34. Sexy Stranger #4 shows Gabe a looping water slide.

While Gabe was away for the weekend, Mikey and I got a chance to talk about his next vision. "A looping water slide?" I said to Mikey. "That's not possible, right?"

Mikey paused and then said, "There's one at Action Park."

"Mikey, you have got to be messing with me," I said.

"Why would I lie to you, Pete?" Mikey said.

"What's Action Park anyways?" I asked.

"It's an amusement park not too far from here," Mikey said. "They have a looping water slide. It's called the Cannonball Loop, and Gerard and I went on it last summer. I thought I told you about this in one of my letters."

"I remember you were complaining about a back ache last summer," I said.

"That was from going to Action Park.," Mikey said.

"I don't believe you," I said. "There's no way that anyone would be stupid enough to build a looping water slide."

"I promise you that it's real," Mikey said. "Anyways, I think our plan is obvious. We just won't go to Action Park, and then there will be no way that I can possibly show Gabe a looping water slide. As far as I know, the one at Action Park is the only looping water slide out there."

Mikey seemed to know what he was talking about, so I agreed to his plan, even if I still thought that looping water slides were as imaginary as unicorns. For a few days, the plan worked. Mikey and I spent most of our time hanging out with Ray and Brendon, with Gerard and Frank occasionally joining in.

Gabe returned to Belleville on Monday, and during breakfast, we all talked about our plans for the day. "Now that Gabe's back, we should do something special," Brendon said.

"I don't know what we'd do," Mikey said. "There's nothing to do in New Jersey. I can't wait to get out of here someday."

"There has to be something that we can do," I said. "Are there any good movies playing?"

"We could go see the new Friday the 13th movie," Mikey suggested.

"No way," Gabe said. "I'm not watching any more horror movies with you guys."

"You're such a chicken," Brendon said.

"Nobody calls me chicken!" Gabe exclaimed.

All of a sudden, Gerard walked into the room. "What's going on?" he asked.

"We're trying to decide what to do today," Mikey explained.

"I thought we were going to Action Park," Gerard said. "I know that Frank and I had plans to go, and you and Ray said that you wanted to tag along last week."

Brendon suddenly perked up. "Action Park?" he said.

"Yeah, it's an amusement park near here," Gerard said. He then sang the jingle, "The action never stops at Action Park!" He laughed and asked, "So are you coming?"

"Yes!" Brendon exclaimed.

"I want to go too!" Gabe said. "This sounds like so much fun!"

"Yeah, let's go to Action Park!" I exclaimed.

"Gerard, you broke your nose last time we went to Action Park, and the time before that, you sprained your ankle," Mikey said. "Why are you even thinking about going there again?"

"It's like a rite of passage. Action Park is the best amusement park in all of New Jersey," Gerard said.

Even Mikey couldn't argue with that, if only because there weren't very many other amusement parks in New Jersey. "I still don't want to go," Mikey said.

"Fine, Mikey," Gerard said. "Stay home, but don't complain later that we all got to do something fun, and you didn't."

Mikey sighed and then said, "I'll come." He seemed disenchanted, but even he didn't want to miss out on going to Action Park.

"How are we going to get there?" Gabe asked. "We only have the DeLorean, and that can only seat four people."

"Ray has a car, doesn't he?" Gerard asked Mikey.

"Yes, but there's a lot of stuff in there," Mikey said. "I can ask him though." Mikey picked up the phone and dialed Ray's number.

While he was on the phone with Ray, Frank arrived. He kissed Gerard and then said, "I can't wait to go to Action Park with you."

"Me neither," Gerard said. "Frankie, can I be the only hope for you?"

"You already are," Frank said.

Mikey hung up and then turned to face Frank and Gerard. "Could you two cut it out?" he asked. The two of them moved away from each other, and Mikey said, "Ray says that he can meet us at Action Park, but he doesn't have room in his car to take anyone. We still have to figure out how we're going to fit six people in the DeLorean."

"We could put two people in the trunk," I half-jokingly suggested.

"I volunteer," Gerard and Frank said simultaneously.

I went outside and opened up the DeLorean, and Frank and Gerard watched in awe as the gull-wing doors opened. I then got into the driver's seat, Gabe called shotgun, Mikey and Brendon got into the backseat, and Frank and Gerard got into the trunk. I put on the road trip mixtape, and Mikey directed me toward Action Park, but it wasn't long before he started complaining about the moaning and kissing noises coming from the trunk.

"I'm learning more about my brother's sex life in one car ride than I ever wanted to," Mikey complained. "Turn right at the next light."

After a little less than an hour of driving, we finally made it to Action Park. I parked the DeLorean, and Brendon, Mikey, Gabe, and I all climbed out of the car. Gerard and Frank climbed out of the trunk, looking rather disheveled, and we all headed into the park, bringing our swimsuits and towels with us so we could go on the water rides.

We found Ray waiting for us in the parking lot. "Hey everyone," he said as he pulled some of his stuff out of his car.

"Ray, why are we doing this again?" Mikey asked his friend.

Ray looked at him like he was crazy and then said, "Because it's Action Park. It's going to be fun." On our way in, one of the employees handed Ray a park map, and he asked us, "Which ride should we go on first?"

"The Alpine Slide looks fun," Brendon said.

"That ride is the worst," Mikey said.

"Why?" Brendon asked.

"You'll see," Mikey said.

All of us headed toward the Alpine Slide, but on our way there, Gabe got distracted. "What is that thing?" he asked, gesturing toward a hulking structure in the distance.

"It's the Cannonball Loop," Mikey explained. "It's one of the water slides, and it goes in a loop..." That was when Mikey realized what he doing. He cursed under his breath and then added, "I probably just made your vision come true, didn't I?"

Gabe nodded, and while Mikey was freaking out and apologizing profusely, Gerard was still paying attention to the Cannonball Loop. "I wonder if it's open," he said.

"Gerard, the Cannonball Loop literally decapitated one of its test dummies," Frank said.

"I know," Gerard said.

"Why do you still want to go on it?" Frank asked.

"I went on it last summer, and I was fine," Gerard said.

"I went on it last summer, and I was traumatized," Mikey mumbled.

"It's for all the wounds that are ever gonna scar me, and all the ghosts that are never gonna catch me," Gerard explained.

"I don't think I'll ever understand you, Gerard, but I love you anyways," Frank said.

"I love you too, Frank," Gerard said.

"Let's just go on the Alpine Slide," Mikey said. "We can check out the Cannonball Loop afterwards."

All of us got in line for the Alpine Slide. Ray and Mikey went down the slide first, followed by Gabe and I. "Let's race down there," Gabe said.

"Okay!" I exclaimed. I got into the sled and set it to the fastest possible speed, but when the ride started, I panicked. I was losing control of the sled, and I screamed as I sped down the track, sailing past Gabe. "How do I get this to stop?!" I shouted, afraid that the sled would fly off of the track.

The sled somehow managed to stay on the track, but I did ram right into Mikey, who was struggling to get his sled to move at all. "Pete!" Mikey exclaimed. "Be careful!"

"Sorry," I said.

Mikey and I waited for everyone else at the bottom of the slide. When Frank got there, he had a nasty-looking scrape on his leg. "How did you get that?" Mikey asked him.

"I couldn't get my sled to move, so Brendon just rammed right into me!" Frank complained. "I ended up crashing into a wall, and this is what happened."

"I'm sorry, Frank!" Brendon said.

"Can we go on the Cannonball Loop now?" Gerard asked.

All of us headed toward the looping water slide, but when we got there, we saw that it was closed. "Maybe it's for the best," I said. "That thing looks terrifying." I hadn't thought that it was possible to make a looping water slide, but Action Park had proved me wrong.

"Where should we go instead?" Ray asked.

"What's that?" Gabe asked, pointing to a ride on the map.

"That's Roaring Rapids," Gerard said. "The water is so cold that you'll forget how to swim if you accidentally fall in."

"What about this one?" I asked, pointing to a different ride.

"Surf Hill," Gerard said. "As long as you avoid Lane 7, you probably won't break your back."

"There's a pool over there," Brendon said. "Maybe we could try that."

"That's the Grave Pool," Gerard said.

"You mean the wave pool, right?" Brendon asked.

"I meant what I said," Gerard said.

"Is there any ride in this park that isn't actively trying to kill us?" Frank asked as he bandaged his leg.

"No," Gerard responded. "There are some pretty good places to buy drinks around here though. Frank and I are twenty one, but do any of you guys have a fake ID?"

"I do," Gabe admitted.

"It says that you're a sixty three year old woman," Brendon said.

"Don't say that so loudly!" Gabe exclaimed.

Frank laughed and said, "It's not like anyone's going to care. Now, what drinks do you all want?"

We all placed our orders, and Frank, Gerard, and Gabe left to buy us our drinks. We spent most of the rest of the afternoon drinking, chatting, and people watching. Ray and I stayed relatively sober that we could drive home, but we still had a pretty good time. However, shortly before we left, we all decided to go on one last ride: the Grave Pool.

Brendon jumped into the pool first, screaming something about how it was Saturday night, even though it was actually a Monday afternoon. I tentatively stepped toward the edge of the pool, while Brendon said, "Come on, Pete! The water's actually kind of nice." All of a sudden, a wave popped up out of nowhere, swallowing Brendon. He fought his way to the surface and gasped for air, but he still insisted to us that everything was okay. "I'm fine," he said just as the ridiculously tall waves started up again, and the lifeguard jumped into the water to rescue someone else in the deep end.

Gabe walked up to me and pushed me in, and I screamed as I fell right into the wave pool. He laughed, and I glared at him as soon as I surfaced. I then swam straight to the side of the pool, narrowly avoiding a collision with another park guest, climbed out, and pushed Gabe into the pool.

"Why the hell would you do that, Pete?!" Gabe exclaimed as he raced toward a ladder to get out of the pool.

"I'm just giving you a taste of your own medicine," I said.

Gabe climbed out of the pool and then sat next to Gerard, who was sitting on the edge of the shallow end of the pool, dipping his toes in the water. "Gerard, you should give the wave pool a try," Gabe said.

"I can't swim, I can't dance, and I don't know karate..." Gerard said.

"We get it, Gerard," Ray said. "You're never gonna make it."

After the waves turned off, Ray jumped into the pool and swam around in circles. Mikey got in too, and Frank, Gabe, Brendon, and I eventually followed him. Gerard stayed out of the pool and watched us, clearly in his own little world. We played a rambunctious game of Marco Polo, but when the waves started up again, we scrambled out of the pool. "Are you all ready to leave yet?" Gerard asked us.

"I never wanted to come here in the first place, so yes," Mikey said.

"I'm ready to go too," I said.

All of us changed into our street clothes and left the park. When we got to the parking lot, Ray got into his car, and the rest of us headed toward the DeLorean. "I'll see you guys soon," Ray said.

"See you later, Ray," Mikey said. "I call shotgun on the way home."

"I call going in the trunk again," Frank said.

"Me too," Gerard said as he winked at Frank.

"Not this again," Mikey complained, but I didn't do anything to stop Frank and Gerard from climbing into the trunk of the DeLorean. I took the driver's seat again, Mikey got into the passenger seat, and Brendon and Gabe were in the backseat.

"Pete, turn on your road trip mixtape!" Brendon exclaimed, and I did so. Before long, those of us who weren't in the trunk were screaming the lyrics to every song on that mixtape, even the ones that we didn't actually know the lyrics to.

As it turned out, Frank and Gerard were quieter on the way home. I think that they finally realized that we could hear them from the trunk.

When we returned to the Ways' house, we all sat around for a while and chatted. There weren't very many visions left before Gabe's death, but he didn't seem particularly worried at that moment. I, on the other hand, was really starting to panic. What would happen if I didn't have my best friend by my side? He was the person that I'd take a bullet for, but that didn't count for anything if he would die anyways. I just hoped that even though there wasn't much time left, we might still be able to stop the visions from coming true.