ETHAN MAREK - FERRIS WHEEL

Ethan Marek originates from New Prague, Minnesota. He is a screenwriter and aspiring novelist. He has won four film awards and is currently working on a novel. In his free time, he enjoys hockey, photography, and travel vlogging. Follow him on Instagram @EthanMarek and Twitter @MarekEthan.

​Ferris Wheel

​            An amusement park dissolves its lights into the dusk night with the moon peeking through the pine trees outside. The clickety-clack of roller coasters and the screams of children can be heard from the distance. A mini donut stand spreads the smell of sugar and cinnamon across the park as a swift breeze carries along. The sweet cool breeze strikes Jack in the back, a twenty-two year old guy who is as skinny as a twig, waiting in line with his beautiful twenty-one year old girlfriend, Lucy, to ride the ferris wheel. 
            The ferris wheel is quite quiet as its flashing lights dance across its white metallic structure. The cars on the ferris wheel look like mini air balloons, ready to fly off into the night. They swing delicately in the air but Jack begins to realize something. Only one of the cars caught his attention. Its immense squeaking silences everything else around Jack as he focuses on the devilish red balloon. The balloon taunts Jack as it slowly approaches the loading platform. Squeak! The ferris wheel stops. The other balloons sway in the silent wind. 
            A guy approaches them; he works the ferris wheel gate. His hat looks like a blue girl-scout fedora which matches his blue work clothes. He opens the door for Jack and Lucy, smiling at them in the most wonderful joy. The man follows behind Jack and Lucy and meets them at the balloon. Jack watches him as he unlocks the strong metal bolt to the door and opens the door. Jack allows Lucy to walk in first and then he follows her in. The guy slowly shuts the door and dramatically, he bolts the door shut, sealing the prisoners in their cage. The ferris wheel engine kicks on as the cars jolt in the air. Jack shuts his eyes for a second but reopens them as he finds their car to be squeaking in their ears. 
            “Alright, can we talk?” says Lucy. 
            Jack still focuses on the squeaking of the balloon as he looks up to the hinges of their car. 
            “Ok, look, Jack,” she says. “How on Earth are we ever going to fix this if you don’t talk to me?” 
            Jack looks down to find Lucy’s eyes. 
            Lucy widens her eyes and questionably shrugs her shoulders at him.
            “What is there to talk about?” says Jack. 
            “I’m sorry. I didn’t expect to see him here tonight, but I did. It would have been very awkward if I didn’t talk to him.”
            Jack flushes a tear from his eye as he turns away and looks down to the ground. He finds the ferris wheel worker staring at him, with an extravagant smile on his face. 
            “Jack!” she says. “Are you even listening to me?”
            “Oh, I’ve been listening to you long enough. Day in and day out, you’re always talking to him. You call him, you text him, you visit him, and you plan meet-ups with him like tonight.”
            “Oh my God! You really think I planned this out?”
            “Well, I will tell you what wasn’t planned. You making out with him behind the cotton candy stand.”
            Lucy shuts up. Their balloon is at the tippy top of the wheel. The ferris wheel makes a rough sound, like when the brakes on a car break out. The balloons come to a halt as the ferris wheel begins to shake its own miniquake. An explosion at the bottom of the ferris wheel erupts and sends a ball of fire into the air. The fire blazes towards the top of the ride where Jack and Lucy sit in their balloon. Jack looks around the ground and notices the worker has vanished. 
            “Jack!” Lucy says. She scoots over to Jack’s side but he pushes her off. “Jack, please! I’m scared!”
            “You know what, Lucy?” Jack says. “I’m not afraid anymore!”
            Another explosion erupts from below as their car begins to sweat in the flames which roar to them. 
            “I’m not afraid of roller coasters,” he says.
            The ferris wheel’s foundation gives out as the ferris wheel tips a little to the side. Lucy gives out a scream as Jack stands up and hangs onto the center pole that divides them. 
            “I’m not afraid of heights,” he says.
            The flames burn the glass as the door’s glass shatters into pieces, releasing a scream from Lucy. 
            “I’m not afraid of death,” he says. 
            Jack jumps out of the balloon’s car and straight into the roaring flames. Lucy screams in terror as the stomach-churning ride gives out on its foundation. The metal supports bend as the top of the ferris wheel falls faster and faster to the ground. Lucy hangs onto the pole as the bones from her knuckles look to be growing through her own skin. She lets out one last painful scream as the ride smashes her skull into the concrete. Glass shatters everywhere and the screams begin to grow and grow from inside the park. The moon sinks into the ground as the darkness surrounds the scorching flames, burning into the night.