Accidental Christmas Miracle

20.

Miracle

When I neared the festival, I saw a Ferris Wheel - something I hadn't seen any of the times I had been in town.

Its circular-ness (on the subject of whether that was a real word or not, to quote my best friend, "I said it, therefore making it a word.") was lit up with - well - lights. Never would've guessed that.

I'm much more sarcastic now. Huh.

Anyway, back to the Ferris Wheel thing. You see, I've always wanted to go one, but there's this little thing called acrophobia. At least, that's what I think it's called but basically it's the fear of heights and Ferris Wheels go up with a very unstable seeming seat holding you as you climb to many hundreds of feet above the ground - once again, I think.

You see the problem?

As I got closer to the Ferris Wheel, I noticed how big it was. How had I not noticed it before?

"It almost blends in during the day." A voice said from behind me.

I spun around to see the person that had answered my question that I had apparently spoken out loud.

It was Christi, as I had thought when I heard the voice.

She pointed to the Ferris Wheel. "Thinking about going on?" She asked.

I shrugged. "I mean-"

"You should! It's pretty fun and the view from the top looks so pretty, especially at night with all the holiday lights." She sounded pretty excited. "Come on, I'll go with you!"

I reluctantly agreed, not wanting to say that I was scared of heights in fear that she would laugh at me. I mean, I didn't think she would but, you never know.

I swallowed hard as she bought us both tickets for the ride and took a deep breath. I could do this.

Right?

My brain didn't seem to think so as we started to go up. I latched myself onto Christi's arm, my eyes widening at the steady gap widening between me and the safe, precious ground.

We could stop at the top and be stuck there for a while and freeze and get hypothermia and then die.

That was one scenario my brain whispered to me.

Also, the seat didn't sound too stable with its creaking and groaning. It could break and we could fall, possibly breaking a bone or worse case scenario, we fall and land on our spines weird and are paralyzed for the rest of our lives or even worse, we could fall and snap our necks.

Unknowingly, my grip tightened on her arm and on the handle bar.

I continued to stare at the ground, watching the people shrink.

"Hey."

I jerked my head towards the voice and found myself looking at Christi whose face was lit up by the lights on the wheel which meant mine was too, showing her my sheer terror.

"It'll be alright." She told me. "I was just on this. It's safe, I swear."

Somehow, that didn't make me feel better.

I looked back down at the ground, gulping.

Christi used her free hand to move my head so I wasn't looking at the ground anymore. "Don't look at the ground. Look at the town around. Pretend that you're just seeing fairy lights while on the ground."

I looked at her, an eyebrow raised. "Christmas fairy lights?"

She shrugged. "I'm sure they make them. If they don't, they should."

I tried picturing that and it did help some but the picture always went away when the seat rocked some.

"Not helping much." I managed to say.

"Why did you let me convince you to go on it if you're scared of heights?"

I hesitated before saying, "I thought you might laugh if I did." I said quietly. When I glanced at her, her expression showed utter confusion.

"Why would I that? I would never, I swear."

"I know, I know. It's just that..." I paused.

"You thought that there was a small possibility that I might?" She finished.

I nodded.

"Here." She pried my fingers from her arm and held onto my hand as she slid closer. "To prove it, I will willingly let you squeeze the stuffing out of me." She wrapped my arm around her waist. "There. Just don't break any of my ribs. I hear that hurts." She shot me a grin.

Right then, the seat rocked and I instinctively held on tight to her.

I heard her inhale sharply and winced, but not loosening my hold on her.

"You're definitely strong. I'll give ya that." She told me.

I continued to hold onto her and she continued to talk to me which I appreciated because it distracted me from thinking about much of anything other than what she was talking about which was just stories from when she was younger.

When we got back down to the ground, I tried to hug the ground but that didn't work too well so, I instead hugged Christi. "Thanks." I told her as I pulled away.

She grinned. "No problem. Want to know a secret?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Sure?"

"He'll never admit it but Dot's also afraid of heights. Shh, don't tell him I told you." She winked at me.

I gave her a nod. "I won't."

"You won't what?" Dot asked me, coming up behind Christi with familiar pink and black haired girl.

My eyes widened when I recognized her and I attacked the girl with a hug. "Meg!" I squealed happily.

After a couple moments of me hugging her tightly, she spoke, "Okay, now you're hurting me."

I stepped back with an apologetic smile. "Sorry?"

She waved it off. "Yeah, yeah." She said, grinning.

I cocked my head at her, a question popping into my head. "And exactly when did you get here?"

She shrugged. "I was trying to tell you with the phone calls but then you distracted me by telling me about your writing."

Dot looked at me. "You write?"

I shrugged while Meg nodded. "Yes. She does." She said to him.

Dot was going to say something else but was cut off by my phone ringing.

Looking at the caller id, I sighed and stepped away from the group, knowing that I couldn't avoid him for forever.