Rollercoasters

I have two favorite kinds of rollercoasters—the Freak Out and the Gravity Wheel (I’m not sure what the actual names are, but that’s what we’ll call them.).

I like the Freak Out because you feel weightless while you’re in the air. You feel like you’re flying, you see the rest of the carnival or the fair from the sky, and all of your problems feel so small, so unimportant. 

I was obsessed with a book series about a group of kids who had bird wings. Most of my original characters at the time had flight or wings. I think I just liked the idea of flying around as a kid. But that’s what the Freak Out felt like.

And when you’re done with the ride, you’re back on the ground. You get the chance to take everything in on the ground level again. The weightlessness is gone, but your perspective has changed.

My other favorite is the Gravity Wheel. The one where you’re strapped to padding and the wheel spins super-fast and you feel like you’re being crushed by the pressure. Maybe it’s because I’m neurodivergent and sleep with one hundred blankets every night. 

But when you’re done with the Gravity Wheel, and you get unbuckled, you feel lighter than air. You feel like you’re floating, like how you were feeling while riding the Freak Out. 

I’m honestly not sure where my point is with this piece. That I like adrenaline-spiking rollercoasters? That I want to fly away? That I need three weighted blankets to sleep? That I miss the county fair? That I miss the feeling of being a kid and being able to just let go my worries and troubles, if only for a little bit, whereas now I can’t let anything go because if I forget one thing then I am filled with fear and anxiety?

Who knows. All I know is that this piece took almost two months to write, because I liked the idea but wasn’t sure how else to expand upon it.