My mother, father, brother and sister and I walked up and down the rows of booths and rides, my feet grew heavy. “What even is this place..? it’s so loud..” I thought silently to myself. I really didn’t want to be there but once I got inside and in the middle of the commotion my feet picked up again. I could smell the sweet and obvious smell of cinnamon and popcorn. The sky was just getting dark and the rides turned their lights on, illuminating the carnival making it seen so much more festive. The colours slightly distracted me from the laughing and screaming and the conversations going on in every which way.
I was around nine or ten at the time of this trip to the John Ball carnival and it was actually my first time going to any carnival in Michigan. Considering that, I was happier than I was on December 24th, Christmas Eve. As we got our wristbands and were heading inside the lights hit me right away. All of them a different colour blinking on and off. The music was loud and, luckily, it was good music like Fall Out Boy and Owl City. I know, even at ten years old I had amazing taste in music. The smell could have been smelt from the parking lot as it was the distinct smell of popcorn and elephant ears. There was laughing and screams coming from the rides. I wanted to try every ride there was there, but only if they were scary and fast, those are the kind of rides I like. Well at least I thought.
We split up into groups, my mother taking my younger brother, Brian and my dad taking My older sister, Mikayla and I.  My dad and sister were not ones for rides that go fast or high, while I was all for it, so I felt this was going to be a bit boring. Wow I was wrong.  As we walked around the carnival we stopped and played some games. Ring toss was one my dad refused to lose at. We spent quite a bit of time there, about thirty minutes. Mikayla and I watched this extremely competitive man throw rings into the center of the booth. It was funny when he would stretch over the counter to try and get closer to the bottles. Eventually he gave up and we moved on to another game.
We played the horse racing game where you roll golf balls into colour coded holes, each colour moves your horse a different distance. Mikayla, my dad and I sat in a row with two other people. As the bell sounded the golf balls fell into the cubby and we began to roll them up the incline to the holes. It was quite intense I will say. The bells sounded again and I jumped. I wasn’t paying attention to what really was going on, but when I looked up at the numbers on the horses it was number 4 that had won. The little boy, no older than maybe six, that was sitting next to me jumped up and started pulling on his father’s sleeve.
“Look! Look! Look dad, I won!” yelled the boy. He was so excited it brought a smile to my face.
“Yaay! Congratulations, kid!” exclaimed the man behind the counter. I felt a tug at my sweater hood, when I looked behind me, my dad was holding my sister’s hand and was asking if I was ready to do something else. I got down from the stool and began walking with my dad again. My dad, and I get along pretty well, we like to argue with each other about just about anything we can argue about. My sister just likes to listen to our sometimes reasonable sometimes nonsense talks.
“I don’t think so,” said my dad. “that can’t be right.” We were arguing about the the ocean. He thought that we had seen more of the ocean, more than 7%.  This is nonsense.
“We’ve only researched 7% of the ocean. It’s true.” I pulled on his arm, motioning him through the groups of people. I honestly did not like people. Or well, groups of people.
We made it out of the groups of people and found a clear spot to stand and talk for a second by the ferris wheel. At this time our conversation transitioned itself from the ocean to the mechanical technology of the rides in the park. This lead to the need to pick another ride to attempt. Dad Looked around over heads and past booths and stands and rides.
“How ‘bout that one? The tall one over there.” I tried to look over the people but realized I actually can’t see. I was too short.  I looked up at my dad,
“What ride? I can’t see over all these people..”  He laughed and pointed upward. All I saw was the top of the ride, then I saw the people in their seats move up slowly. I watched Impatiently full of anticipation. “It just goes up and down? That’s it?” As it got higher people on the ride started to panic, some screamed, some laughed. I thought it would never stop going up, it was so slow. Then It stopped. I was a subtle and quick stop and then it falls. From that height and at that speed, not to mention the horrifying screaming, the ride seemed much more scarier than you first anticipated.
“How ‘bout it? Doesn’t look so bad right?” My dad looked down at me and back at the ride. This was the first time I was scared of a ride. I’m a bit of a chicken, I will admit, but at theme parks and now carnivals I was never scared. Then again, I could only go on the rides I was tall enough to ride.
I told him I didn’t want to go on it. It scared me! He laughed at me. At ten, this was extremely offensive. As much as I didn’t want to go on it, I also didn’t want him to know that I was scared. I decided that, “Hey! It can’t be as bad as it looks.” My dad lead the way followed Mikayla and then me. I tried to compose myself for the ride. I was not going to be scared, I was going to have fun!
We arrived to the ride just as the last group got off the ride and the next group was heading on. I watched to see their reactions of how high they were going. Once everyone was buckled up the guy running the ride stepped back to the panel and pulled the lever and pushed a button. The ride moved slowly going up and up and up. People on the rides began to panic a little, some covered their faces and others laughed and hollered with joy. “How can the have such a good time? Don’t they worry what might happen??” After this thought I then began to compensate every possible thing that could go wrong on the ride. What if it breaks down and we get stuck at the top? “What if it breaks and we fall without the stop at the end and we dIE?” What if.. “  My thoughts were interrupted when someone on the ride screamed. I looked up and saw how high they were. The ride did another subtle stop and then waited a second. Then the ride jolted downward and the people on the ride held the handlebars for dear life. Some crazy people let go of the handlebars and put their arms in the air as the ride came down. What are you doing?!
The line shortened up and the next group got on, not us thank goodness.
As I watched the ride go up again for the third time today We Walked closer to the entrance gate. We were right in front, a guarantee we were next. My sister was excited as she watched the ride go up, she couldn’t wait for our turn. My dad was talking to a tall guy and his, I assume, girlfriend. The couple were excited too. I was not to excited.
We walked up the metal stairs and we began to pick our seats. There was only 14 maybe 16 seats to choose from. My dad picked me up so I could sit in the seat properly and promptly sat next to me. I even remember the number chair I sat in. Number 13. Mikayla sat in 12 and dad sat in 14.  I bucked up and pulled the strap as tight as it could go. I put some sort of death grip on the handlebars, refusing to let go no matter what. The guy running the ride came around and made sure our belts and overhead handlebars were properly in place and tight. My heart began to race faster as the sudden realization that this was really happening set in. To this day, I have no idea why I was so scared. The guy walked back to the panel and pushed a few buttons, then pulled a lever. The ride made a noise but soon the floor lowered from underneath and the ride moved up slowly. My grip on the bars got tighter as we got higher.
“Are you okay over there?” My dad said from next to me. “No I am not okay-..”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” I responded putting my head back against the back of the seat. I looked out and saw we nearly reached the top of some trees. The people down below were so small. They looked up at us and were surprised at the height. I was too, how high was this thing? I could hear laughter and then some joyful screams coming from the other side of the ride. My dad chuckled,
“Don’t worry, I won’t let anything bad happen.” My sister was just enjoying herself. She was shaking her hands and laughing. “How are you even okay with this, Mikayla.” 
“HELLLOO!” I looked over to see my brother and mom standing at the bottom watching us go up. Brian was waving his hands at my dad. Dad returned is wave by letting go of the handlebars and scaring me half to death. We were almost to the top. I looked out again and felt like I was going to cry. To me, This was to high, but I’ve been on high rides? What does this scare me? I was confused and scared and barely noticed the click sound that signaled we were at the top. Now we wait.. This waiting was not helping my nerves at all. I felt like I was going to puke. I-
“AHHHH!” the ride fell down and I opened my eyes wide, not wanting to miss a detail of my death. Gripping the handlebars until my knuckles turned white, I let out a scream. “THIS IS NOT OKAY NOT OKAY NOT OKAY-”  I thought over and over. The ride came to a halt before we hit the ground. Then the ride slowed and the floor rose back up.
The guy can around and unsecured us and we undid the buckles to get off. My legs wobbled as I jumped off the seat, I didn’t feel sick anymore but I felt dizzy. I found my way to the exit and was followed by dad and Mikayla. When we left the gate and was on solid ground I found my mom and Brian waiting for us, as mom and dad talked I sat on the ground to make sure I wouldn’t fall over and looked back at the ride. “I was not expecting that-”
The ride didn’t look as tall as it feels when you’re on it.
“Did you have fun?” Dad asked. I thought for a second.
“Yeah, I think I did.” I responded and he laughed.
“But you were terrified.”
“No, I liked it, it was fun!” I stood up and pulled my dad’s arm, “Can we go on it again?!”
I was terrified but, looking back on the moment I just had, I would do it again. I’m glad I took that little risk. It makes me feel I should be taking risks more often because, sometimes, they can pay off in the end.