The exhilarating feeling of being scared on an amusement park ride doesn’t have the same effect when there is a large possibility that you might actually die. The carnival came to town this week and my seven year old brother just had to be there because “everyone from school” was going to be there and, of course, he wanted everyone to see his super-cool older brother.
We loaded the family into my car and drove to the carnival, which was situated in a parking lot. We bought tickets and began scoping out which rides to use them on. The first ride that I saw was the Gravitron, so I boarded it with my little brother and prepared myself for nonstop fun and excitement.
We stepped into the spaceship-like ride and stood against the wall as directed. I looked to my left and saw vomit against the wall–a clear indication that it was time to find a new place to stand. We walked about 10 feet away to a new location and awkwardly inspected our surroundings as we waited for the ride to start. An extremely bright light emitted from the ceiling caught my attention, but upon further inspection I realized that “the light” was the sun and there was a giganto hole in the roof. What caused that hole?? Did a kid fly out of the ceiling?!? Is this ride safe?! I didn’t want to stick around to find out.
I grabbed the brother and began to walk towards the exit, but then the door closed and the ride began to spin. I had two options: 1) attempt to write my will in my phone’s notepad, or 2) hold onto my kid brother and hope that we leave the ride with all of our limbs. I couldn’t let my brother die because it would severely mess up his perfect attendance record in school, so I made it my duty to sacrifice myself for his well-being.
The ride was a failed safety inspection waiting to happen. Screws were loose, dry vomit was on the floors, and I don’t think that the Gravitron operator was wearing any clothes (which could’ve been the cause of the vomit). Luckily, my brother and I came out of the ride unscathed.
I closely observed the condition of the other rides and realized that they were of the same caliber as the Gravitron. Rust spots were repainted, screws were loose, entire parts were missing, green fluid was dripping, and the ride operators didn’t seem to care about safety at all. This marked the end of my excitement. I couldn’t ride anymore of the rides because I’d probably lose a finger and I needed to keep all of them to type this journal entry.