Adrenaline Short Story

Adrenaline pulsed through my veins like a race car; my knees started to buckle beneath me. My palms and face were sweat soaked with anticipation. My friend encouragingly nudged me forward. Fear trickled down my spine, sending me off the cliff of sanity.

Knees weak from climbing a flight of stairs or the anticipation of meeting Brian, I walked into his office announcing my presence with a raspy, delayed voice. Upon flinging open the door, his face lifted of his desk and stared at me with a distant expression. My first take of Brian caught me off guard, with his apple red mohawk, wearing his branded castle racing jacket and pants. Looking at his appearance you just knew he was into racing. After building up the confidence to murmur good morning we left his office to his own personal race track he made at his house. “There is more to just sitting down on a vehicle and holding down the throttle. If it was that easy everyone would do it.” For Brian racing has come at a cost and has been through adversity on and off the track.

Breathing heavily, a million things run through my mind. I’m dying. I can’t feel my feet. My lungs aren’t taking in oxygen fast enough. However, the finish line and the satisfaction of knowing that I had gotten myself through three miles loom ahead. Clenching my fists, I force myself through the indoor track at JCC. The excitement and pride that I feel when I finally achieve my goal is indescribable.

You are in an airport waiting for your plane to arrive. You've never flown before, and are more terrified than you can ever remember being. Everyone has told you the supposedly comforting statistics - "millions of planes take off each day and there's only a handful of crashes," "flying is safer than driving." You know rationally that there is no reason to be so scared, but regardless your heart is racing, your palms are sweating, and you're light-headed. Simply the thought of being up in the air, out of control, makes you feel faint. Finally the flight attendant announces that your plane has arrived. But as all the other passengers line up to get onboard, you grab your luggage and walk straight out of the airport,

8:44 am: Flight attendant Amy Sweeney, from Flight 11, reports by telephone to Michael Woodward at the American Airlines Flight Services Office in Dallas, "Something is wrong. We are in a rapid descent... we are all over the place." A minute later, Woodward tells her to describe what she sees out the window and she responds, "I see the water. I see the buildings. I see buildings..." and after a short pause, she says, "We are flying low. We are flying very, very low. We are flying way too low." A few seconds later she says, "Oh my God, we are way too low.”

In the backseat of the car, my two best friends by my side. The smell of in-n-out filled our noses and the uneasy feeling sunk into my stomach, heartbeating faster than it has been in a while. The two front windows were rolled down, and the air quickly traveled to the back of the car, air circulating our bodies, winding our hair up in knots. I felt delusional due to staying up late awaiting this moment, but I was so aware. With Madi to my left and Lexi to my right I felt calm, yet anxious. Our favorite band played loud on the radio, we sung along and knew that in a few minutes we would be singing those songs next to the writers of them. I was already longing for them, their music made me feel serene. Like nothing was wrong, the world was a blur and everything else disappeared.

We slowly drove out to the faster speed limit part of the lake, once there I was given a small briefing about hand signals. Gracye’s Dad told me, “Thumb down means slower, thumb up means faster, and hand horizontal means perfect.” After the briefing we got our life jackets on and literally jumped from the boat to the tubes which were now almost out of reach, quickly trailing behind the boat. The rope attached to the tube was quicklypulled out very far and was tightly being pulled from behind the boat, me on the biggest tube in the middle and Gracye on the smaller one on the right of me. We got to a moderately fast pace for me and it ended up not being as frightening as I thought it would be. Her Dad had started picking up the speed by this time and I was beginning to get scared. I signaled to have him slow down and he ended up slowing down after five minutes, or so I thought, but he was just winding the boat up for a whip which while happening, I was holding on for dear life and I felt my life flash before my

The floor rumbled fiercely beneath my feet. A cold jet of air brushed against my leg. My head was push against the window, viewing the taxi line filled with airliners. The roar of the engine grew violently. I could feel the acceleration tuck me back into my seat. The runway seemed to slip underneath my feet, briskly increasing in speed. Then, with a sudden lurch, the nose banked upwards. Liftoff. A sudden thrust of gravity spiked across the cabin. The vertical speed rose steeply as the tail plummeted sharply. The airport slid out of sight as the aircraft approached the lush cerulean Gulf of Mexico. I glanced back at the albicant, old cabin. I looked back at the window. The waters of the gulf of Mexico darkened along with my nerves.

As we all headed outside to the football stadium, tension started to come through my whole body. My legs felt stiff and my hands felt as if water was running through my fingers. I was not prepared to walk across the stage. We practiced hundreds of times that morning but, it was just too hot to concentrate on what we were told to be doing. So much was going through my mind like, “What if I trip as I walk across the stage?” “Who all from my family is here?” “What am I going to eat afterwards?” I was starving because I had not eaten since 8:00 that morning. I stepped a foot onto the track circle and images went through my mind. Drops of sweat ran down my face and I tried not to look at the audience to keep myself from getting more nervous. As we stepped

Desperately, fighting to stay occupied; so thoughts of is it really ok for me to go back, stay buried inside. Although, briefly successful, it’s not long till every emotion that’s been blocked rushes over your body. Until you feel chilly and its ninety eight degrees at the moment. Simultaneously, rubbing your palms on the front of your freshly dry cleaned pants; since they won’t stop sweating. Wondering, who will be there when I finally walk through those doors? Does anyone care enough to even show up? Every moment of excitement feeling like a kid on Christmas morning, is followed by the sensation of someone just kicked my dog. The closer it becomes to arriving at that final stop, the stronger the pressure builds up around the heart. Producing the horrific sensation of something squeezing it just enough to

My heart was racing, and my palms were sweating while a large crowd of people surrounded me. The crowd was eager to know what was going on and what they could do to help. They acted like children who desire to help in a situation, but they’re unable to actually contribute to the problem at

I felt the eye of judgment piercing through me as I entered the plane. I could hear people whispering and giggling. While scanning the rows to find my assigned seat, I could see the looks of concern from those who thought I might sit by them. The clicking sounds of seat belt buckles almost sent me into a panic. I was dreading asking the flight attendant for a lap belt extension, or worse, having it offered without asking. Words were not necessary to feel the intensity of mass criticism. To make matters worse, it was a hot day, and my clothes were sticking to my body, outlining my multiple layers of over-indulgence. I was overheating and could taste salty beads of sweat trickling down my face.

I woke up from my nap when I felt a light tap on my shoulder by my brother, Alex. He told me that it was time for the plane to begin its descent so I gathered my belongings and adjusted my seat until it was upright. As the airplane began to descend, I was filled with excitement and enthusiasm. I could feel so much energy rush through my veins as my ears popped and I finally heard the flight attendant say, “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Singapore Changi Airport!”

I started feeling confident as I waited in line. Finally the moment arrived where I took my seat on the coaster. At this point my anxiety and fear came rushing back all at once and my blood even seemed to boil. I realized though if I didn’t do this now I probably never would. So I pulled the bar over my stomach and tried not to puke.