Age of Death (Taennie)

14

Breathe.

The attendant secured the straps meant to keep me from death with a not-very-satisfying series of clicks. Then he moved ahead to the next car. I squeezed Jennie hand so tightly I was surprised she wasn't in pain.

"You're amazing," she insisted, lips so close to my ear i could feel them brushing against it. I wasn't sure if my lightheadedness could be attributed to that or to my impending doom. "I'll buy you an ice cream once when we get back to the bottom, alright?"

She exhaled slowly, and I swallowed hard as he bar in front of us lowered over our laps. It clicked into place and I tried not to hyperventilate. Beside me, Jennie muttered, "At least I never showed you Final Destination 3."

"Wha-?" I started to ask, but the coaster rolled forward and i clamped my mouth shut. Jennie let ho of my hand and I looked over at her, wide eyed.

"You're gonna want to be hands-free," she explained. "It's not a good ride if it doesn't wanna make you throw your hands up and scream. That's what dad says, anyway."

"That's not comforting at all," I half-whimpered.

"It's just a left turn right now," she told me. "Just take it a little at a time."

The left turn she spoke of took us around a bend, and for the first time, I saw just exactly what I was dealing with. Jennie'd told me there were no loops or inversions. That was true. She'd failed, however, to mention the ascension into the clouds and the drop that'd follow.

"I'm gonna die."

"I'm with you," she reminded me. "You're not going anywhere." As we began out ascension, it occured to me that it was actually my presence guaranteeing jennie's safety rather than the other way around.

"What's Final Destination 3?" I asked her at last, mostly to take my mind off of our impending drop.

"Trust me, you definitely do not wanna know that right now."

"Yes i do."

"Nope."

"Just tell me. If we talk I'll stay distracted."

"It's a horror movie. I'll tell you at the bottom. While you're eating your vanilla cone tragically."

"But I wanna know now."

"Tae-"

"But-"

"Put your hands up," she told me abruptly, and I took my eyes off her and faced forward as momentum and gravity did their jobs. I think I blacked out for the first drop. There was a vague memory of my stomach dropping and Jennie screaming happily - because that's apparently a thing - next to me, and then we were at the bottom and zooming up and down and around the wooden track and everyone was screaming and cheering except for me.

I kept my jaw locked, my teeth gritted, and my hands firmly attached to the bar over my lap for the first half of the ride, and then I felt jennie's lips far too close to my ear again and there was

a giggly gone to her voice as she shouted, "Just let go!"

I shook my head silently, and she put one hand over mine and pulled gently. "Just one!" She insisted, and i relented, sure I looked ridiculous with one arm in the air and my fingers interlocked with jennie's as she screamed wildly over the next drop. I attempted a small squeal that sounded more like a dying seal than anything else, and then kept my mouth firmly shut for the rest of the ride.

When it finally came to an end and we were freed, my legs were wobbly. Jennie found that hilarious.

I sat on a bench just outside the ride while Jennie went to get ice cream, and by the time she came back, I'd manages to catch my breath. "So whatd'ya think?" She asked, grinning. "Kinda fun? Just a little?"

"That was an experience," I conceded. "One I'll never have again, but I'm sure when I'm old I'll cherish this memory. Really, really old."

"I'll take it." She took a seat next to me and handed me my cone. "We can go do the kiddie rides again."

"No way. You should go find your dad," i suggested. "I can hang out with your mom while you guys do all the scary stuff."

"You don't have to do that. I'm not gonna leave you with my mom just so I can ride some extra rides. I'll do it some other time."

"That's sweet. Thank you." I smiled at her, licked at my cone, and then, mouth full, demanded, "Go find your dad."

"Tae-"

"Jennie, go. Seriously. It won't kill me to get to know your mom. Just be careful."

"You sure?" She looked concerned, but one of her legs was bouncing with excitement. She probably hadn't even noticed.

"Yes. Just tell them to meet us here and we'll switch up the pairs. No big deal."

A smile broked our across her face and she squealed quietly as she threw her arms around me, ice cream cone and all. "You're perfect." "Remember this moment next time i host a Marilyn Monroe themed movie night, no action movies included," I mumbled and then laughed when she groaned.

_______

Mrs. Kim and i went straight to the kiddie section of the park, where i belonged, and spent a couple of hours embarrassing ourselves by being the only guests in the park over four feet tall in almost everything we rode.

"I never got to take Jennie on these types of rides when she was a kid," she told me during ride number three. "She and her dad were certainly cut from the same cloth. We couldn't take her to places like this until she met the height requirements for the thrill rides, because otherwise there was no point in going."

"So she's always been like that," I mused. "Total adrenaline junkie."

"She gets it from her father. And his father. Her grandfather passed away about a decade ago, and one of the last things he told her was not to waste a second of life. I swear, that man will get her killed one day, the way she leaps into things without thinking about them first. I'm surprised my heart's still functioning."

I didn't reply. Our line moved forward, and she shuffled ahead of me. After a moment, I followed, half-hoping for a change in subject. "So you and Jennie seem to be close. She talks about you quite a lot for someone she's only known for a few weeks."

That's want exactly the change of subject I'd been hoping for. Inwardly, i cringed and tried to think of an appropriate response on an appropriate amount of time. But I'd never been before, and the result was a long, awkward silence that Mrs. Kim had to break herself.

"Sorry to put you on the spot like that, Taehyung. You seem like a sweet boy. I'm glad Jennie has a friend. She had trouble back where we used to live."

"Trouble?" I echoed, confused.

"She had some problems making friends. The kind she could bring home and have sleepovers with. She's always been very blunt and I think a lot of time that doesn't sit well with others your age."

"I think I like blunt sometimes," i told her. "Blunt makes everything easier."

She laughed lightly. "Well, at any rate, I'm glad Jennie has you. You have a mother's approval."

I raised a hand to my head to scratch it, but that was only so i could use my palm to hide my eye. I was, suddenly, a little teary-eyed. "Thanks." I mumbled, hoping I didn't sound choked up and that my voice wasn't shaky. "I haven't heard that one in a while."