious way to get out of the line, as far as I could see. Did I really want to waste all the time that I spent, all the tiny particles of anticipation that had collected?

----"Nope," I grinned. I could tell that Sarah was taken aback.

----The rest of the line, although only about fifteen minutes long, was hard to endure. It was hot, people were getting impatient, and I had to pee.

----Finally! Time to board the coaster. I sat in my seat, waited for the attendants, made sure my guard thing was locked and then... instantly regretted it.

----We started to move.

----I can't say much about the actual ride. It was actually pretty amazing. When I worked up the courage, i put my hands up in the air, once. And the going upside-down thing was a lie. Typical Sarah. What I can say is, I can't imagine not having that experience, not riding my first non-wooden roller coaster, not facing my fear.