Riding High

The Gatekeeper

"Why would I want to do that?"

The once delicious chicken tenders and crispy french fries didn't seem so appealing after hearing those words. I just wanted to disappear into my chicken and away from those words.

Going to Cedar Point for the band trip was pretty much forced on me, but I didn't have the intent to actually go on a ride until I decided to hang out with all my friends, also known as the people who actually liked them. Sitting at the table with them discussing it made me want to throw up just thinking about being that high into the air.

The 6 of us were sitting at a big table, enjoying the meals we just received. The clock struck at 1 o'clock. The band had just finished their turn of marching throughout the park and the day was officially ours to go and mess around and do whatever we pleased.

"It won't even be that scary, come on!" His voice itched into my ear, making me crouch into the corner of the booth even more to somewhat avoid his voice.

Is he an idiot?

I wasn't alone, though. Not all of them wanted to actually go on that big rollercoaster. I got that look from my friend that spoke, "Yea, don't worry Taylor, I don't wanna go on it either." Yet everyone else seemed so thrilled to get on that blue and white torture device also known to be the Gatekeeper. It stood at least over 200 feet tall and has twists and turns galore. It was either someone's heaven or worst nightmare

When we began to walk over to the ride itself, my stomach felt like it was doing total flips. That chicken and fries almost never existed just those ten minutes ago. I walked by my friend closely while all of our other friends were chiming in about how they rode such big rollercoasters like it was a competition.

The line was absolutely packed. Thank god, now I could just sit in my worries even more. Slowly and slowly, we climbed up to the top of the ride. The higher we got, the more I wanted to just disappear.

Right at the top, it hit me. The thought of crashing down, flying out, or even dropping dead to the ground was way too terrifying for me. Never in my life did I want to fly in that form, only when I became a superhero. My friends looked disgusted as I felt the tears trickle down my cheeks, too overwhelmed to even be up near the seats.

The workers helped me out of the area and my friend and I just walked down,

"I don't wanna fly out of my seat! I'm gonna die if I ride that thing!" I cried into my friend, who hugged out all of my worries while I overthought everything that was happening. I watched it go up and down and turn around, while my stomach just simply recreated the movements.

She was being a great friend, comforting me while we waited for the others. A lot of discussion about mushrooms, which was quite interesting but it helped me laugh. Talking about random things like that seemed to work because I had a small smile on my face.

I heard the chatter coming closer to my ears and I knew that my friends were here and back to probably tease me. I was still shaking from the fear that was just pouring from my eyes as I looked at them. The mushroom effect didn't really last for long. All I got was a,

"You're so lame, why did you come with us if you don't like roller coasters?"

I guess he really is an idiot, and a bad friend at that. At that current moment, I just wanted to smack him across the amusement park. The stupid little smirk that was plastered on his face only made me want to smack him more.

"How about we try again later?" My friend asked me with a small glimmer in her eyes. She could tell I really did want to try again, and not be left on this motive that I couldn't do it.

"Sure, but for now we should do something else." I smiled and got up, wiping off the imaginary dust on my pants and we began to walk around.

There was a lot to do at Cedar Point, which is why it was a lot easier to become distracted from it then some might think. All the smaller rides, food, and activities. But when that time came again, it still made my heart freeze in place.

I'm sure you can do it, what are you so scared of? I looked at myself in the mirror and splashed some water onto my face after washing my hands. If it wasn't safe, they wouldn't let people on it. If other people can earn joy from riding these after knowing someone has died on these, then why can't I??

The last part didn't necessarily help, but it gave me enough confidence to storm out of the bathroom and lead the group over to the waiting line. My adrenaline took a twist and boosted up, which seemed to surprise everyone since how they saw me before. It's when getting to the top where all the seats were is when it just completely gets discarded.

I have to sit on those? What if they aren't secure?

"It's not as bad as you think, just get on."

I dragged my body and plopped it onto the seat, pulling the harness down immediately and waiting for the worker. I felt so vulnerable not having my glasses on and being blind to what was happening around me. The worker could easily not buckle me up and I would notice.

A tall lady with a long blonde ponytail strapped me up, "Please make it as tight as possible," I told her with a slightly shaky voice.

"Don't worry honey," she smiled at me, "These are the most secure seats in the park." she pulled the belt so tight I felt myself being practically squished. All she did was move on to the next person and get off. Even though she didn't help too much, it was a lot more than my friends who decided to laugh at my misery.

The ride began. The sound of the belt buckling and the collection of carts begins to move, my legs aren't touching anything but the blue sky, my head back against the seat as it goes up, and up. It felt like time began to slow down. I could see the entire park in my right eye but immediately turned back. Don't look down, it makes it worse.

As soon as it got to the top, it stopped for a second. That's when my stomach was literally going to fly out of my body. My breath was shaky and I couldn't even process any words. I looked down, even though I was told otherwise, to the park below and saw just how high I really was. I wasn't actually sure if it was 200 feet high, but it was still a terrifying sight. Before I knew it, the carts rushed down and a belting, blood-curdling scream came out of my mouth.

All the twists and turns were super sharp and so unexpected, I couldn't even react to them. Throughout the ride, it wasn't actually too bad. The whole rollercoaster went around the park and I got to see lots of different places. But I couldn't hear anything through my screams, which were most definitely the loudest on the ride. We were really riding high, and looking down from my seat to see my legs dangling super high above the ground was enough to give me nightmares.

Soon before I knew it, the ride was done. Everyone was getting off and talking amongst their friend groups while I was in a total state of shock.

"So Taylor," he asked me when we got off and back out into the park, "How was the ride?"

I had to think for a solid minute before I gave him an answer. I didn't want to lie and say I absolutely hated it, because that's not true. I did enjoy it, but it was definitely not ideal for me.

"It was... okay. Yeah, okay." I said, nodding in agreement with my own statement.

"I told you it wasn't as bad as what you thought," He laughed, "Now let's try the Top Thrill Dragster."

"You have got to be kidding me." I rolled my eyes and laughed. Absolutely not. He's definitely an idiot.

We walked around the park for the rest of the day and even decided to go on the Gatekeeper one last time to my request. Even though I regretted it halfway through, that feeling of riding high up in the sky was amazingly terrifying. On the way home with our ice cream, I was quite satisfied with what we did that day and was excited to ride it again next year when we went once again.