Aloft Forever
>Reggie was running far ahead of her friends before finally stopping dead in her tracks. ”WAAAHOOOO! There it is guys! The Spleen Peeler!” Reggie’s excitement was completely unbounded, fists in the air and with a grin visible from the space station.
>Todd and Esther caught up to her as quickly as they could. Before the trio stood a monstrous jumble of metal bars, brackets, tracks, and pylons. A furious, screaming orange and red roller coaster.
>”120 feet of pure gut ripping fury! YEAH!” Reggie was a flurry of facts. “It’s got over 3300 feet of track, four inversions, 22 breakneck turns, and to top it all off, a drop that goes over 95 feet! Oh man oh man this is gonna be the best!”
>”Hahaa yeah dudes. This is gonna totally rule. I’ve been waiting to ride this thing forever!” Todd was nearly as excited as Reggie.
>Esther on the other hand, was the embodiment of panic. To call her paralyzed with fear was an understatement. Her legs didn’t just refuse to work, they seemingly ceased to exist altogether. “I-I-I I don’t know about this you guys. I don’t think I can d-do it.” She started turning as if to walk the other direction.
>”Aww come on Esther, it’s gonna be a blast!” Reggie had placed her arm around her trembling friend and began leading her towards the line. It zigzagged throughout the heart of the beast, the sounds of excited and terrified screams filled the air around them as the trains roared through the sky.
>Esther’s panic worsened as they made it to the halfway point of the winding mass of waiting riders. “Guys, seriously, I.. I’m terrified of heights. I just can’t do this.”
>Todd’s face was contorted in confusion and he raised an eyebrow at his revelation “But, you can fly Esther. How are you of all people afraid of heights?”
>”That’s only on Endless though! That’s comPLETEly different!” Her arms were waiving in the air.
>”Relax Esther” Reggie’s nonchalant voice had the lightest tint of annoyance in it. “This ride is completely safe!” she whacked a nearby pylon with her fist. Several screws fell to the ground from high above and Esther shrank into herself just a bit more. She jumped at the sound of another scream above, another train gone over the big drop.
>While Todd’s excitement may have grown as they got nearer the front of the line, Reggie’s was absolutely exponential. “We’re almost there! We’re almostthere! We’realmostthere!” Her manic demeanor was almost as frightening as the coaster to Esther. Reggie couldn’t sit still on a normal day, but this was extreme. It might have only been a dozen minutes or so, but to Esther it felt like hours as the jelly that was her legs dragged her ever forward with her supposed friends.
>Esther was trying to find any way out she could now. “Guys why don’t go on the Twirlin’ Merlins instead? That looks fun, right?” Her eyes darted back and forth between Reggie and Todd, a nervous, hopeful smile across her face.
>”Isn’t that ride for like, little kids?”
>”Well what about the Ferris wheel? That goes even higher doesn’t it? ..And it’s totally closed in.”
>”No way Esther we got the neeed for speeeed!” Reggie’s arms rolled about to mimic the coaster.
>They were within spitting distance now, something Reggie was ready to literally prove before being stopped by Todd. Three or four more trips around the twisting horror snake and it’d be their turn. Panic became dread and Esther’s head hung low as her body shuddered at every whoosh and scream above her. Perhaps if she didn’t look at it, it would be less real to her. Perhaps it would all just be a bad dream in the end. She’d wake up in her bed and everything would be totally fine. They inched closer and closer. The sounds of the coaster getting louder and realer. Esther felt done for.
>”You’re up guys, tickets please.” came the sound of a strong, almost reassuring voice. Esther looked up to find herself starting into the most piercing green eyes she had ever seen. They were almost unreal, more colorful and spectacular than anything she had seen before. And she had seen actual emerald forests on Endless! Corn yellow locks framed the angelic face, tapering down towards a jawline that would make the cliffs of Dover swoon. His chiseled hand was outstretched for Esther’s ticket. As she placed it in his palm and their fingers touched she felt electricity shoot through her entire body. A nearly inaudibly stammered “h-h-h-hi” was all that escaped her lips.
>Reggie had already bounded into the car, jaw clenched, ready for the ride of her life. She was rockin it back and forth, trying to force it to move already. Todd lingered though, seeing Esther still frozen in line, staring at the ride operator. “You coming Esther?”
>She nodded unthinkingly, her eyes drifting down to the operator’s arm, guiding her towards the ride. Esther had seen Grecian statues like this in her art books before and blushed at the comparison. His muscles looked like solid oak covered by that invitingly sienna skin, kissed but the sun she suddenly so enviously longed to be. He could carry her across every beach in the world with those arms, his voice in her ear like a warm fireplace on a snowy night. Perhaps she had already died. Surely a dream such as this couldn’t be real. Her thoughts continued to wander from moonlit nights as he held her hand to help her into the ride, to crashing, stormy nights in cozy cabins as he buckled the final strap at her waist, a furious scarlet flooding her cheeks. She sighed long as she watched him walk back to the operator’s booth.
>The initial lurch as the roller coaster started shattered her daydream like glass into a reality of horror she had so easily forgotten. Reggie was screaming with joy in her left ear, hands in the air already. Todd cheering the coaster on as it began to climb the first hill. “Oh no oh no oh no no no” Esther’s panic was back in full force. As they left the station she looked back with a frown one last time at her picturesque daydream.
>“I’ve gotta get off this thing. How do we stop it? How do we go back!?” The world below was shrinking at an alarming rate and Esther was beginning to hyperventilate as they got nearer the peak.
>Reggie took notice “Esther are you ok? Calm down it’s gonna be fine. You’re supposed to enjoy roller coasters.”
>”IT IS NOT FINE REGGIE! I told you I didn’t want to be here. I just know something’s going to happen. Something’s going to go wrong.”
>Reggie grabbed Esther’s hand and held it tightly. “It’s ok Esther, we’re here with you. We won’t let anything bad happen to you. Ever.” Her overly confident smile was a bit contagious.
>Todd took her other hand and smiled just the same. Maybe they were right. As long as she had her friends by her side, everything would work out alrigh..
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!” Esther never saw the drop coming. But it was all worth the worry.