In The Distance

“Five, four, three, two, one!” As the whistle blew, the cheering of people grew in the crowd. Spain had won the world cup. Her family would be among the cheering people.

Emma was on vacation at a theme park to watch the last match of the world cup. Now that the match was finally finished, they could go on some rides. Emma, her twin brother, Eli, and their parents were on vacation in Los Angeles.

The Johnson family wasn’t alone though. Emma’s mother was with her twin sister, Emma and Eli’s aunt, Holly. Holly had twins too. Emma thought their family tree was too confusing.

The twins' names were Andrew and Emily. They were all around the seven to eight years old mark.

After they left the restaurant where they watched the match, they went to get on a “kid-friendly” ride.

Emma, who didn’t know where they were going, kept complaining.

“Mom? Where are we going?!?” She yelled up ahead. With her quiet voice, not even Andrew, who was walking next to her, could hear her.

“Did you say something?” Andrew questioned. She sighed and ran up to her mother.

“Mom, where exactly are we going?” Emma tapped on her mother’s hand, signaling to look down at her.

“We’re going on a ride, sweetheart. Would you like to go on?”

“Maybe…” Something about Emma was that she was quite scared of some of the rides. She hated fast ones, ones with drops, and ones in the dark.

‘Maybe this one wouldn’t be so bad.’ Emma thought. She already knew that her nose was getting longer from the word “maybe.”

* * *

Eventually, all eight of them got to the ride. Quite a short line, but a horrendous ride, itself.

Emma looked through the bars of the gate and saw the next group of people about to go on the ride.

First, they had to pull up a silver, metal bar to get themselves seated on a swing-like seat. Then, you had to pull the cold bar back down from over your head and only then, you had to fasten the seat belt that went in between your legs that clicked into the bar.

Then it was waiting and waiting.

Emma already feared the ride. Just from looking at the seats, it’d be miserable, she knew.

The loud buzzer went off like a siren. As she went to turn back to people in the chairs, she saw their feet lift off the ground.

Emma felt cold. Literally. Cold tears fell down her face like rain droplets on a car window. The people on the ride went higher in the sky like they were a plane ready for take off.

By the time Emma ran out the line that was massive now, they started spinning in the air.

She ran as fast as she could, without turning back, even having to shove smaller kids that made her look like a joke, being how old she is compared to them. Emma could hear her mother calling back at her, with footsteps growing behind Emma.

She felt her whole body jerk backwards as her mother’s hand had stopped her from running.

She could tell that her mother was yelling at her although the only thing that Emma could hear was the screams of children in the sky.

Her mother’s hot pink nails that really needed trimming, was flinging in Emma’s direction in shame. Emma, who wasn't paying attention, just walked up to her mother and gently placed herself against her chest, in hope for a little bit of love and understanding along all that shame.

Thankfully, she did.

“We don't have to go on if you don’t want to.”

Emma looked up at the people in the sky, she supposed it wasn’t that bad.

“Can I talk to Eli first?” Eli was always there for Emma. In her ups and her downs, he’d come to the rescue.

“Hey Em. How come you don’t wanna go on?” Eli started to walk down the line to talk to Emma as if he could hear her like she was speaking in a megaphone.

“I’m scared to go on the ride, Eli. It goes high in the sky, it’s fast. It’s not my kinda thing.”

“Listen, if you really don’t want to go on, don’t. But if you don’t totally mind it, go on! Don’t feel peer pressure, alright?”

“...Okay.”

“If you don’t go on, you’ll regret it!” Eli ran back to his cousins that were waving for the three to hurry before the ride began.

“I’m gonna go on!”

“You sure?” Her mother asked, hesitant.

“Yeah.” Emma wiped her tears and ran through the line to them

* * *

Eli followed Emma to an open seat for her and lifted the bar so she could get on. Emma silently cried. Although the slightest bit, it was enough for Eli to notice.

Emma sat in the swing and Eli pulled down the bar and belted her in. Now it was time to comfort Emma.

“Hey. It’s going to be alright. Just imagine it as the swings at the playground we always go to. And, I’ll be right next to you, okay?” Eli wiped the tears off her own sister's face and got himself buckled in next to her.

“Okay.” Emma said a bit more confidently than last time.

Emma tried to spin her chair around to see her cousins behind her and Eli. Andrew was all puffed up around the eyes. Emma could tell he was scared too. Emily, on the other hand, was very excited for this ride like Eli.

Unannounced, the buzzer went off and Emma let her feet rest after keeping herself facing the other way.

Eli gave her two thumbs up as they started to leave the ground. Her heart was pounding like it was trying to leave her chest and her hand was shaking like a fish on land.

‘How much higher is this gonna go?!?’ Emma feared. She wanted to go back down. What was going to happen? After they got spun, would they drop straight down for a finale?

They stopped going up but forwards instead.

The ride went faster. So did Emma’s heartbeat.

There was a breeze, a harsh one, but only in Emma’s head.

Then it stayed at a pace.

The breeze slowed and bristled through Emma’s light brown hair.

It was quite nice. Along with all of her fear, there was a bit of ease.

Emma slowly opened her eyes, and the view…

The pine trees in the distance with the bright, orange sun just setting in the yellowish sky, Emma could see all the other people on the other rides, one was throwing up popcorn after getting off a ride Emma would definitely not go on.

Emma was scared of nothing. She looked over at Eli and smiled. Eli lit up and gave a massive grin back.

Emma looked around one last time before being slowly let down and her feet touched the floor again.

“Hey Em, did you have fun?” Eli already knew the answer based on her reaction in the air.

“Yeah. That was good.” Emma looked around for her cousin. Emily was hugging Andrew and his chest was moving quickly. Andrew did not like it. Emma went to go hug him and Eli followed.

‘It was weird. How some people can and cannot handle some rides.’ Emma thought.

Emma had plans for the rest of the day. When they got back to the hotel, Eli, Emily, Andrew and Emma would chill in the pool as they watched the day slowly fade away as she recalled that ride and all the pine trees in the distance.