Broken Words

Chapter 1- 27/10/08

A shimmering haze rose up from the pavements scorching under the sun. Crowds pushed and tugged, knocking her around while she crumpled the tickets in her hand. Visitors littered the pathways, mumbling in multiple different languages, and the lines for the rides intermingled with the lines at the food stalls. People flowed in and out of the gift shop, knocking into the rack full of chocolate outside. The building itself looked fit to burst.

"Can we go on the carousel first mummy."

Her son Joe glanced around in amazement. It was his first trip out of Australia and he'd wanted to try everything, to talk to everyone and to see everything. It was a strange new world to him, a land that he'd only ever see in red and green and purple on the maps in his classroom. Her face softened as she looked down at his bright and curious grin, much like the sun staring down at them.

"Not yet Joey, lets go on the water ride first."

Joe nodded and smiled gleefully, skipping along the pavement underneath the beaming sun. They stopped at a map near to the haunted house, Joey glancing at it warily.

"You won't make me go in there will you mummy?"

His mother looked up at haunted house. A group of girls were walking out, still screaming about everything that happened. A group of boys walked out soon after, still looking shocked themselves. She felt a tug on her skirt and looked down to see Joey hiding half behind her, glaring at the haunted house.

"No, of course not sweetheart," She chuckled.

Gently, she placed a hand on the back of Joe's head as he buried his face into her skirt and covered his ears. He was turning seven that day and was still terrified of loud noises, particularly screaming, and ghosts. She rummaged through her hand bag, struggling to find her glasses. She'd always suffered with terrible eye sight and it didn't help when she had to navigate her way around the park.

"Joey, we need to think of a place to go to if you get lost," She said as she examined the map.

"The gift shop with the chocolate," Joey jumped up and down and tugged on her hand.

"Ok then, the gift shop it is," She smiled down at him. "Now, should we go on the river rapids or the log flume first?"

They hurried through the park, Joe skipping along and babbling about anything to his mother. His mother winced and rubbed her left temple, one of her migraines was coming on, whether it was from the overwhelming smell of fried food or her son's incessant talking, she couldn't tell.

The queue for the log flume wasn't too long, thanks to early access tickets her husband had brought for her, and they were quickly on the ride. For the first and second drop, Joe was reasonably calm, squealing with joy when the white spray splashed the pair of them and made his mother's hair stick flat to her head. He especially liked that part. But for the third drop, the highest and the steepest, he was a lot more nervous, cuddling into his mother's arm and hiding his face.

"Not so confident now, are you?" His mother teased just before the drop.

And when they did drop, their screams could be heard from the other side of the US. Joe hid his face in his mother's jacket until they hit the bottom, sending up a foamy curtain of water on each side of them. Even when the ride stilled and came to a stop, Joe kept his face in his mother's jacket, clutching onto it with shaking hands.

"Joey, it's ok, the rides over."

He let go and scrambled out, running down the pathway with his mother close behind him.

"Joey, slow down!" She called after him, pressing on the stitch in her stomach.

He continued running, getting swallowed up into a crowd and disappearing when they passed. His mother's eyes opened wide and her head began to get worse.