The darkness took over as our boat entered the cave of the ride. I gulped, I hated being alone in the middle of nowhere. The ferocious looking dinosaur stuck it’s leathery head through the fake broken window. Right as we were moved onto the escalating platform, the ride stopped. I turned around trying to make sense of it. I could barely see as the red lights of the ‘Jurassic Park’ flashed. I thought this was a minor thing and calmed my nerves down. So we waited, but nothing happened. Carefully, I unstrapped my seatbelt. Knowing the ride could start at any moment. But at that time my curiosity took over and I had to find out what was going on. I carefully stepped over my friend's legs, and jumped onto the pavement. As I jumped, I heard a faint splash, and looked at the inky black water. There was a patch of white floating through the it. I quickly walked towards it and scooped it up. As I examined the package, my friend Lauren who had been quiet until now, turned to me; all the colour drained from her face, her jaw was clenched shut like she would never talk again. I was surprised when she said, “Anvita, what happened?” Her normally shiny brown hair, was now dull. Or was it the light playing tricks on me? I didn’t know.
“Yeah Anvita, is everything okay?” My other friend Nanaka asked. She looked almost as bad as Lauren. “Guys, I think we’re stuck,” And without any notice, they both burst into tears. I looked once again at the package in my hands, now realising they were our tickets wrapped into my pink tinted raincoat. I gulped, why was I so stupid? Panicking, I looked around the dark tunnel but found no sort of comfort. My friends were still sobbing into their shirts. I didn’t know why they were crying. The only other people on the boat was a family of three, the parents trying to calm their child down. When I looked around, a wave of nausea washed over me as I remembered the first time I got stuck in a ride. I was alone that time though, and it was a similar ride. Except that had been at a great height. The ride had been when I was eight, and I was in a water slide, about to slide down, but as my cart moved, It stopped. It was scary as I urged my cart to move. Alone, in the dark. I screamed, and pounded the walls of the circular tube, but nothing happened for quite a while. My claustrophobia was also coming into play, and I knew I couldn’t do anything. Losing control, I had started to sob into my swim suit.
Then something snapped me back to reality. Lauren cried out, indicating me to do something. I looked around, but I couldn’t see anything except for another yellow boat floating into the darkness. I quickly understood what she was trying to indicate. If they were to come further, they would capsize our boat. Quickly, I ran to the boat and pushed it to a stop. Then I saw familiar faces. This was the other boat that had all my friends in it. I almost jumped with joy. I wasn’t alone anymore, and someone else could help me with this. I
They all gave me puzzled looks, and my friend Trisha asked, “What’s wrong Anvita?” “We’re stuck, and I don’t know what to do!” I almost yelled back at her. She rolled her eyes. I almost started crying with all the frustration. My other friend Shiksha looked worried, and she asked,
“Anvita, what are you going to do about this?” She put emphasis on the ‘you’. I hated that. Lauren sensing my problem, helped me, and spoke up.
“Guys, we’ll figure something out, don’t put too much pressure on the birthday girl,”
“Thanks Lauren,” She wasn’t crying anymore, but only softly sobbing occasionally. Trisha also sensing this, relaxed her tone, and started discussing something with a few people on the other boat. While I figured things out, Lauren decided to try and cheer me up, and conducted my friends to start singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to me. Even the other family started. I smiled to myself. Discovering a newfound confidence, I realised that a small fear like this wouldn’t come in the way of getting out of here, or in fact doing anything. I took a deep breath and looked around the darkness once more to find something to alert the staff. For a moment I thought I should climb the tower at the end of the darkness somewhere and slide down to go to the end. It was a crazy thought, but I knew it was the only option I had. When I told my friends this, they looked at me as if I was crazy. Lauren started to protest protectively, for a moment her fierce personality was back.
“Oh my god Anvita, no way. I’m coming with you,”
“Lauren, it’s the only way, besides, it’s right there” I pointed towards the darkness. Lauren paled again, and still insisted that she should come with me. I was glad that the real Lauren was back, but I kept arguing until she agreed. I asked for someone to keep watch on the boats, and with great difficulty, Lauren agreed. She was obviously terrified, but like me, she was facing her fears too. Shakily, I took a deep breath and walked into the darkness. My fear of it came back, but I needed to do this. I remembered that facing my fears was the only way to get over them. As I went further in, it smelled worse, like sewers. I couldn’t concentrate with the constant blaring of the fake alarms and the water dripping in odd places.
A fresh wave of fear washed over me when I couldn’t see the metallic works of the tower.
I started to panic, frantically looking around to see something. Then, I heard a sound, too horrifying to describe. I trusted my first instinct and ran. I didn’t even think about the sound, there it was again. Before I could even scream, I banged into something. Something hard. Almost like metal.
“Yes!” I whispered to myself. Forgetting the horrible sound behind me, I looked up from beneath the tower. It loomed over me like a monster, waiting to attack. My moment of pride had disappeared. “Why? why do i get such stupid ideas?” I muttered to myself trying to find a place to start climbing. But then, I saw a rusted red button the size of my thumb right in front of me, which read; 'PRESS IF EMERGENCY'. Without thinking, I pushed the button. Alarms, real ones went off in the dark chamber around me. I breathed a sigh of relief and ran back to where I entered from; a new problem arising.
There were two ways to the tower. One through the old passage, and one through the new one. I started to sweat as I saw two was leading out from the tower. My fear level had jumped up again, but I calmed myself down by thinking about finally getting out. Anvita you have to do this, I told myself. I followed my instincts once more, taking the newer route. I had to trust myself. Deciding to focus on details instead of scaring myself. It was hard as first, but I had to do it.
I soon became comfortable with the constant blaring of the alarm which sounded like an elephant. I kept walking through the darkness until familiar surroundings until I saw the bright yellow gloq of the boats.
I saw my friends instantly look at me. I smiled indicating that they were on their way. Most relieved of all was Lauren. She was smiling again, and her face regained colour. She looked like her old self, and I was most grateful to her. Without her, I would have still been terrified of the dark. She shouted out when she saw me. Even though she was happy, I could see the traces of fear and frustration on her face, but I let it be, and headed towards my boat. I sat back in the boat and relaxed after a long time. A few long minutes later, a man in a yellow shirt and black pants came in and started calling out. I cried out loud, indicating where we were.
The man came with a flashlight. The yellow glare almost seemed like a bonfire in the middle of the darkness. He helped us out of the boats and started to fumble with the keys with his bony fingers. I told him what happened. His expressionless face soon turned shocked. He soon found the right key. Hurrying, he jabbed the key into the keyhole and twisted it. A horrible sound emitted from the keyhole, but the door could be opened. He grinned apologetically, and told us to wait outside. The moment I entered the sunlight, I was blinded. The cool, dry environment was replaced by a hot, humid one.
My body felt like wax melting. When I was out of the ride and in the cafeteria, I remembered something I had thought about after the water slide event. It was so unclear, but clear at the same time. I had thought about never being by myself anywhere. Ever since that day, I had never gone anywhere myself. It felt so silly now because now I knew I had faith in myself. I knew that I wouldn’t be that scared girl who wouldn’t know what to do. Whatever it was, and most importantly I now knew what it takes to face my fears and eventually overcome them.
