They say the more you get used to something, the less excited it makes you — repetition dulls the sharp edges of wonder.
But none of that logic applied right now.
"Wha!!!"
"Whooa!!!"
"Ahhhh!!!"
Screams shredded the air as the coaster hurled itself into another stomach-lurching plunge.
The cars rattled, rails screaming like they were seconds away from giving out, and every single drop made gravity feel like a dare.
Hands shot up like white flags of surrender; hair and clothes whipped into chaos; the world shrank into a blur of rails and sky.
Alice's laughter beside me cut through it all.
Bright. Reckless. Alive.
Unlike half the people behind us who sounded like they were meeting death head-on, she laughed through every corkscrew and snap-turn as if the whole ride were a secret joke just for the two of us.
Being in the front row made it even crazier.
The track unfurled ahead of us like an endless promise, the city spilling out below in miniature.
