Chapter 1

“Tell us more about you Jonathon.” The woman across from him was very petite, with strawberry blondish red hair that was pulled tight into a bun on the top of her head; possibly in an attempt to appear more professional. Her thin shoulders were hunched slightly forward as she leaned forward on the tiny table between them. He noticed that she had delicate hands, a clear coat on nail polish only and very well kept. She held them in front of her as though she was at peace, but the skin under her fingertips betrayed her nervousness as the pressure of pushing them together had caused the red under her nails to turn white. The oversized black frames that she wore sadly hid much of her bright blue eyes, by this point slid slightly down her small and slightly beak-like nose. They were pretty eyes he thought, but cold and calculating as they stared at him as she waited for an answer.

“What would you like to know Ms. Bremen?” He replied formally. She stiffened as he used her maiden name. She had not told him that, but there wasn’t much he didn’t now know about his interrogator.

“Please, call me Cynthia,” She replied after a moment. She was not going to let him get to her; the thought of it amused him. He could get to her if he wanted, but he wasn’t really here for that. “Please tell us about your childhood for starters?”

“It was pretty normal I guess?” He said shrugging his shoulders. “Mom and Dad were both professionals, but never too busy to make it to a baseball game or a soccer match for my brother Peter, or piano recital for me. I wasn’t into sports like he was, but they did their best to encourage me to try. I grew up in an affluent neighborhood, we weren’t rich but we always had a good Christmas.”

“Okay, how about after that first time?” She prodded. Ah there it was, diving right into the heart of the beast so to speak. He liked that about her; very straight to the point when she needed to be.

“That was a very long time ago Cynthia. Does it really matter?”

“Yes.” She answered, a little too curtly.

“Very well, let me tell you a story then.” He said with a smile. “In order to be surprised at what I'm going to share with you I need you to keep an open mind, for it’s not really going to be believable.”

"You have to imagine me as a young man barely out of puberty and who was still trying to: figure out this whole date a girl, get good grades and keep them, prepare for college even though it was still five years away, and still act like I’m not slowly losing my mind with normal teenager angst." He told her. "I wasn’t tall and certainly wasn’t the most attractive boy in school either but I was happy because at that moment because despite everything I had a girlfriend. Kristen was not quite what I had expected but I wasn’t going to complain, too much. Sure she was older, in the next grade up and she sometimes made me feel like I knew nothing about life – we still had fun. Often doing exactly what we were doing that very moment, riding rollercoasters at Six Flags™ and enjoying each other’s company."

He paused, wondering if he should share more before continuing on. "We’d met over the summer and that was the best time to go, the sun was high and roasting but the wind whipped around us as we rode every fast ride we could, then jumped to the ones that went upside down for that extra thrill. Every time I looked at her I was surprised that this vibrant person was my girlfriend. She had long brown hair that was occasionally plastered to her forehead with the curves of the rides, making me laugh when it slid down over the rest of her face and those deep brown eyes that seemed to sparkle when she smiled – I knew she was way out of my league but for some reason she really liked me."

"We talked, laughed, and I even managed to sneak a kiss here and there, but nothing over the top; she was my first girlfriend and I was too nervous to try anything else. I was, in fact, unlike any other boy in my grade – I knew exactly what I wanted and I knew throwing a baby into that was going to put a serious damper on my plans. So yes, getting past kissing was the last thing from my mind when I asked if she wanted to stop for lunch or ride more." He glanced at the woman across from him, wondering if she believed him.

Of course she wanted to ride more.

We had that in common for sure – food was last when it came to the thrill of riding the highest, fastest ride in the park. But I suggested a break to the bathroom so we don’t waste time when we get to the other side of the park. The theme park we were at was split into three sections, the first was we called the short fast rides – the scrambler, the tilt a whirl, as well as the older rides that had started when the park first opened and stuck around for their popularity, such as the Batman™. So naturally we hit those last as we raced to the back to catch all the other rides that were just beginning to see patrons line up – these were the tall rides and the newest and therefore would only see long lines later in the day. What can I say -- we knew our theme parks!

"I should have just gone to the back of the park where the bathrooms were usually less crowded there for the girls (we guys never seemed to take long) and maybe then I wouldn’t have ended up waiting for her. Maybe I wouldn’t have heard the small initial groans and creeks of metal that signaled the beginning of a support brace on the Ferris wheel breaking – and maybe my life wouldn’t have turned into a giant mess." His voice taking on a profound remorse.

The groans and straining metal on metal was a sound many were used to when it came to the old Ferris wheel, it’d been there since the park opened and despite many break downs remained thanks in part to the caretaker of that particular ride. Old Frank Johnson, who meticulously oiled, repaired, and maintained it through the many decades did his very best, but last year and amid a flurry of balloons and confetti he had finally retired. The park hired Joe Herron, who was a local boy (who prior to that had only worked in his father’s auto shop I should add) in order to keep the crowd favorite going.

“That lack of experience would be the detriment to the ride, and almost to the young patrons that were sitting in the green gondola.” He told her.

As the Ferris wheel slowed from the last full rotation and the momentum of the giant machine ground to a halt, the green gondola rocked and swayed. Of course, no one thought anything of it thought as all the others were doing exactly that – swaying with the momentum of the ride. That is they started that way, but a sudden loud groan (at least it seemed loud to me) echoed in the park. I looked up and saw the horizontal bar that held the carriage perpendicular to the ground as it moved begin to bend. The kids inside, two young boys and a young girl chattered away – oblivious to the events unfolding above them.

“I didn’t stop to ask myself how I was seeing this, since the ride had to be over a hundred yards away, or how I had heard the groan of that beam and the subsequent popping as the rusty and weak bolts began to separate from the solid steel beam. So I ran. I needed to run fast because just as I took that first step I saw the beam start to fail and the carriage began to slowly drop off the long bar that connected it the sides of the outer support structure – it was right about that time that the kids noticed they were not swinging but sliding sideways and began to scream. It pierced my ears in a deafening tone and sent the world into silence for what would last for minutes only to turn into a hum before my hearing finally returned.” His voice softened as he remembered the looks of sheer terror on the kid’s faces, the brown haired boy’s face scrunched up and did the girl with the curly blonde hair. The other boys face however was impassive, as if he had accepted his fate – his face would haunt his dreams for a long time to come.

“I was under the carriage in a time that would have sent my old grumpy gym coach into a heart attack.” The thought shook him the darker thoughts threatened to unbury themselves from the recessed of his memory. “I mean I literally crossed that hundred yards or so in less than five seconds – just in time to find myself dangerously right under the falling hunk of metal! What the hell was I thinking? I can’t stop this, I can’t...it was five seconds later the green square steel gondola was in my arms feeling like it weighed nothing more than a pillow.”

What. The. Hell.