The Waterslide
I don’t know how long it has been. In this swirling wet darkness, time feels nonexistent. It’s as though I’ve always been here; and with horror that comes in undulating, tepid waves, I fear I will always be here. This makes no sense, which is what makes me scream long and hard when the unknowable becomes too much. But I shut up when my body takes a tight turn and the water sloshes into my mouth.
I think back to before. It was a fun day at the waterpark. The sunny, summer day made for long lines at the newer waterslides. My friends and I, the four of us, made our way into an older section of the park where only a few people padded around on their bare feet. A small tangle of older waterslides stood at the very back corner of the park. The tube slides weaved over and around one another like long snakes. There were three of them.
There werethree; I am sure of it.
The three enclosed waterslide tubes twisted mildly down until they ended in a small pool at the bottom. My friends and I started climbing the wooden staircase that led to the top.
When we reached the top platform, the circular entrances to the waterslides stood open like three dark mouths. Thick streams of bubbling water drained down their throats and disappeared. There was no lifeguard in sight apart from a young, bored girl who stood in the shallow water where the water slides spilled out at the bottom. Instead, a green light was illuminated over each slide entrance, signaling that it was safe for us to go down. There were four of us at the top but only three slides.
We all could not go at once like we wanted to, so I told the three of them to go first. I would come down afterward.
I always did allow myself to become isolated when I was with them. I never quite believed that they were my friends, although they tried to tell me over and over. At times they convinced me, but mostly I took their kindness as falsity.
I always thought perhaps that me tagging along with them was always just a pity invite instigated by one of their parents. I was the one they needed to invite so I didn’t feel bad. I was, after all, the one with a bad family. The one with an alcoholic mom and a dad who left me when I was young because he couldn’t take the grief. I was the one with a brother who killed himself years ago. The one who found his brother’s body hanging limply from the ceiling with an electrical cord wrapped around his neck. The one who saw his brother’s bulging eyes staring lifelessly down at me when I flipped on the light switch.
How sad, now that I am alone, I think that perhaps my friends were genuine. Maybe I was too paranoid of a loss or betrayal that was never going to happen. Now that I am alone, I realize all that I could have had with them.
I take another hard turn, and the water splashes over my face. I choke and sputter until I can breathe again.
Back on the top of the slide, my friends took their spots within the small pools that stood just in front of each slide. The water came to their ankles and flowed into the slide. They counted down, grinned back and forth at each other, and grabbed ahold of the small hand bar above each slide entrance. On three, they swung their bodies forward and disappeared down the slides. The green lights flipped to red. They all hollered; their voices echoing distantly as they meandered their way down. I watched the pool expectantly at the base of the slides. My face held a wide smile, and I wondered who would shoot out first. Soon enough, down at the base of the slides, their three bodies plunged into the water in quick succession. Splash, splash, splash. It was a tie as far as I could tell. I raised my arms, pumped my fists, and hollered.
The lights above the slides turned green once more. I looked at my options. Which one looked the most fun?
But before I could decide, out of the corner of my eye I saw another green light appear.
Off to the side of the platform and slightly behind where I stood, another slide stood ready and waiting. The green light above it signaling for me to climb in. I hadn’t noticed it there before. Perhaps I was too distracted by my friends wanting to race that I hadn’t seen the fourth option twist and turn among the others.
I walked over to it and peered over the side of the railing to see where this new option went. The slide dropped down quickly about eight feet and then made a sharp right turn. My eyes traveled with it until it disappeared behind another slide. I tried to find it hidden among the others, but it was nowhere to be seen. It didn’t help that all the slides were the same dark shade of blue, so it was hard to decipher one slide from another.
Whatever, I thought. I’ll find out where it ends soon enough. I was excited to feel that first drop, the quick turn to the right. This slide seemed more intense, more thrilling than the other three behind me.
I looked at the green light again. It glowed brightly…eagerly.
I gripped the handle bar, pulled my body forward, and slid inside.
The light disappeared immediately, and I was sucked suddenly into hot, humid pitch-darkness. I dropped quickly down the steep slope and braced myself for the hard-right turn. It came almost instantly. My body was flung up the side of the tube. The motion was jarring and painful. As the turn evened out, I fell hard and slammed back down. The unforeseen joltof my body hitting the base of the slide scared me. It sent a quick bolt of fear through my gut. It didn’t help that I couldn’t see a thing. I blinked wildly into the roaring darkness.
As usual, when I’m alone in the dark, the lingering trauma of finding my dead brother surges forward. In the thick dark of the slide, his horrible, swollen face blossomed in my mind. It stirred my stomach, twisting like a rag filled with sickly liquid. I suppressed the urge to scream by letting loose a cheerful, strained yelp. Something similar to what my friends did just moments before. Be like them, I told myself. Have fun.
And I did for a while.
I twisted and turned through the dark. The ride was much calmer after the first, quick section. I enjoyed the feeling of my body flowing with the water. I liked how the skin of my back slid effortlessly over the smooth surface beneath it. All the while, I looked for the light that signaled the end of the slide. Though it was fun, I yearned to see the white light of day fade into view and curl over the rounded sides of the slide. Perhaps, I thought, I would make a funny face when I splashed into the pool. Maybe I would playfully flip off my friends as I sank into the water. I bet myself that they would like that.
The flow of the water slowed down, and I felt the slide even out into a straight path. I waited, staring into the darkness around me. The slide was longer that I had thought it would be.
Suddenly, the floor dropped out beneath me, and my body plummeted down a steep slope. I screamed, closing my eyes as I picked up speed. The water at my feet splattered violently up and into my face. I struggled to gasp for breath. The chlorine smell shot up my nose; I coughed and snorted it out.
After a few endless, weightless seconds the slide evened out, and my body slowed down until I was back to gently turning and gliding through the opaque dark.
I wiped my face clear of the water and stuck out my hands to steady myself. They grazed the dry surface at the top of the slide where the water did not reach. My fingertips squeaked as they rubbed across it. I began to panic.
“Hello?!” I screamed not realizing the futility of what I was doing. What were the life guards going to do? Rescue me while I was half way through the slide? It wasn’t like this slide was a roller coaster where someone could perhaps stop the cars along the tracks and retrieve you. No, this was a waterslide, an elemental thing of water and gravity. You surrender your control and go down, down, down until you stop. There was no use screaming for help.
But I still did as I was tossed along.
How had I missed the length of this? How had I not seen that huge drop?
I must be nearing the end, I thought. Yet, I could tell that I was still angled down. I thought back to the height of the staircase. It was hardly thirty feet off the ground, and that last drop was much taller than that. The only explanation I could think of entered my mind: Was I underground?
At this thought, my throat closed tightly. I imagined miles of solid earth around me; and me, alone, sliding through this blood-vessel of a tube.
I gasped for air; the water under me was warm and evaporated thickly. It was like breathing through wet fabric. I pounded my fists against the sides of the slide, hoping to get someone’s attention, but my hands only bounced off as I continued down. I felt how solid the slide was. It was like something heavy was pressing back against it. My fists fell flatly on the dense surface without any hallow resonance, like hitting a concrete pillar.
As I kept sliding, I began to calm down. I realized my only option was to wait. The slide would end soon, so I had to simply wait it out. I brought my hands to the back of head as though I was relaxing on a beach and continued down.
That was hours ago. The slide keeps turning back and forth in wide loops and curves. There have been two more sudden plunges down.
Wherever I am, I am deep. I feel the distance around me, the remoteness of it. How alone I am here.
I try to think of another way to get out of here. The only option is to stop myself and climb back up.
I tried that already, but I won’t do it again.
I had stopped myself by pressing my hands firmly against the walls of the slide until I slowed to a halt. The water flowed around me body, and continued down. My arms shook as I lifted my feet to the top of the slide. With every extremity holding its place, I pushed with my legs and pulled with my arms. I began crawl back up the slide. I tried not to think of how hard the steep slopes would be when I reached them. The water was working against me, but I had a decent hold.
I felt I was making some progress when I heard a deep roar above me.
I stopped instantly and held fast as the rumble grew in my chest. The sound was far way, but I heard it clearly. It was like a wave crashing against a rocky shore. Through my palms I felt the rumble grow stronger. It was a moment before I realized the water had stopped flowing around me and had all but dried up. A spark of energy ignited my limbs, and I flipped over onto my hands and knees and scrambled up the slide. With no water, it was easy to grip.
The roar grew stronger. A gentle breeze had started caressing my face. I kept crawling. The air was dense, but I breathed evenly.
I was placing my hand down, feeling more hopeful for escape, when a wall of water crashed into my body.
It lifted me up and carried me back down. It filled the entire tube. My arms and legs thrashed violently, but there was no hope of stopping. I shot along the slide being tossed around like a ragdoll. Soon, my lungs began to burn. My fingers clawed at what I thought was above me. They searched for an air pocket, but found nothing except more of the warm, rushing water. Light spots began to spark behind my eyelids. My lungs began to convulse with stifled attempts at breaths. I was about to drown, I thought.
Graciously, the water slowed, and a pocket of air formed over my head once more. My face broke the surface and I gasped in a few deep, wet breaths.
After this, I continued to slide down helplessly. I shut my mouth and closed my eyes, subdued.
I feel chided. Like a child who had done something wrong. Something did not like that I had tried escaping. Not knowing what it is has put me into a catatonic state. I imagine myself as a dead body flowing down a river. I make no effort to push or pull against the current. It is the only way I keep my fear from taking hold. Whatever stopped the water, whatever made the rush of water, is watching me. It senses me as I go down this hell-bound slide. Perhaps, I think, that is where I’m going. Who would have thought the way to a fiery Hell was through water?
I hear a loud clunk, and my eyes snap open. I see nothing, but the instinct to observe a threat is still there. I listen through the rush of water. There is nothing.
I slide down a short drop that ends in a tight turn. My body flies up and falls back down in a thick thump.
I continue on, and a moment later I hear the same thump in the distance.
There is something behind me, I think.
I am not sure what it is, fear or joy, but something tugs at my voice. I yell, “Hello?”
There is no answer, just the same repetition of noises as something follows the same motions as me.
I yell again, and this time a thin voice slithers down the slide and reaches my ears.
“Jared,” it hisses menacingly. My name. My stomach drops.
Up until this point I wanted to slow down, but now I tighten my body up. I cross my legs and arms, and I pick up speed to put distance between me and whatever is coming up behind me.
“Jared,” the voice whispers again.
A whimper exits my throat. There he is again; my brother’s face bubbling to the surface of my mind. His blue eyes rimmed with dark webs of burst blood vessels. His cheeks swollen and lips filled with blue blood threatening to rupture open.
Oh, God. I think in horror, but God’s not here.
Something touches the top of my head and I scream, wrenching a hand back to swipe it away, but instead, my fingers latch onto it.
It’s hard and rubbery. Three short prongs extend out from the base.A socket plug, I think to myself. It’s connected to a long wire that extends behind me and up the slide.
The voice whispers again. It’s closer, clearer. “Jared.” With a cold blade of horror that slices deep into my chest, I recognize that voice; the voice that’s attached to the end of the soaked wire in my hand; the same wire that gathers around my head the closer the voice slides toward me. I close my eyes, for it is all I can do. The wire gathers around me. A mass slides toward me.
“JARED!” my brother screams. His cold, swollen body collides into me. He latches his stiff fingers around my head and presses his face to mine.
We scream together.
We continue down this slide, together.
