That Mountain You've been Climbing

5

The Starbucks aroma fills my nostrils, but before I have time to crave, Rhett slams into the door to the left of the café, and we start the walk on a boulevard of sidewalk and landscaping and tiki huts of people selling things like Amazon jewelry, drinks, snacks, and such tempting things. And bloody hell, the pavement is flaming! I think it would be complete insanity to wear shoes to a waterpark... What purpose would that serve, really?! So, the soles of my feet are practically melting. Rhett is having the same issue, jumping and yelping around until we get to a point where we can stand in the grass. We both breathe a sigh of relief and then notice our mother, walking nonchalantly across the paved hell fires. In flip flops. Holding Winnie.
"Oh well" I say to Rhett, making a mad dash across the concrete. He follows closely beside being a much bigger dramabomb than I could ever imagine being. But before we know it, we're approaching the gate to the heavenly waters.
"Finally!" Rhett heaves the gate open and we all hurry through since it's one of those violent gates that slams shut behind you and tries to eat you in the process.
Upon approaching the attractions, I find that the pool/lazy river I had spotted from the balcony turns out to be a wave pool! So, a pool, lazy river, and a wave pool. How versatile. There are beach chairs spread out far across the entry to the mass of water,  complete with waterfalls around every corner, as to give you a feel of a definite trip to the beach. My mother finds her home in a beach chair, dropping her belongings into a chair beside her. Winnie runs out into like half a foot of water and flaps her hands around, "swimming". I see vacant floats bobbing up and down from the waves and catch myself a double tube, tackling it with my whole body. Rhett goes for a single tube, following closely behind my tail as I paddle my way into the lazy river trail. I'm going under a bridge tunnel when Rhett splashes up beside me, grabbing ahold of my float and spinning it around wildly.
"Rhett!" I roll my eyes, a smile curving at the side of my lips because he is just so stupid and unnecessary. I push his float back, sending him into a small sprinkle of water spilling out like a fountain.
"What tha heck!" He whips his head around wildly, throwing his hair and water in every which way. I've managed to swim about two yards away from him when he kicks it into high gear and paddles after me, catching hold of my float. The music is blasting, "Every time I look around, he's in my face" and the irony isn't lost on me as I thump Rhett away as he makes a mad shove at my float, forcing me into another waterfall. I grab ahold of the donut containing my little brother and shove as hard as I can at a float holding a woman in a bikini that her body is eating alive. Rhett rockets into her full speed and her head shoots up in his direction, her hand flying up to smack her forehead as she shields her squinting eyes from the sun.
"Sorry.." Rhett mutters awkwardly, shooting me a wide-eyed, angry glare. Before he has time to get me back, I maneuver in between people aboard floats so that he has to go through an obstacle maze to get to me.
I've gotten far enough away that I've lost any sight of Rhett when my tanning skin gets shaded as I float underneath the sky-scraping water slides. I feel small drops splash against my skin, traveling down from their height on the slides.
Up ahead I hear violent waters and look up at my next obstacle. This is the roughest waterfall I've seen in here yet! The falling water pounds into the pool so hard that it sounds like I am legitimately at the beach. I frantically paddle my float to the far left side, seeing it as the only way to slightly avoid being pounded to the lost city of Atlantis. My float smacks against the rocky wall and a supervisor looks down at me, a hard face hidden behind dark sunglasses. Lifeguards are the rudest buzz-kills to any vacation. I mean, cool bro, you're here to save lives, but would it kill you to be halfway pleasant? They look at you like you're scum and freak out if you even so happen as to have a hand on a second float. What is the purpose? I feel like I would be too goofy, too friendly to be one. And they practically swarm this place. It's ridiculous. But I just ignore the "authority" and keep on avoiding the rapid waterfall. Small splashes bouncing off of the water sprinkle across my skin as I pass by, sending slight chills down my legs, but only momentarily because as soon as I pass by the waterfall, I float back out into the sunshine's embrace. There's another maddened waterfall reaching even longer than the aforementioned to my right, but it is much easier to avoid. To my left is an exit, like another mini beach area with concrete instead of sand, but I allow the water to cast my float further into the lazy river because I haven't been all the way through it yet. I still have like five supervisors and the waves up ahead. Small drizzles of arching water line the rest of the way up until I reach the waving part. My float starts to rock back and forth, knocking me into a cute little Asian woman. She smiles sweetly at me and laughs, matching my own expression because who doesn't have a good time when being rocked back and forth by waves while aboard double inner tubes?! Just as I am floating back into the massive main entrance, I am pushed and nearly thrown from my float, knocking my grip off the sides and sending me splashing into the water, soaking everything except my head and high ponytail.
"Rhett!" I push my float into his face.
"Let's go down the slides! Come on!" He steps ahead of me as we float into feet-touchable areas of the pool.
"Fine" I oblige, following behind him because I think that was as relaxed as I will be able to get breaking myself into the water, and plus, this will be fun for an adrenaline junkie like myself. I glance up at the slides with a sudden excitement.