No Fear

I stood, staring up at the 420 foot high metal contraption. It made my heart hammer. What was it about it that frightened me? The height? No. The speed at which you ascended to that height, or descended from that height? No. The drop, straight down towards the ground? No. None of these things frightened me. What frightened me was the makers, the designers, the creators.

I was afraid of it becaus of who it was made by: Humans. All it would take was one miscalculation, accidental or purposeful and everything could go wrong. Or one bolt, left loose and the everything could fall apart. It hadn't happened yet, not in the year and a half of the tower's existence, but it could only take one time.

You must trust them, I told myself. They may be human, but they are professionals. If something went wrong they would have no more job; no more money. They did it right.

I will put my life in their hands.

Still, my heart hammered as I climbed into the little car and pulled down the puny lap bar which was all that stood between life and death.

Oh no! I don't want to do this! Too late for such thoughts. You are stuck now. You can't get out. Your life is in their hands.

The train moved forward smoothly and oh so smoothly. My heart is going to pound out of my chest, blood is rushing to my head, my mind is screaming, "Let me out! Let me out! This isn't natural! this isn't right! Let me out!!" But I won't get out. I'm held in by a puny lap bar. My life is in their hands.

Oh what was I thinking? I must be out of my mind! What convinced me to do this? But I knew I would regret it if I didn't do it. So here I was.

The train had come to a halt at the starting line. I looked at the starting lights, tensed, waiting. The engines revved. My heart pounded. I didn't look up. My eyes were fixed on the starting lights.

Then I heard the hiss of hydraulics as the final wall between me and my fate fell away. The track was clear. Any second now. I braced myself. How can you prepare yourself for the unkown?

The first light flashed on. the others followed; too quickly. 3-2-1-go! The train shot forward. I was plastered to the back of my seat. Silent words came from my mouth, "oh my god, Oh my god, Oh My god, Oh My God, OH MY GOD, OHMYGOD!!!"

I could see were were only halfway there; halfway to the bottom of the hill. Already we were going too fast and it only got faster. By the time we reached the bottom of the 'hill' we had reached 122 mph. 0-122 in 5 seconds.

We rose to the top so quickly, so easily, so weightlessly. All I could see before me was the blue, blue sky. Then the top. I found I wasn't afraid anymore. I wanted it to stop, right there, on top of the world, but it didn't. For a split- second I saw everything and then we were plunging towards the ground. We came to a fast, smooth stop. It was all over in 20 short seconds. I was laughing, my heart was pounding and my hands didn't work properly. I didn't want to get out! I wanted to go again!

I climbed out. I thought I would fall over, my legs barely supported me. I had done it! I had conquered my fear. I was fearless! I could do anything!

After conquering the Dragster all the other rides and rollercoasters seemed small, wimpy and insignificant. None of them made my heart speed up even a little; not even the Millenium Force. I looked nonchalantly down from the top of its 310 foot hill and enjoyed the beauty of the sun sparkling on the lake as our train plunged over the top at the meiocre speed of 90mph.

Now all i can say is: "instead of paying 25 million dollars to build a tower of steel why didn't they save the rainforest?"