Lemon

When we arrived at the theme park, I could not believe my eyes. I had never seen such a place before, nor could I have imagined one like it. It did not even come close to the image I get when mom reads my favorite book about a perfect place called paradise. The excitement bubbled up inside of me and it busted out once we were finally inside. I started running around, screaming, singing like a kid, not caring about the strangers who all turned around to look at me. My sister Rose looked at me annoyed, rolling her eyes, almost looking embarrassed and my mother was trying to calm me down. “I understand why you’re so happy.” She smiled and put a hand on me in an attempt to make me sit still. “This place is amazing. But you have to be aware of other people too.” Only this day I didn’t care about other people. It was my day. I looked around again, and I didn’t even know where I should point my eyes to. There was so much happening, it was overwhelming to me. Dad seemed to notice my over-stimulation and he cleverly conjured up a map out of his pocket to show me the options. My eyes were immediately drawn to the big dragon situated on the left side of the map. “This one!” After checking if I was allowed to go into this one, since I’m not very tall (only 5 feet), we got on our way to the monstrous looking dragon which you could easily already see from afar. We walked past some other attractions like a water slide, a big boat that moved up and down, a roller coaster in a castle and the final one before the dragon had something to do with fruits but you couldn’t really see what it did since most of it happened underground. Anyway, from closer, the dragon looked even more intimidating and I was excited to go into his mouth and to be spit out of it, since that is how the attraction went. After waiting in the line what felt like eternity we got in the car and the adrenaline went through me, making me feel like I was actually flying. It was spectacular. Suddenly the car stopped and everything went dark. At first I thought it was part of the attraction but then an alarm went off and the car fell down for a long time. It was almost like I was in an elevator going down but way too fast. My stomach kicked into my lungs and when the car reached the ground I noticed I had held my breath all along the fall. I moved my arms to the places where my I thought my parents and sister sat, not capable of speaking yet, but I only could only reach the air. I started crying out of fear and frustration. What is this? What is happening? Where is my family? Where am I? Why can’t I see anything? So many questions started running through my mind. Once I came to terms a little bit I tried yelling “Help” a few times, but I could only hear my own echo back. I must have been in a very large hall, one that’s situated underneath the dragon. Or maybe I fell into the dragon itself. I carefully stepped out of my car, and I found mom’s bag still in it to my relief. I searched for her phone and tried to call my father but there was no signal. I turned on the flashlight and I could see many abandoned cars spread in this room. There was one lemon asking my attention, and I thought that one must’ve been part of the fruit roller coaster. Suddenly I noticed some movement in the lemon car, and two eyes, lightened by the phone I was holding, were staring at me. I froze in fear, too scared to move. “H-hello?” Instead of hearing a voice back, I heard some high-pitched barking and I dropped the bag I was still holding to come closer to the lemon. I had never really showed interest in dogs, in fact it was rather my sister who had always loved animals, but I weirdly felt an attraction to this being. I sat in the lemon car, and I started petting the dog. His wet tongue gently touched the skin of my arm and I started giggling. A loud bang let me come back in reality. We both got up at the same time and the dog seemed to know the way instinctively so I started following him. Suddenly he stopped and I’m happy he did, because otherwise I would’ve bumped into a wall. His nose pointed against a door, and I tried to turn the handle but the door was closed. I tried to use more force. Nothing happened. I sighed, and put my hair in a ponytail. It was either getting hot in here, or it was because of my effort. Then I knew it. Why didn’t I think about that earlier? I am such a fan of crime and action movies, it should’ve come naturally to me. I took out my hair pin and stuffed it in the key lock. It took me a few tries of turning it before the door finally made some movement and the light coming from behind blinded me. Once my eyes got adjusted, I found myself back in the middle of the amusement park. The only difference to what felt like a couple of hours ago was that my family was nowhere to be seen and I got a dog with me. I couldn’t believe how, not so long ago, I used to be so excited by this place, but now I couldn’t wait to leave. All the people around me and all the different attractions, roller-coasters and playground equipment were still overwhelming to me, but now more in a negative way. I seemed to have lost my mother’s phone, so I made my way through the crowd, to try to find my parents this way. I looked back to make sure the dog was following me, when I heard my mother calling my name. “Mom!”, I say and I cry tears of joy. Only, when I saw her, our surroundings were not the same anymore. Instead of all the different colors and music I saw the calming color of green, the one that the walls of my room are painted with. I blinked a few times to see if I was not actually dreaming but then I understood that the park was actually a dream I just woke up from. The dragon, the short circuit, the dog, it all was part of my imagination. I focused again on the face of my mother in real life, who looked a bit confused by my tears. “You had a weird dream, huh?” I nodded. “Well, you should come back to reality. Today is the big day. Are you ready to go?” Now it was up to me to be confused. “To go where?” “How could you forget? We’re going to that theme park you’ve always wanted to go to. A gift from us for your birthday that is tomorrow, remember?” Her smile uncovered her perfectly aligned teeth and it reminded me of her smile at the beginning of my dream. I looked away. Do I really want to go now? I used to be so excited for this. Now my dream gift has changed. I looked back into my mother’s eyes. This was the first time I noticed how beautiful they actually were. My definition of paradise was definitely different from the one I had not so long ago. “Mom, I changed my mind. I don’t need to go to a theme park anymore. If it’s okay with you and dad, I want a dog and I will name him Lemon.”