The Bucket List (Write Affair Finalist)

Chapter 7: Do the scariest attraction of an amusement park.

~ Chapter 7: Do the scariest attraction of an amusement park. ~

        We arrived at the amusement park and paid our tickets to enter. We were lucky it was hot today and we even got to put on our sunglasses. Damon and I took some pictures, had fun in the attractions that we liked, bought some cotton candy and sat on a bench to eat it.

"We should probably get down to business now". Damon said.

"What attraction do you have on your mind?" I asked, fearing the worst.

"Come with me."

I followed him, anxious, and he stopped in front of the one I had prayed not to do when we had passed in front of it. I had thought he hadn't seen it but unfortunately, he had and he was determined to do it. The name of this attraction was The Cranium Shaker. It was a sort of giant ball attached to two bungee cords. The guy counts to three and then, the ball is sent to the air so quick your stomach and your heart stay on the floor but your body follows. It is, according to the people I know, the scariest attraction of any amusement park you can visit. So I guess we had to do it to check it on the list. Damon took a deep breath and took my hand to force me in the line. I was wondering what the people in front of us had in mind when they were actually waiting to do this horrible attraction. They weren't dying and didn't have to do it before they would, did they? So why the hell would they want to do it? Really, I had trouble understanding some people.

I think the line was even more stressful then the attraction itself. Every two inches you walked, there was a sign reminding you pregnant woman or people who tend to have heart problems and all shouldn't do it and there were terrible things written on the signs that scared the hell out of you and made you want to run away and thank God you were alive (Even though I personally didn't believe in God or all sorts of religious thing).

The two people in front of us had to go and smiled before entering in the giant ball.

"You didn't change your mind?" I asked Damon, praying that he'd have.

He shook his head but I saw he wasn't very convinced. But I knew he had to do it. The people got out of the ball pretty shook up and laughing. I tried to make myself think it wasn't going to be that bad but I had never freaked out so much in my life. Damon took my hand and we got into the ball, trembling.

"Y'all ready?" The guy asked, the hand on a big button.

I shook my head, terrified. But Damon, this idiot, nodded so the guy made the ball closed.

"You're gonna pay for this." I warned Damon.

We saw the guy counting to three and when he lowered his last finger, the ball went up in the air so fast I didn't even have time to think. I screamed my heart out. I felt like every one of my organs had stayed on the ground while I was thrown in the air. It was definitely the most terrifying thing I had ever done in my entire life. When it stopped, I thought I was going to pass out but I managed to get up. I almost fell down but Damon helped me stay on my feet. I turned my head to say thank you and saw he was laughing.

"It was horrible!! Why are you laughing!!!??"

He didn't stop and we had to sit on a bench to be able to catch our breath.

"I can't believe you made me do it!" I said, hitting him gently.  "That was horrible!"

"Definitely the scariest attraction of any amusement park." We can cross that out of the list."

We decided we had earned a waffle and we walked around the park to eat it then agreed to go home. Arrived there, we crossed together Do the scariest attraction of an amusement park from the list and talked a little before he had to go home. I called Jenny to talk a little then went to bed, exhausted.

The next day, I thought that I really had to talk to my parents about me dropping out of college. I was kind of fearing this moment. I didn't now how they were going to react and I was guessing it wouldn't be nicely. They already had to deal with Seth who was hanging to the idea that his band would make it someday, they didn't need another child telling them she wasn't studying anymore and she didn't know what she was going to do with her life. I wasn't sure if I should tell them about Damon dying and everything. They used to be good friends with the Hollins and it probably wasn't the best idea to inform them.

I went down to eat breakfast and noticed Seth hadn't slept on the couch this night. Maybe he was at that girl's from the other time place. Or at a friend's. I put on some loud music and danced in the living room then someone knocked at the door so I stopped, put my hair back in place and made sure I didn't look too bad then opened.

"Hi." Katie said.

Mortified, I hid the cookie I was holding in my hand and prayed that I didn't look too bad before answering "Hey" and trying to smile. I invited her in and offered her something to drink. We sat around the table. I was wondering what she was doing here.

"Is Damon ok?" I asked.

"Yeah, he's fine. He's still sleeping."

"Good. I was worried."

"You're probably wondering why I'm here..."

"Kind of, to be honest."

"Look... I know that you're aware of Damon's... condition. And I think it's nice that you're trying to help him go through it and everything but... I don't think you should."

I frowned.

"He told me that you did the scariest attraction of an amusement park yesterday. And I don't think that's good for him. He's sick, Leah. I don't think you realize that what you do is dangerous. He's not in perfect shape. He needs to rest, and to take it easy."

Who are you? His mother? I thought.

"Katie, I hate to break it to you but Damon is dying. He only has a year left. And I don't think that he wants to spend his last moments in a bed, taking it easy."

"You don't know what's good for him."

"I think he's old enough to make his own decisions."

Well, I guess I wouldn't be friends with Katie that soon. But the truth is I didn't care about her. I cared about Damon. And I knew that I was right. And if I wasn't, like I said, he was old enough to tell me to stop. Katie wouldn't change her opinion and repeated that doing dangerous things wasn't good for Damon. I was about to go all aggressive and mean on her but instead, I just told her she should leave. So she did, angrily. I knew I was right. I couldn't just be hypocrite and agree with what Katie was saying. Right? I mean, imagine you just had a year left to live, you'd do everything you've always wanted to do before right? I knew I would have. And if Damon didn't agree with it, he just had to say it. He had seemed to enjoy every second of it. The weird idea that Katie might be jealous crossed my mind but I erased it cause it was just ridiculous.

I went in my room and tried to write a little but didn't have any inspiration so instead, I watched a movie then got a call from Sam asking me if I was doing anything tonight. I proposed he should come by my house and we'd see what we'd do so he agreed to come at seven.

I wanted to go see if Damon was ready to do another thing from the list but I couldn't face Katie right now. She would slam the door at my face. So I had to wait for him to come at my house instead. If, of course, he wanted to do something. Maybe Katie was right. Maybe he hated the idea of this list of things he had to accomplish before dying. Maybe he just wanted to rest while watching something. I seriously doubted that, but it was still a possibility.

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(A/N: Thank you to @Baby_Doll29 for the awesome cover on the first page :D)