Page 78 of The Brave and the Reckless

“Come on.”

We only walked a bit further into the park when the noise started giving it away. Esra’s face snapped up. Her eyes narrowed on the dark roller coaster. The tracks were barely illuminated by a few security lights, but the train still rattled as it plunged downwards. She spotted the children’s carousel next, twirling round and round, the horses moving up and down, but no doodling music and no lights giving it its usual charm.

“It’s an insurance thing. Once a year, all rides are run for twenty-four hours straight to keep track of any technical issues that might not pop up otherwise,” I explained. “When I was a kid, someone told me that we had to open the park for ghosts one night of the year to prevent it getting haunted the other 364 days.”

“That’s cute,” Esra laughed.

“It scared the crap out of me. I circled that day on my calendar and stayed far, far away from the park.”

“Why? Look at them.” She pointed at the roller coaster. “All the little ghosts are having the best time ever.”

“Little ghosts? Maybe they’re big and murderous.”

“No.” She shook her head decisively and turned me by the arm toward the carousel. “I think that’s a sweet thought. I had a friend at the hospital when I was little. Juliet. She died of some genetic thing. I didn’t really get it back then. She was always there when I was, so I always had someone to play with. And then she was just gone, but people checked in and out of the hospital all the time, so it didn’t really register with me. That said, if people stick around as ghosts, I think it would be nice for the little ones to get free rein here for a night.”

She smiled and the sincerity in her eyes needled its way right to my heart.

“Well, now I feel bad. I was going to say we can ride any attraction you want tonight, but I don’t want to take a seat away from a ghost child.”

Esra seemed to genuinely ponder for a moment. That either made her the most unhinged or the most considerate person I’d ever met. Jury was still out. Both seemed to work for me though.

“Haunted Mines,” she said, “because if I was a ghost on my day off, I wouldn’t want to deal with any inaccurate depictions of ghost hauntings.”

“Of course. That’s the only logical solution.”

She slapped the back of her hand against my chest. “Don’t make fun of me and my ghost children. I just want them to be happy.”

“I want your ghost children to be happy, too,” I said and caught her wrist to kiss her knuckles. I kept her handagainst my chest as we made our way over to the Haunted Mines, reveling in the bit of casual physical contact. One of the security guards walked past us, and I just greeted him and told him we’d have to check on the horses. He didn’t seem to care that the stables were at the opposite end of the park.

The entrance to the Haunted Mines was shaped like a skull carved from stone, and we had to walk through the gaping mouth to get to the carriages. Unlike the roller coaster’s train, this ride had individual carts, each shaped like an egg. The bottom part looked like a hollow boulder with a bench inside, while the top half was made from metal grating. The cage kept guests from reaching out to touch stuff, but it also allowed staff members to jump out of the shadows and rattle the cart a little. That was the most thrill you got on this ride. There were no drops or loopings. The carts only went in one direction and swiveled left and right.

Without anyone attending the controls, we had to sprint for a cart, get in and latch the door within seconds. We made it by the skin of our teeth. My heart pulsed in the back of my throat. Raw nerves told me that we’d been too close to jamming the ride. Meanwhile, Esra collapsed on top of me on the bench, half-sprawled out, laughing.

“We did it. That was so close,” she wheezed, brushing a tear from the corner of her eye. Her laughter reverberated through my chest, easing some of the tension there.

“Yeah,” I breathed, “so close.”

“You okay?” She pushed herself up but not off me. She slid deeper into my lap, back resting against my chest, and kissed the side of my face.

“I just realized how irresponsible this is.” We could fuck up the whole insurance thing. I was pretty sure it wasn’t cheap to run the whole park at night without the ticket sales to offset the running cost. If we fucked that up somehow, it would definitely be grounds for firing.

I usually wasn’t this reckless, but I’d wanted to spend the evening with her. Alone. Having fun. Somehow, the possible consequences hadn’t even crossed my mind.

“Too late to back out now,” Esra whispered as the cart rounded the first corner and we were greeted by a sinister voice relaying the history of the mines. She settled in and pulled my arms around her waist in lieu of a belt. Getting to hold her like that immediately eradicated all worries about the potential fallout of this date.

The Haunted Mines were a very child-friendly attraction, but Esra’s stomach still trembled under my hands as her eyes drank in the story. I watched her face light up in shades of red and purple through the ride, mouth slightly ajar. I tightened my hold on her when she jumped at the mechatronic spider monster that shot out from one of the caves.

“Was this your first time?” I asked as we rattled toward the exit.

“Nope. I think I’ve been two or three times. I love it. I keep finding new little details that I missed before.”

“You still jumped at the spider.”

“Because spiders are scary, even when you know they’re there. Duh.”

Her weight lifted off me. Rather than dashing for the exit, however, Esra slid back into my lap, facing me this time. Her knees hugged my thighs on either side and her fingers grazed into the back of my shirt.

“Hi.” She leaned her forehead against mine. “I missed you.”

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