No one was in line, that just made things worse. My skin was sticky and I smelled of  sunscreen. The blazing sun made the poles shine and the sidewalk felt like it had been on fire. My mind was racing and my whole body trembled like I was a chihuahua. My mouth was dry and my fingers intertwined with each other. I know we have been talking about this for awhile now, but walking up to the ticket booth still made my gut wrench. I was five minutes from my doom, riding the Ripcord at Michigan’s Adventures.

First we walked into the gate and my stomach just felt worse and worse. Everything about the ride scared me but the worst thing was the height of it. My thoughts were scattered like papers on the day of an exam. The blood coursing through my veins was faster than Usain Bolt. I heard screams from the other rides as we got our gear on. I wanted the restraints as tight as possible just to make sure I wasn’t going to actually fall to my doom and die. My palms were sweaty and my knees were weak. The smells in the air reminded me to have fun but it was hard. The poles in front of me could be the last thing i’ll ever see. We got the rest of the gear on and my mind cheered to me. “You can do it! I believe in you!” My mind screamed at me but in a good way. I looked at Mia and nodded. Yet reality struck me, I was going to die.

“I’m so scared to do this!” Mia said to me as my gear was tightened. Knowing that she was scared helped me to know that I’m not a scaredy cat. I knew we wouldn’t die but I was still doubting myself.

Next, we got stepped on a small black platform as they hooked us up to the cord. That’s when I realized that there is no backing out of it. We listened for the instructions but my heart was beating so hard that I could barely hear anything else. No warning, the cord flung us up so we were on our stomachs. The strong cord slowly brought us up to the top. I was so scared, my vision was blurry and my stomach felt like it was being ripped out. My hearing blocked out and all I could listen to were my scary thoughts. Once we were at the top I realized this wasn’t just a dream. This was real life.

“Three, two, one, pull the cord,” the announcer said as I waited anxiously for Mia to pull the cord. It felt like an eternity before she pulled the cord. “Come on pull the…,” we fell down and soared through the sky.  We both screamed as loud as we could until our mouths were too dry for sound to come out. I felt like I was actually flying, wind in my hair, the cool mist from the body of water in front of us. This was absolutely amazing.

“WE DID IT!” I yelled loudly as we swung back and forth. I yelled hi to the small group watching us. We started to swing slower and closer to the metal hoop we had to grab. Once we grabbed it we felt the ground for the first time in what seemed like forever. My cold skin slowly got warmer once again and my mouth started to get moist. I was breathing like I had just finished a marathon. I was relieved as I got the gear off. My thighs burned from the material rubbing on them. I was so happy to be off of the ride but I still wanted to get back on it.

“Good job! You did great!” The blonde worker told me as I cracked my knuckles from anxiety. I was shaking from excitement that I actually did it.

Riding the ripcord felt like I was a bird soaring through the wind.  I finally faced my fears that day and I’m proud of my bravery.  Even after one ride I’m not sure if I’d ride it again, but if I never gave it shot I wouldn’t have  learned how to be brave in new situations. This experience taught me that no matter how scary things are, I can still get through it.