ONE | KATE
If you asked me a year ago what I thought my life would look like, I wouldn’t have guessed I’d be saying, “Please keep your hands, arms, legs, and feet inside the ride at all times,” to a young teenage couple already lip-locked and tongue-heavy in a ride cart.
It may be protocol to relay the information for safety purposes, but to them, and most people who stand in that line, I’m invisible. Which is ironic considering that’s precisely what I’m going for. However, their blatant neglect of me doesn’t make me feel any better either.
This reality is far from the life I envisioned. The life I worked for. But I only have myself to blame for ending up here, working at a goddamn amusement park on the coast of Maine.
It's less than ideal, but it's safe.
Secluded.
Under the radar.
It may be one of those small tourist towns that lure in families for a quiet vacation every summer, but it's the first place I landed where I didn’t feel like the air was tangling around my neck like a noose. Maybe I had run far enough to snap the tetherthat had me in a constant state of paranoia despite the distance I created.
All the other places I stopped before Lachlan Harbor—and there were many—I cautiously scanned and analyzed my surroundings. Examined every person’s face and frame. Inspected the shadows. Peered over my shoulder for any evidence of the parasite that had somehow embedded a piece of itself in my bones, paralyzing me from the inside out with a fear I’ve never been able to escape.
The fear may be muted now to a dull, distant hum that stirs more in my dreams, but it doesn’t entirely dissipate the feeling that eyes are following my every move.
It’s my imagination. It has to be.
That, or I’ve been doing this so long that I’m starting to have a psychotic break.
As I said, I never thought I’d end up working at a place like this, and maybe that’s part of my problem.
Lachlan Park sits at the edge of town, tucked into the forest’s edge and along the rocky shoreline. It’s a short walk to the harbor where commercial fishing boats bring their shipments in and out. The air is always bursting with the scent of fried food, yet it carries a familiar tang of sweat that clings to your nose. Then, the briny sea air off the coastal waters, which stretches out for miles, stirs the potent combination into a uniquely unforgettable scent that somehow permeates all of Lachlan Harbor, as if the park is its very essence.
For now, it's my haven.
A loud pop splits through my daze, making me jolt. I turn around to see Nicole, my coworker, chewing on her gum obnoxiously like she always does this time of day. It’s a sign she’s bored. Somehow, I hold my eyes back from rolling like they want to.
Her head slants slightly in deliberation, her features pulled together in that way that tells me she’s scheming. “Hey, Kate. I bet you ten bucks that they’ll keep making out when they hit the backward track.” Nicole blows another pink bubble, sinking her teeth into it before she follows it up with a wicked smile. “Or should we make it fifteen?” Her focus drops from me to the camera footage of the ride, displayed on the monitors in front of her.
Now my eyes roll.
That’s an hour of my pay. No, thank you.
I’m not in a position to be throwing away money like that when I can barely afford my studio. I shouldn’t entertain her. However, I have a keen talent for reading people and have been working here long enough to understand the behaviors of our guests.
I really shouldn’t…
Yet, I have a high probability of walking out fifteen dollars richer.
And when I sayworking herelong enough, I mean four months.
Which may not seem like a lot, but to me it is.
I watch the track carry the young couple’s mine cart into the cave entrance. The dark tunnel swallows them whole, taking them to the belly of the ride.
I contemplate for a second before giving in. “Let’s make it fifteen, and cleanup duty. Because I bet you that in the next five minutes, one of them is going to get motion sickness.”
Nicole narrows her eyes, regarding me. It only takes a moment before she excitedly claps her hands together. “You’re on. I had my fair share of make-out sessions back in the day. I would come here on dates whenever I could get away from my parents. So, I should know that they are bound to keep this up the entire ride.”
Back in the day? It was more like a few weeks ago, since she literally just turned eighteen.
I swallow the groan wanting to escape my chest.
Yep, this is my life now. A twenty-four-year-old runaway who traded a full-time nursing job with a steady paycheck, benefits, and a 401(k) for a position working the haunted mine ride at an amusement park that has been here since the 1930s. Of course, it’s been updated with new rides, booths, and restaurants since then, but there are some stains and scars from the past that years can’t erase.
