Rings and Roller Coaster

The giant tangled mass of metal rose above other structures carrying little crazy screaming ants on it. In a few minutes we would be the crazy screaming ants. As we waited in the long line of impatient adventurous people, Marissa and I watched the ants and their fate on the ride. Some were scared, and stayed still like trying tolerate it; a few them were screaming and wanting to get off, while others held their spouses' hands and together enjoyed the journey. Like Marriage.

We were seeing the ants on the ride, but deep down both of us were imagining ourselves on it. Marissa had cupped mouth, her eyes wide open as she looked on. I It seemed exciting, a new thrill in life. Yet it was scary and we weren't sure whether the decision we made was right for us or not. What if something goes wrong ? What if we fall apart ?

“Oh! My god the ride is about to start, I’m so scared, I’m hell scared"

"It is fine hon." I squeezed her hand and looked her straight in the eye," I am with you".

She melted and calmed instantly, until the ride speeded up. Again she could not stop screaming and pulling my collar. She was scared to death, but still she had agreed to come to this ride for me. Just like I had agreed to ride life with her, a week back. I looked at my ring and smiled to myself, “finally we are together”, I thought to myself. The ride moved with full speed towards the first hill and came to a sudden halt beneath it. Then slowly as if enjoying the torture, the sadist boat moved up the hill and again came to a brief pause at the very peak. I shuddered at the thought that we were in contact with track at only one point and if either one of us budged one inch, it would be the last time we would be enjoying anything. So I stayed very still and put my arms around Marissa, who was trying to firmly fix her hands and legs to the boat and be prepared for her first down the hill thrilling experience. Her eyes were wide open and she was as still as statue. I was so busy watching her that I forgot to hold on to the boat and the boat at that very instant went straight down with my hands flowing in the air like the audience in a peace concert. In less than a second we were down and close to ground, I looked at Marissa who breathed a sigh of relief, “Whoa!.....h..hh…h.h… That !!!...was....uhh..hhh...hhh....not that bad…” I winked at her, “I told you”. We had successfully faced the first coaster of our new life. Together. The boat then moved ahead like any other boat in a lake and we enjoyed the peaceful water and our time together, till it reached the next steep hill. Now Marissa was a little more relaxed, and as we went down this time, against the wind, her hair blew in all different directions but she didn’t mind infact she enjoyed the wind blowing straight in her face. And I enjoyed watching her.

The coaster then moved beneath the highest coaster, slowly. Marissa bit her lip frantically; I knew she was nervous so I held her hand tightly. I'd never let her go. But as soon as we reached the top, she left my hand and caught her safety belt as if she was hanging by it for her dear life. One second she was screaming, yelling, swearing and in the next - splash! We were thrown into the water. It felt as if something had fallen, so I looked at Marissa. The water was unexpected I just cannot forget the look on Marissa's face when she was screaming and in the next second she was drenched top to bottom. I wish I had a camera to capture that look. She looked beautiful even with her hair all messed up by the wind and makeup wiped by the water.

I helped her come out of the trance. I wiped her face and kissed her, "It's over babes and you are alive". Hearing that she burst laughing and snuggled into me and laced our hands, I knew what she was going to say and I really wanted to hear her say it. But don't expect marriage to go the way you planned it, because Marissa looked down on our laced hands twirled my hand around , her face changed colors from blushing pink to angry red and said, "Wheres is you ring ?".

"Whh...What kinda question is that? Here, its right here on my finger!" and I looked down on my hand, only to be proved wrong. I looked up to her furious face," bb..bbu...but I remember I was wearing it when we got on the ride,....ummm....aaa..."

"Oh! So you mean it fell off during the ride? Are you freakin' out of your mind? No way in hell can that happen! I'll tell you what happened. You didn’t wear the ring because that would go against your player image. And that would cut your ticket to flirt with girls. So you didn’t wear the ring and now that I caught you red handed, you are making excuses about how it dropped during the ride!”

“No baby, I am not lying"

"Forget it you bloody liar. You haven’t changed at all; you are still the fuckin player you used to be"

She stomped on his foot and got off the boat. " Marissa..aaoowww!!!.....Marissa!!But...wait !! Marissa please just hear me out…Marissa ….Marr….".  Too late, she was gone. Forever.

I sat there still in the boat, watching her go and all I could think was that marriage is not about living with a beautiful person you love, it's about the roller coasters in life.