Hello again! We’re back with the next chapter in Volume 3!

New to the series? Enjoy the other volumes below!

Thanks again for all your support, and please enjoy!

“Coaster”

“AAHHHhhhh!!” A collective shriek flew overhead and disappeared around a bend. Aaron watched the bright green blur shoot down the railed tracks, its path curving around a fake mountain before ascending into a loop as further down the line.

Of course, Lauren’s will was set on riding it as soon as they entered the park.

“C’mon!” She pulled Aaron along by the hand. “We gotta hit The Talon first before it gets busy in an hour.”

With a powerful grip she tugged Aaron past the kaleidoscope of overpriced vendors. Hawkins Park shops peddled their miscellaneous collections of merchandise: from tie-dyed hoodies with Hawky cheaply printed on them to Hawkins Park-branded shot glasses. The amusement park restaurants were all branded boxes offering the finest tastes of Americana: hot dogs, burgers, tufts of cotton candy, and buckets of soda. Bright kiosks and carts overcharged for Summer day essentials guests may have forgotten, providing them with Hawkins-branded sunblock, sunglasses, umbrellas and water bottle.

Aaron’s lips tightened at the thought, realizing that at some point today he and Lauren would inevitably need to blow their budget on one of these scams.

“Oh well…” he shrugged internally. “Part of the fun, I guess.”

Aaron smiled softly as they arrived, watching his girlfriend’s face light up. Lauren pointed upwards above their heads, her finger leading to a sign reading “The Talon.” A ferocious-looking and detailed depiction of Hawky was painted on the sign, depicting the park’s mascot in a dive bomb.

Aaron tilted his head up a little further and looked past the sign, noticing that the coaster’s largest drop mimicked the steep angle of Hawky’s dive bomb. A strange pit seemed to form in his stomach at the sight.

Lauren noticed his wide-eyed stare and pressed onward, yanking him behind her.

“Scared of a little drop, Bunny?” she verbally prodded at Aaron, knowing it would break him out of his own head.

Aaron gulped and tried to change his expression into one of bravery. “Nahh…” he replied, doing his best to sound sure of himself. “It’s just a little… high. That’s all.”

She felt a bit cruel admitting it to herself, but Lauren couldn’t wait to hear him scream at the top of his lungs.

The line for The Talon stretched and snaked back about fifty feet, if you didn’t count the stairs to the launch platform. Aaron and Lauren made their way around the empty section of posts and chains, meant to contain a line of nearly one hundred people (a crowd which usually built up after ten in the morning). The platform itself loomed large over the line, built on a textured cement slab and covered in a canopy of steel shingles. From below the couple heard a buzzy voice reading off coaster protocols and calling for riders to rotate into or out of the cars.

Aaron's foot tapped rapidly, almost in tune with his heart rate. Lauren could hear the soft pattering of his sneaker, like a little rabbit thumping his back feat. She ran a hand along his back and over his shoulder, leaning onto him.

“You seem nervous, dear.” She cooed.

Aaron kept his eyes affixed to the steel rails spiraling above. “Really, I don’t mind being on the ride so much.” His eyes followed the line leading up the stairs. “It’s just the lead-up to the ride that gets me.”

Without realizing it, he was white-knuckling their shared bag of clothes and supplies.

Lauren gave the hand interlocked with hers a gentle squeeze, further reminding him of her presence.

“I’ll keep you safe,” she assured him. “And… you don’t need to get on if you don’t want to. You know we can step out and be fine.”

Aaron considered her offer for just a moment, before shaking his head.

“I’ll be alright,” he said. “This was the biggest thing you talked about on the ride over, and how you were so excited to ride it. It’d be a shame to just step out now, especially with the line this short.”

Lauren smiled brightly, but then tilted her head. Aaron understood her, realizing that in her own silent way she was asking if he felt certain. He smiled back, and gave a confident nod.

After about fifteen more minutes of intermittently stopping and starting forward the pair reached the end of the line. Twelve paths split before them, each leading to one of The Talon’s two-person cars. Fortunately for Aaron, the path to the front car still had a line of about ten people waiting, meaning their best option would lie somewhere in the middle.

He lightly tugged Lauren to the line for the third car, still close enough to the front for her to get her adrenaline fix without the line for the first car. They chatted for a moment as they continued waiting for the previous round of riders to return, with Aaron trying to take his mind off of the imperiled screams rising and falling around the platform.

At last, their ride came clinking up to the gates, the previous riders wearing looks ranging from excited, to terrified, to bored already. “That was neat, let’s hit The Glider now.” Lauren heard from a car with two kids.

The gates swung open automatically, and Aaron quickly stored away his bag in a temporary storage cubby next to the ride. Lauren patted the seat next to her as he approached the car, slyly smiling. Her bunny cautiously stepped into the car and lowered his safety belt into his lap, before taking her hand.

His heart was racing now, and he was so nervous he’d forgotten to pay attention to the start of the ride. He turned and looked up at Lauren.

“I wasn’t looking earlier, does this ride start with a slow build to the top or does it just–”

A voice blared out of the PA system, “LAUNCH.”

Before he could get his bearings, the coaster blasted forward at full speed into an uphill climb. Aaron screamed at the top of his lungs, and Lauren’s joyous laughter was almost loud enough to match it.

About two minutes and several loop-de-loops, spins, and drops later, their ride returned. Lauren cheerfully hopped out of the car, almost fully pulling Aaron along with her. He himself needed a second to find his footing after the experience. Lauren grabbed their belongings from the cubby then rejoined hands with Aaron, leading him along to the exit.

“You were so brave,” she joyfully gave him a peck on the forehead.

Aaron gave her hand a squeeze and perked up a bit, “If you say so,” he said in a playfully sarcastic manner.

They chuckled and proceeded on to their next adventure in Hawkins Park.