Short Stories

Last Chance

There was something magical about theme parks. The way you’d feel giddy whenever you visited them, no matter how old you were. The smell of fries, sunscreen and nappies, the screams and laughs everywhere, the grandparents and children with sticky fingers, foreign tourists and groups of teenagers, parents with homemade lunch packs and maps of the park in front of their faces.
It started with the entrance. The big, pointy roof could be seen from miles away, and it gave you this sense of excitement, the feeling that you were in for a great day. As you stood in the waiting line, you’d look up, and see all sorts of birds nestling under the rooftop. There was never litter on the ground, and the soft music already set the mood.
As you made your way into the park, there would be the big discussion. No matter how often you’d been here; it would always be the same: where to go first? To the rollercoasters, hoping to escape the long queues early in the morning? To the water slides, so you had all day for your clothes to dry? Or start with the most boring things?
Today, it was decided that you would all take the recommended route. You started with a walk through the fairy tale forest, reliving your childhood dreams of becoming Cinderella. You smiled at the children who shuddered at the wolf hunting the little goats, pointedly not remembering how you used to be the same.
It was past noon when you arrived at the action heavy side of the park, that featured several rollercoasters. You weren’t a big fan of them usually; you had a fear of heights. But you didn’t want to be the odd one out, so usually you would go along with your friends. Thus, you’d already seen most of the rollercoasters here. The first one was a haunted rollercoaster, based on an old folk tale. It was scary as hell the first time, but after that not so much. The second one was your favourite; it had no scary elements, it was just the fastest one of them all. Two trains would race each other on a wooden track, and you loved it. The feeling of the wind through your hair, the slightly off feeling in your stomach, the ridiculous photo’s at the end of the ride. The third one used to be the worst; with a double looping, a double corkscrew and a dazzling view. You could handle it; if you didn’t look down. But recently, a new one had opened. Even higher than the first, it went up for over 20 meters, only to fall straight down, into the ground. The sight of it alone pulled the colour from your cheeks. But your friends were persistent, so you went with them, and queued for your nightmare. You never once backed out, not even when a large sign said This is your last chance. You went along, stepped into the train and gave the cheerful employee a watery smile. You didn’t look down until you had no other choice, and you screamed as you fell. You barely had time to realize that the train wasn’t supposed to come loose from the rails.



This story was inspired when I was watching a music video filmed in a theme park, and is based on the Dutch park The Efteling. It wasn’t based on a specific picture, but rather on my memory, because I visit the park at least once a year. I have, however, included two pictures at the bottom, to clarify. I tried to make the setting relatable by describing the mood, the smell, the other visitors, but also the feeling you get when you go down in a fast rollercoaster, and how a theme park can be a little nostalgic. After receiving commentary, I edited mostly the introduction, and I changed a few small words, because I was unfamiliar with the English words for certain theme-park-related things, such as what I now called the action-heavy side of the park. I wrote it in second person; I had started the introduction like that, and then I continued it, it just felt better to continue that point of view. The piece is called Last Chance, after the sign the protagonist sees right before entering the right; it’s also a bit of foreshadowing.