Thrill Me

Chapter 1

I woke up to the bright light flashing across my face, which wasn't streaming from the sunlight through my window. It happened to come from the flashlight of my phone that my mom was holding right in front of my eyes.

"Holy fudge, couldn't you just wake me up by shaking me or calling out? Every morning you device some new tactic to wake me up in the most torturous way possible." I screamed trying to cover my eyes from the blinding light.

"I'm not sorry Nat, you know you sleep like a corpse and that I have to adopt such weird ways in trying to wake you up." My mom replied in an annoyed tone that made my morning even worse.

I'm not a morning person and as my mom remarked, I had to admit that I slept like a corpse and reviving a person from a deep coma would have been easier than trying to wake me up. I'm not exaggerating there, it's true. Every morning my mom would think of a way in accomplishing this herculian task. She wouldn't resort to a single tactic alone. She would think like a child and come up with the most ridiculous ideas that included placing slimy crawling earthworms on my feet, bringing rotten eggs near my nose and having me sniff them, tickling my ear with a bird feather and to my horror, she had even placed a spider on my cheek once. I had woken up with a ear piercing screech after about 5 minutes when I felt the creature crawling towards my mouth(eeks!). That incident still gives me the creeps and I shudder to think of anymore of her morning pranks.

But I still do love my mom. She can be annoying at times- no, every morning- but that just adds up to the thrill of your ride. You cant expect a roller coaster to go in one specific direction without any highs or lows. My mantra is to consider life as a "roller coaster" and to savour whatever bumps and thrill it has to offer- doesn't matter if those are minute things of least importance. That's just what keeps my life going with a smile on my face, anxiety in heart and a thrashbox in the back to throw all the junk. I'm not of those people who cry at hailstones falling on them but among those rare ones who grab the opportunity to catch the stones before they fall, collect as much of them as possible and later compare with others as to see how much they have collected( call it lame and idiotic but there is a hidden thrill to it).

I wasn't inculcated with these beliefs from birth or my family, it was reinforced into me after life decided to take a deathly plunge downwards when I thought I was safely sitting on the topmost berth of the ride.

I was 14 and new to the teenage lifestyle as my puberty had been sparked just recently. I was my daddy's daughter or as he would call-the "cherry" of his cake. He was what every daughter would wish for in her dad and every wife in her husband. My mom loved him more than her life and I would see the same love being reflected in his eyes for her. He never failed to surprise me with gifts, toys and whatever I would wish for. I never spent as much time with my mother, to be frank. He was closer to me than my own breath and much dearer to me than my heartbeat. Just when I thought that I had been gifted by the most precious gift from God, I was deprived of it in a flash.

•FLASHBACK•

It was my school annual day and I had been chosen to give the welcome speech due to my great oratory skills(thanks to my dad's genes). My dad seemed more excited than me and was literally jumping of pride. I had never seen him so happy before and it was making me cry in joy to see him so cheerful. Such was our father- daughter bond!!

"Chillax dad. Calm down. It's me who is giving the speech in front of hundreds of people, not you. It's me who is supposed to be nervous here as it's my first time."

"How can I not be happy when it's my cherry's big day. You will be speaking in front of hundreds and my head will be swelling with pride over there. I have even practiced wolf- whistling to cheer you when your done with your speech so that the whole world knows that I am the lucky dad." He said this with pride echoing in every word and then gave me the coziest, heart warming hug that made me feel special and secure in his huge arms.