(Archived) Poth Short Stories and One-Shots

High Anxiety - Chapter 1

Chapter Warnings: Panic attack, vomiting

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"Hey, we should try that one first!" Palette exclaimed, hooking his arm around Goth's and dragging him towards the line for one of the roller coasters.

Staring up at the steel structure as a group of riders dropped down into a series of loops, the smaller skeleton said, "I remember hearing this thing's supposed to go over one hundred miles per hour; are you sure you want to start with this one?"

The taller flashed a wide grin as they took their spot in line, "Sure I'm sure! This one's right by the entrance, so it makes sense to start here. After this one, we can keep working our way through the park."

"Alright then," Goth conceded, thinking back to the invitation he had received this morning; Palette had found out today was one of his rare days off and had invited him to come to the amusement park. The hooded monster had readily agreed; any time spent with his secret crush was time well spent, in his opinion. Gradually, the line moved along until they arrived at the front. Following his companion's lead, he stepped forward as the gates opened and took one of the empty seats. As one of the workers came by and pushed a pair of padded restraints over their shoulders, he leaned forward a bit and asked, "So what do we do now?"

Palette blinked, staring at him for a moment, "What? You've never been on a roller coaster before?"

"No," Goth replied, feeling his face heat up in mild embarrassment, "I don't usually go out much. I've only ever read about them in books; this is my first time riding one."

"You're in for some real fun then!" the starry-eyed monster bounced excitedly in his seat, grasping the metal handles of his restraints, "You won't have to do anything besides holding onto the handles, the ride does all the work! It'll take us up into the air and when we get to the top, it'll follow the track through all the turns and loops until we end up back here."

"So... it's like flying?" Goth queried.

"Kind of," Palette bobbed his skull in agreement. Goth leaned back in his seat, satisfied with the explanation; he used his magic to float in the air all the time, so this sounded like it would be the same, only faster.

A mechanical whirring noise caught his attention as the floor beneath them sank, leaving their legs to dangle as Goth quirked his sockets, "Why did the floor move?"

"They need to move it to start the ride," Palette answered as the seats shook and began to move forward and upward. This wasn't what Goth knew about roller coasters; he remembered reading about cars that the rider would sit securely inside with seat belts and handlebars.

"It's supposed to be doing this, right?" Goth's anxious voice was nearly drowned out as the wind picked up.

"Supposed to be doing what?" the taller yelled back before exclaiming, "Stars, you can almost see the whole park from here! Isn't this cool?!"

Goth had always heard the phrase 'never look down', but he had never really understood it... until now. His breath hitched as he stared at the grassy area far below his dangling feet; he didn't like this, it was too high. The skeleton pushed on the padded restraints as they kept climbing higher into the sky, suddenly feeling like they were far too restrictive; he didn't want to be up here anymore, he wanted to go back down... why couldn't he go back down?!

"I can't do this...," He gasped, pushing more forcefully on the restraints to no avail, "I want to get out, I can't do this!"

"What?" Palette peeked through the hole in the shoulder restraints in confusion, "They can't stop the ride n-"

"No! I want to get out! Let me out!" Goth screamed as he struggled to pry the restraints back far enough to where he could slip out; the only thing he succeeded in doing was increasing his panic as his efforts were met with unyielding resistance from the locking mechanism.

A hand latched onto his, momentarily distracting him from his escape attempts, "Goth, stop! You're going to hurt yourself or worse!"

"I don't want to be here anymore! Let me down!" the smaller monster pleaded in misery as a clattering sound alerted him to the impending drop before them; tears sprung to his sockets as he recoiled into his seat wailing, "No no no! Please, make it stop; I don't want this!"

"It's going to be okay, I won't let anything bad happen," Palette promised, squeezing his hand tighter as the ride paused at the apex of the lift hill, "just close your sockets and hold on tight."

"NooOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA," Goth's protest devolved into terrified screeches as the coaster dipped, looped, and swerved around the track with its occupants. True to their word, Palette never let go of his hand; however, the gesture did little to calm the smaller as he hunkered into his seat like a cage animal, tearfully awaiting the moment his body would impact the ground with his socket clamped so tight he felt they would crack from the pressure. 

Finally, after nearly two minutes of being subjected to the coaster's high-speed whims, the ride slowed as it arrived back at the starting point and his screams and sobbing trailed off into pitiful hiccups and sniffles.

"See? You did good," Palette praised, gently jostling the hand he was holding in encouragement, "You made it to the end."

"I... I wanna get off... please let me off... please... no more...," Goth rasped, feeling physically and mentally exhausted, dizzy, somehow nauseous, and completely mortified by his vocal display.

The taller kept soothing him as the floor rose back up, "The ride's done; the workers are releasing the harnesses now." Moments later, a pop signaled their freedom; Goth shoved the shoulder harness up and away, clambering out of the seat only to collapse onto the metal grate with a sharp gasp when his legs refused to support his weight. An acrid feeling traveled up his throat as one of the workers called out, forcing a gag reflex as bitter magic spilled onto the ground in front of him. Palette quickly pushed their restraints out of the way, crouching beside him to rub his back and mutter soothing words as he continued to heave.

The queasy feeling subsided after a minute, leaving behind a burning sensation as he gulped down air in unsteady gasps. A soft voice asked beside him, "How are you feeling; do you need anything?"

Goth shakily raised his skull to mollify his companion, "... I-"

"Ugh, so gross; they better clean that up!"

"Seriously; why would you get on a roller coaster if you can't handle it?"

"I know, right? I came to enjoy the ride, not watch to some kid puke."

"How is he even doing that; do they even have stomachs?"

"They're probably just doing it to get attention."

"Yeah; how pathetic can you get?"

Goth lowered his skull once more, grasping at his hood and pulling it down to hide his flushed and tear-streaked face in shame as the nearby female voices criticized him. He had never wished he could crawl into a hole and disappear more than in that moment as he hunched in on himself, quietly trying to stifle his whimpers so as not to draw more attention than he already had.

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Word Count: 1,245