“Falling”

A micro memoir by Neel Chatterjee (9).

“No, no, I'm not ready! Stop it! Stop it!” My heart was beating so fast, I thought I was having a heart attack. But then again, the drop tower tends to do that. The counter started counting, “10 … 9…. 8… 7…6.” All I was thinking about was punching the living s*** out of Isic and Capser. Well not Casper, but Isic for sure. The rest of our friends went for food, so they decided it was the best time for the drop tower, and they dragged me along with them.

All the anticipation was building up. I was thinking about this moment since I  entered the amusement park, hoping that we decided as a group to not do the drop tower. “Don’t be a p***y," Casper exclaimed . 

“C’mon Neel, I thought you said you weren’t a chicken," came from Isic. 

“Bro, look at the line, I’m not waiting for that s***," I said, knowing that probably wouldn’t work. This ride had the shortest line of all the fun rides. They kept trying to convince me as I went in and out of the line, struggling to come to a decision. Finally, the nagging of my friends got to me, and I opted in for the ride.

Every time you think, “it’s not that high” from the bottom, but when you get to the top, you are just sitting there, mesmerised by the extent of the drop. I felt like I was at the top of the world looking down. The people looked as small as ants to me. The speaker went silent after the countdown reached 6, and then it hit me. 

Just when I thought I could not feel more fear, a new rush of terror rushed into my body. My butt felt like it was falling off, when we surged to the ground. I was hopelessly praying for my seat to slow down and the ride to end. In seconds, we came to a stop.“I hope you enjoyed your time at the drop tower,” came from the speaker. 

All I could think was, how could someone enjoy this tortuous drop from 200 feet. I was a little shocked and dizzy as we left the ride. I realized, this was also the time to catch Isic off guard with a shot to the arm. “Damn, I thought we were gonna go higher,” Isic said.

“Yeah, honestly it wasn’t too bad,” I said. That was a flat out lie, but I thought it was necessary for him to lower his guard. I waited impatiently for my time to strike, but as time went on I began losing the urge. I felt better and better, and thought to myself, does Isic really deserve a punch?

Ultimately, I realized, even though I was pissed at the time, Isic made me conquer my fears, and it helped me be free the rest of the day. If I had decided to skip the drop tower, I would have felt like a softie and a weakling. It would sit in my mind, as something that I was not able to do. When we met up with the rest, I had to brag about doing the drop tower, and how they were wusses. The rest of the park had good vibes and fun, but I felt even better since I had completed the ride.