I was on Batman the Coaster, Six Flags at night, with my dad. I had told him that I did not feel like going on today, but he did not listen. I had that foreboding feeling, like something was going to go wrong, but he did not listen, and now I am going to die.

He had told me to sit on the outside seat of the coaster, which I had never done before. Something about that spot felt wrong, but he insisted I sit there so I did, pulling down the harness. The first time I pulled it down, it violently snapped right back open. I was shaking from the sheer force of it, the ominous feeling I had felt earlier becoming exuberantly stronger by the minute. The ride attendant just reattached it and said it should be okay now. The roller coaster began to roll forward and I prayed he was right.

Sadly, he was not, for just as we went down the first drop, it popped back open. The only thing keeping me from falling into the dark Void below was the thin seat belt. That seatbelt was all I had to trust with my life, and I hated it for that. I was screaming louder than I had ever screamed on a coaster before, being wildly thrown around by the coaster's strength.

I was, simply put, unsecure.

I looked at the insignificant strip of blue fabric. How was that supposed to save my life? At this point, how could anything save me now? My dad put his hand on my chest and tried to secure me in place, telling me that I would be okay. But now his words lacked any confidence, and were no longer reassuring. I looked ahead as best as I could, my head whipping from side to side, and my mouth went dry. The first loop was coming up, and there was no way I could live through this now.

My throat was raw from all my pleas, my eyes stung from all my tears. I wish I could say my life flashed before me, that I relived my happiest moments to make my last few seconds worth it, but there was nothing. I saw nothing, felt nothing, and maybe it was my lack of emotion that made it so terrifying. I felt as black as the night itself, the night that was deciding how it was going to swallow me whole.

The coster turned upside-down and my body slipped from the useless car. I stopped screaming. There was no point. It wasn't going to change anything. Nothing was going save me now. It just goes to show how powerless humans truly are when it comes to changing your own fate. I reached for the bar with my hand, grabbing at the only object within reach.

My knuckles were white from holding onto the bar so tightly. When the loop ended, I was halfway out of the seat and my dad helped pull me back in. Ten more minutes and the ride was over. I was drenched in cold sweat, and completely shaken, but alive.

I don't go on roller coasters anymore.

~ A true story