Page 12 of Freak Show

Honestly, I was fine with that.

I liked spending time with them all, and my kid was now entertained for the day.

It was a win-win situation for me.

But it didn’t look like the woman I couldn’t take my eyes off of all day cared for the water park.

“Well, I guess we’ll see how this goes,” Hades admitted.

We all watched in fascination as she got situated on the slide some more, shifting her butt forward inch by inch as if she meant to go over the top while sitting up.

She closed her eyes and started to breathe deeply.

“What is she doing?” Hades asked.

“She’s shimmying to the edge,” Keene said.

I looked over with Briley at my side to see she was doing just that.

She had no clue that the second bump launched you straight into the air then dropped six feet.

The lifeguard said something to her, and she reluctantly laid down.

She pushed herself forward with her hands, looked like she was whispering something to herself, then the lifeguard got tired of the holdup.

He pushed her, and she went flying and screaming over the top.

The first drop wasn’t the problem.

It was the second one.

It was a straight drop down that left you airborne for at least five seconds.

But, as if she knew the drop was coming—but likely didn’t because when you were on the slide itself it looked innocuous—she sat up.

Which was the complete wrong thing to do.

Sitting up changed the trajectory of her drop.

Eventually, the fall forced her to lie back, but the move also caused the ill-fitting swim dress she was wearing to fly up and completely cover her face.

“Oh, god,” Briley said, echoing my thoughts.

Seconds after her swim dress covered her face, she slid sideways as she finally made contact with the slide beneath her back. Seconds after that, she was then facing backward on her back as she barreled down the rest of the slide headfirst and backward.

The scream that left her mouth would’ve been comical had she not sounded so terrified.

Keene laughed with the rest of his sisters as she finally hit the bottom where the pool met the slide.

She went under and didn’t come up.

I was the only one not laughing. Well, me and Briley.

Though, I’d done just about everything I could to ensure that Briley wouldn’t be a bully.

Because when my daughter was newly born, Briley’s mother had tried to take her own life thanks to bullies at our high school.

From the moment Briley became mine and mine only, I made it a point to always ensure that Briley would know about her mom.

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