Titan - FInal Story

            My nose pressed against the window as I looked out at the dark sky and empty pastures. The bus was full of kids. Some managed to sleep through the long ride despite their crowded and bumpy surroundings. I was not so fortunate, and instead sat waiting in anticipation for the day ahead of me; the day of our class field trip to Six Flags.

               High thrill rides were not exactly my cup of tea.  I wasn’t always scared of them and even remember liking them at one point in my childhood. Somewhere along the way, however, I developed a powerful fear of anything that strapped you in and flung you around.  I dreaded going to amusement parks and carnivals.  They seemed almost sadistic to me.  Why would people pay to be dropped, spun, flipped, and flung by huge machines? 

I don’t know what was running through my head that day I signed up for the field trip, though I imagine a combination of peer pressure and pride had something to do with it.  They always do.

On the trip there, I overheard many students express similar feelings of fear and anxiety about rides. This was a big relief for me.   I figured that I could hang out with the other non-adrenaline loving students and still have plenty of fun, or at least avoid having to ride anything too daunting.

The sun rose as we pulled into the Metroplex. It had been a six hour long ride and I was ready as ever to get out of the bus.  When we arrived at Six-Flags, we were informed that we must all make groups of four and stick with our group.  This meant that I had to do everything my group did, including riding rides.

Somehow, most of the other students already knew that we would be forced into groups, and had already planned out groups in the bus.  I frantically started searching for a group that shared my fear of all things high and fast. “Why did no one tell me!”, I thought to myself.

               Soon enough and sure enough, my worst fear came true. I was invited to join a group my friends had formed.  I knew from the bus ride that each of the other boys in the group enjoyed only the most thrilling rides; the exact ones that I hated.

“Austin, come join our group. We’re going to ride every roller coaster here.” one of the boys said as if he were giving a sales pitch.  He obviously didn’t know that I wasn’t in the market for his product.

“Every roller coaster?” I replied with my best poker face. I knew that the smart thing for me to do was to say no, but as a seventh grade boy overly concerned with looking like a pansy in front of my friends, I reluctantly joined. I was out of options.

                When we entered the gates of the park, my group immediately began searching for our first ride.  I tried to find rides that would serve as a happy medium between what the rest of the group loved and what I wasn’t too scared to ride.  I suggested that we ride the “Scrambler” first, a moderately intense ride that spins the rider around like a massive egg beater.  I pointed out that it didn’t have a line.  Truthfully, of course, it was its close proximity to the ground that led to the suggestion.

My idea was quickly shut down by the group. ”Too boring”, one of the guys proclaimed.  They had the idea that they wanted to start the day off big and decided that we should first ride the scariest ride in the park, a rollercoaster by the name of “Titan.”

 If you have ever been to Six Flags Over Texas, then it’s pretty much guaranteed you have seen Titan.  It’s the one that climbs 255 feet into the sky before plummeting its riders seventy degrees all the way to the ground, repeating the process, and then sends them through a series of high-speed spirals and twist. The Titan definitely lives up to its name and for someone scarred of riding anything more exhilarating than a carousel, it meant sure death.

                I tried to pretend like I was excited about the idea, never leading on to my fear. I wanted to fit in with the tough guys.  Besides, I had agreed to join the group and I didn’t want to be the one to hold everyone back.

                Despite being one of the first groups of people in the park, a line had already formed at the Titan by the time we made our way over there.  There were signs throughout the line that told you how long of a wait you had from that point.  We stopped by the fifteen minute sign.  The countdown had begun.

                For the next fifteen minutes, I waited in the highest level of anticipation and nervousness.  My hands shook and my palms sweated.  I developed a substantial urge to go to the bathroom even though I hadn’t had a drink all morning. I was deathly scared. I thought about the stupid things my ego forces upon me.  It was the longest fifteen minutes of my life.  I desperately wanted it to be over, and I never wanted it come.

            As the line inched forward, my friends began to talk about their past experiences with roller coasters.  One of the boys told us that he came to Six Flags every summer and had rode the Titan dozens of times.  Listening to him talk about it, I couldn’t detect a trace of fear on him. The other two boys didn’t seem to be phased at all by the ride either.  “Am I the crazy one for being scared of this enormous machine that would soon whirl us around hundreds of feet in the air?”, I thought.  It appeared so.

                The time finally came for us to board the coaster.  My group took our seats in the far back cart. My stomach dropped into my seat when they pulled the bar over my head and locked me in.  It was too late now to turn back.  I was strapped in, both mentally and mechanically.

            The coaster operator came over the intercom.

 “Ladies and gentlemen, please keep all body parts inside the coaster at all times.  Have fun and enjoy the ride.”

The operator received the thumbs up from the other station operators, and with the press of a button the train set off for its voyage. 

                The train left the station at a slow pace and began lugging up the mountain of steel. It made the classic roller-coaster click-clacking sound as it climbed.  The steep accent made it seem like you were lying on your back rather than sitting down.  Some of the passengers screamed in excitement, while others closed their eyes and gripped anything they could find.  I looked up the hill with a bug-eyed stare.  It was taller than it appeared from a distance. It almost went on forever.

 Forty-five seconds passed and the clacking stopped. We had reached the top. I probably could have seen the ocean from up there, but all I could stare at was the ground directly below me.  The parking lot below was filled with ant sized people getting in and out of their Hot Wheels sized cars.

 The brief silence soon turned into a roar that sounded like a fighter jet.  The noise made my heart race even faster.  The front of the train raced down the hill and catapulted the back end over the peak of the hill.  As I looked down, I noticed that we were going steep enough down that the tracks in front of us disappeared.  I could feel the tremendous power of the steel machine as it rushed towards the ground. I felt the true power of gravity.

The train accelerated faster and faster before eventually reaching an underground tunnel at the bottom of the drop.  We sped through the tunnel in a blink of an eye and began the trip up the second hill.  We travelled upward so fast that we would have been catapulted out of our seat at the top had it not been for our lap restraints.  I pushed myself back into my seat, untrusting of the safety features. My vision soon became blurry and tunnel vision set in.  My head was pinned against the head rest.

After the second drop, all that was left was a series of high speed twist and turns that cause headache inducing G-forces.  I managed to survive them, and stayed conscious while doing so.

The ride soon came to an end and the train crept back into the station.  My heart was still racing, but not because I was scared.  I screamed at the top of my lungs, “WOOOOOHOOOOO!” Somehow, all of my fear had vanished. Maybe it was left behind somewhere after the first drop. Maybe my lap restraint was unable to hold it down over the second hill.  Wherever it went, I was sure it wouldn’t be back.  I was now an official thrill seeker who had just received his first taste of excitement.

As we got out of our seats, I eagerly yelled to my friends, “Let’s go again!”