The fog was so thick that I could barely see what was in front of me. I looked down onto the road and started walking, not knowing where I was going. At least I knew that I am in this amusement park with all the other fourth graders.
This fog should have an end, I mumbled.
Then I felt a thump on the top of my head. I looked up and realized that I had walked into a sign that says ‘Gravity 5’. I touched my forehead and looked up. In the mist, a snake-like yellow car slowly went up vertically on a track and went to a mysterious halt. The car then fell down vertically into a hole with the speed of light and came out again. It tossed and turned and even went upside down. I could hear many people screaming. It was flying crazily. I closed my eyes and tried not to look.
A few minutes later, the sun came out from the clouds and shone big on my head. I started to sweat and my ponytail started to grow loose. My hair band was suddenly gone, leaving my hair sticking on my neck. I felt like I was going to burn up. I looked around and saw some of my other classmates eating ice cream. I looked into my backpack. Two apples and one water bottle. No money.
I grumbled and crouched down, picked up a long thin stick, and poked a worm crawling on the wet soil. It curled up immediately like a lollipop. I suddenly felt very bored and angry. The sun beaming on me was like fire burning on my back, but I didn’t care. How could I spend a day in this dull place?
“Hey, that is not a nice thing to do,” my friend suddenly said from behind me, “Let’s go find something interesting and fun, like the merry-go-around, or the roller coaster in front of you if you are brave enough.”
I stood up and stamped my sore legs.
“So, what are you going to play?” my friend asked. She was wearing short blue jeans and a yellow t-shirt. Her hair was combed to a tight pony-tail. I had to look up when I am talking to her.
“I don’t know,” I answered. “maybe we can just sit here and wait until it is time to go home.”
My friend and I walked under a tree and sat on a wooden bench.
Of course, nobody would be able to sit on a bench and do nothing for more than 10 minutes.
I started to think about anything that popped out of my head. I remembered the time when I went to the fire station and learned to jump down a 2-story high building with a rope. I was scared at first, but it turned out to be not as scary as I thought before. I think I should also try and play the roller coaster.
“Wait, how about trying the roller coaster?” I asked.
“Okay, fine,” my friend answered. She seemed to surprised by how quick it took for me to change my mind.
One minute later, my friend and I were in the front of the line and a short little man wearing a blue t-shirt walked over. He signalled us into the yellow car.
I pulled her to the left side of the roller coaster. The yellow car has blue triangle patterns on it, like a short poisonous caterpillar.
I walked quickly towards the second row of the yellow car. We buckled our seat belts and got ready for the crazy adventure.
“Are you scared?”my friend asked me. Her voice was shaking.
“No, I am not,” I said quietly, with the voice I always use when I am lying.
The car started to move. It moved slowly upwards with all of us looking at the bright sun, forming a right angle with the ground. Then, it moved parallel with the ground. I could see the whole amusement park, the Ferris wheel, the pirate’s boat moving back and forth, and the maze.
I felt like jumping down the car. It was too boring. I closed my eyes and kept on whispering “so boring, so boring” to myself.
Suddenly, the car screeched with a sudden halt. I opened my eyes and craned my neck to see where the car is going next. All I saw was the whole park. We were at the highest location of the park. I felt nervous and held my seat belts very tight and closed my eyes tightly. This might be the start of the scary part, but there is no way now to get out of this car, I thought. The only way is to face it.
I heard a sound. A tick.
BOOM!
The car headed straight down into the hole. I opened my mouth to scream but nothing came out. Everything went pitch dark. I could feel my hair zooming behind me. I couldn’t actually sit on the chair because I am falling faster than the chair. The sound of my friend’s screaming almost freaked me out. I felt like a bird that lost its wings and falling onto the ground with high speed. Air zoomed past my ear and made a large noise. I held my seat belts even tighter. At the bottom of the tunnel, the air was damp, like a ghost house. It was not over yet. The car then went up fast enough to shoot out of the tunnel. I didn’t dare to open my eyes.
“Wow, so pretty,” I heard someone say.
My curiosity led me to open my eyes.
I saw the whole amusement park, colorful and full of laughter. I saw the tall green mountains, becoming lighter and lighter as it goes further away. I saw the great blue sky with birds flying through. It was indeed pretty.
I forgot I just said to myself that this is boring. The corner of my mouth went up. The roller coaster kept turning, but I still left my eyes open. I tried to look at everything in different point of views. When I am upside down, the sky is the ground and the ground is the sky. When the roller coaster dove down nearer to the ground, I can see a group of students eating chocolate ice cream and a few birds resting on a tree. When I am closer to the sky, the Ferris wheel is small and the moving crowds of people were like little ants.
The car started to slow down and finally stopped. It was back to where it was before. I turned around and looked at my friend, she was still covering her eyes.
“Hey, it’s over,” I whispered to her. “open your eyes.”
She opened her eyes and looked around.
My friend and I got out of the car.
“So, how was that?” my friend forced out of her breath after riding the roller coaster. She wiped her hands on her forehead. I guess she was really scared. We walked down the tall stairs to the ground. It was a long way.
“It was great,” I said simply. I didn’t want her to feel like she is the only person who is scared.
“Yeah,” she remarked.
I felt glad that I rode the roller coaster. If there was no such thing called ‘trying’, I probably would still be doing nothing. I suddenly felt like the happiest person in the world.
I took out two big red apples. They were as heavy as stone. I gave one to my friend.
We started walking, looking at everything around us, one step by a time, chatting, and eating apples, with apple juice streaming down our hands.
