Page 163 of Meet Me at the Metro

“I tap out! I tap out!” I’m smoothing down my disheveled hair the second he lets me go. “For such an old man, you sure do have an arm on you.”

That earns me a challenging glare that promises revenge for my backhanded comment, but Kimberley quickly intervenes. “Don’t you dare start up again! One of these days, you boys will hurt yourselves with all that horseplay.”

“Serves them right,” Dad quips.

“You three are a mess.”

“And you loveus the more for it,” he goads, pulling Kim into his arms and placing a loving kiss against her temple.

The lights of the winding rollercoaster glow brighter the closer we approach it, enticing me to hurry and join the lengthy queue stretched along its perimeter.

I dash for it, tossing my head back to bait Connor. “You coming or what?”

“I think I’ll just watch this first time! Just observe, and then maybe—”

“Chicken!”

As I join the end of the line, Connor flips me the bird in the distance, and I snort as Kim swats his vulgar gesture away. Dad’s shaking his head, laughing at the ridiculous scene of it all.

My stepmum was right, the three of us were a damn mess with all the aggravating we ensued on each other, but it made things fun—made things lighthearted again.

Kimberley, Connor, and Dad watch me slowly—impatiently—file through the line. Several minutes, though it feels like hours, pass before the ride attendant finally ushers me through the gate. I glance back toward my family when I find my seat at the back of the coaster, chuckling to myself at the sight of them huddled in the cold, picking apart the oversized candy floss now held in Connor’s hand.

I’m confident that he won’t be joining me for the second ride, and I’m willing to bet he’ll blame it on that damn candy floss.

I’m a ball of pure adrenaline as the ride’s carts begin clicking up the track, taunting riders with a guaranteed thrill as it lifts us toward the first peak. However, when the coaster is about to take its first descent, a horrified scream echoes from somewhere off the ride. The raw sound of it has my excitement quickly morphing into unease.

The passengers in the rows ahead of me peer back to the bustling market below, and when I see their eyes widen, I’m compelled to look, too.

I jerk my head back to get a glance, but I can’t quite decipher the scene unfolding.

All I can see is people running, scattering like scared fish in a tank. I shiver as horrified shouts rip through the air, growing so loud I can hear them clearly, even over the constant noisy clicking of the rollercoaster.

For a moment, the ride halts, becoming still enough for me to see it—the white cargo van weaving recklessly between the stalls and smaller amusement rides, driving through hordes of people lucky enough to dodge it in the knick of time.

Then, suddenly, the rush of hot air steals my breath as the roller coaster abruptly drops, plummeting down into the ride’s first valley. Bellows and screams haunt me as the coaster races down the track, and I’m rendered powerless to help, so far removed from horrors my eyes can’t see anymore.

Oh my God, my family.

They’re down there now, trapped in the thick of it. I don’t let myself contemplate it—consider that those shrieks could be coming from them. However, every speedy hurdle, dip, and loop the carts make has my mind falling deeper into a sea of doubt.

A sea of unfathomable terror.

It feels like an eternity before we come screeching to a halt at the end of the roller coaster’s circuit. The attendant’s eyes are frozen over with fear when we arrive, but the second we’re beneath the awning we started at, my hands are pushing frantically against the lap bar, locking me in place.

“Let us off!” I shout, wrestling to free myself as the sound of metal scraping ricochets from somewhere in the distance.

“You all need to stay where you are,” he instructs, hands trembling as he brings a walkie-talkie to his ear. He’s listening to someone speaking on the other end, but it’s not discernable over the worried chatter of my fellow passengers.

A couple in a cart ahead tries rising from their seat. “What is going on?”

“E-e-everyone, please just stay calm.”

I don’t give a fuck as to what’s going on, I want off. I need to get to my family. I’ve got to find them right now.

“Let me off!” I wildly protest, thrashing and kicking in a demand to be heard. “Let me out, dammit!”

Despitehis reluctance, the attendant presses a button at his operation stand, and the bar releases against my lap. I fly up with it, scrambling off the ride before anyone can stop me. Someone’s calling out from behind, but I don’t let their objections slow me as I vault over the gates and stomp down the metal ramp at the ride’s exit.

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