Note: this is the only other story I wrote on the theme of the Dolcett Theme Park. So I decided to post it for you today. If you wish, you can even choose to rate which ride you might be willing to take more of a risk riding or which story you enjoyed more (unless you enjoyed reading them both.)
The Scimitar
“Let’s ride The Scimitar again!” Katie gushed excitedly, tossing her red hair all around her head.
“Are you crazy?”
Sheila was not as enthusiastic. They had ridden it three times already. And each time those whooshing blades had scared the crap out of her. She didn’t want her head with her blonde locks ending up in that display case near the entrance to the ride. In fact last time she’d rode the thing she’d damn near wet herself!
“But it’s such a rush!” Rhonda piped up, immediately siding with Katie. The short haired brunette was just about as much of a thrill seeker as their redheaded friend. “I say we ride it again!”
“When was the last time someone lost their head?” Sheila wanted to know. She wanted to keep their chances of being beheaded down to a bare minimum. But any chance at all was risky.
“I hear they lost a car half an hour ago,” Bernice chimed in, the fourth in their little group. “They’ve got the heads up in the display case already.”
If Katie and Rhonda were in then the black haired Bernice could probably be coaxed into going as well. She tended to go with the flow, although this ride was a bit scarier than most… all those blades whooshing above them. No wonder their arms were locked inside at all times! Only their heads were to be exposed!
“Let’s go see ‘em!” Katie gushed. “I want to see the new heads!” The thought that some riders had recently lost their heads was an instant adrenaline rush, considering it just as easily could have been them. The odds were supposed to be low, but if you kept taking chances then pretty soon your number was bound to come up.
“C’mon; let’s go look!” Rhonda agreed, grabbing a reluctant Sheila and dragging her along.
“But I’m not sure I WANT to ride it again!”
“C’mon, Sheila; it’ll be ok,” Bernice reassured her, although she was not all that reassured herself.
Surprisingly there was quite a line over at The Scimitar. They had to wait at least 30 minutes before they even got close enough to see the display case. But when they finally got there they could see the recent additions near the top of the case: two male heads and two females, a blonde and a brunette. All wore varying expressions of shock on their sagging faces, their eyes staring vacantly.
“I’m not sure I want to go in,” Sheila said nervously. At that moment a well-timed set of screams followed by the whoosh of some blade on the ride only heightened her sense of unease.
“Just look at the time stamp!” Katie told her encouragingly, pointing at the display case. “It happened 62 minutes ago. We have about a 1% chance each time we go for a ride! And if it only happened 62 minutes ago, then we probably have a good 15 or 20 minute cushion at least.”
“You know that’s not how it works,” Bernice reminded her warily, rolling her eyes. “The blades could go off at any time. Those are just the odds, you know.”
“Chicken?” Rhonda asked, her eyes flashing excitedly.
“You guys know I’m in,” Bernice told her. “I’m just not sure about Sheila over here. Sheila what about you? Are you going to help us fill a car or not? They try to put four of us in at a time to accommodate as many riders as possible! Look at the line behind us! You can see how many people want to get on, don’t you? If we get out of line now, we might not get back here for another 30 or 40 minutes! By then we might be pushing our luck!”
“I don’t know, Bernice. We might be pushing our luck as it is. I just… I just don’t know…”
“Better decide pretty quick as we’re almost there,” Katie told Sheila, not sounding at all happy they might have to pick up a fourth somewhere in line.
“All right – all right; I’ll go with you.”
Sheila sighed heavily. She wasn’t sure she wanted to go on the ride again. But she really didn’t want to be left on her own. After all, anything could happen in a place like this. It was probably best if they all stuck together.
“Yay! Now who wants to lose her head?”
“Rhonda, that’s not funny!”
“C’mon, Sheila; lighten up a little, ok?”
The girls made it through the entrance into a covered section and then started up the ramp. From here there was no getting out unless one turned around and came right back down in the exact same direction. It would be like swimming against the tide and would certainly guarantee a round of laughter as well as cries of “CHICKEN” and “COWARD”.
The girls could hear the whooshes of the many blades on the ride as they approached their destination. They could also hear the screams of the occupants in each car as it navigated its way along the tracks back to the starting point. The ride basically took a little over a minute with five blades in all… and it was a harrowing ride to be sure.
Sheila felt her heart leap into her throat as they stepped up behind two couples who were next in line. “Anthony, I don’t want my head in that display case down there!” an Asian girl with short, dark hair cried out to her boyfriend.
“What’s life without a few risks, babe?” he laughed back at her. Sheila felt a sick thud in the pit of her gut.
An empty car moved forward, the previous occupants having been discharged 20 yards back down the tracks. The two couples got in and were dutifully strapped down. Then their seats were adjusted until all four heads – two in front and two in back – were the same height.
“If this doesn’t work, then I guess you won’t need that beauty parlor appointment tomorrow, eh Suki?” The boy named Anthony thought it was funny as hell as he laughed at his girl.
“Anthony, I hate you!”
“Enjoy the ride, folks,” the male attendant said as he stepped away from the car.
“Wait, Anthony; I think I’ve changed my mind!” She looked around and saw the attendant hadn’t sent them forward yet. The other car was still on the tracks.
“Too late now, babe; we’re all strapped in! Besides, it’ll be ok!”
“Anthony!!!”
Sheila was left trembling nervously, jerking as a whooshing sound followed by screams assailed her ears. There was laughter as well as cheers from the watching crowd outside. Then another whooshing sound followed by more screams. Another car was already on the ride, its passengers laughing and screaming at the blades that kept buzzing right over the top of their heads.
A cry of “We MADE IT!” from 20 yards back finally reached their ears. That’s when the car right in front of them with the two couples started forward and jerked up the incline. The Asian girl’s frightened voice… “Anthony!!” faded as laughter rose up from some of the riders in line close enough to have overheard their conversation.
You couldn’t see much of the ride from the line inside. Apparently that was designed so as not to discourage riders. But in this case it probably would have only attracted more thrill seekers wanting to witness a real beheading up close and personal. Then Sheila heard a whoosh followed by a familiar voice screaming aloud as the car raced down the incline. Anthony’s girl really sounded terrified.
An empty car suddenly pulled up. All the girls instinctively looked down into it. Katie let out a disappointed “AWWW” that this was not the one those other riders had died in. She wanted to see blood, and there was no sign of any. She thought it would have been so cool to ride in the car where occupants from earlier in the day had been previously beheaded. Maybe it had been rinsed out during a break in the ride.
“Ok, girls,” the attendant instructed, ushering them all to climb in. Katie and Rhonda eagerly grabbed the front seats. Sheila and Bernice slid into the rear, although the former climbed in rather reluctantly. Then there was another scream, another whoosh that made her wince with fright.
Sheila didn’t have to be reminded to pull her arms in to be safely strapped down. A handful of riders had found out the hard way. The display case out front also showed four sets of arms from foolish riders who had raised their arms up while whooping and hollering, only to have them sliced off right below the elbows.
“W-will we be all right?” Sheila nervously asked the attendant. More screams and another whoosh made her wince again.
“Don’t ask me,” he replied nonchalantly as he worked to strap them all in. “I don’t know when the next blade is going to come down. I just operate the damned thing.”
“We’ll be FINE!” Katie blurted out enthusiastically. “It’s all a part of the THRILL, remember? Loosen up a little, Sheila; ok?”
Another whoosh, more screams. Bernice turned and smiled nervously at Katie, trying but failing to reassure her.
Just then there was one final set of screams followed by the last of the whooshing sounds. Somewhere behind their car Sheila heard a familiar voice cry out, “ANTHONY, IF YOU MAKE ME RIDE THIS DAMNED THING AGAIN I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!” But at least it sounded like they had gotten back safely. There was much laughter from the crowd in line who heard the exchange.
“Ok girls; don’t lose your heads,” the attendant said as he stepped away. A moment later the car started to move forward. Sheila’s breath caught in her throat as they started to angle upward.
Normally she loved the thrill of the roller coaster. But this one had the added danger of razor sharp blades lopping off a car full of heads every couple of hours or so. Despite the danger it was one of the more popular rides in the Park!
Sheila heard the clanking of metal chains as the car was pulled up the steep slope. Her breath caught in her throat again; right now this just did NOT feel like a good idea. Of course it hadn’t felt like a good idea the last time… or the time before that… or the time before that!
Any chance of getting killed was a chance she normally didn’t want to take. But she did have to admit to a certain exhilaration once they debarked at the completion of the ride. In fact people usually talked about it for hours afterwards… sometimes days… sometimes even weeks and months! That’s what had drawn them to the ride in the first place.
They reached the top of the incline and the car began to roll forward along the rails toward the steep drop. Sheila’s breath caught in her throat again, especially knowing the first blade was at the bottom waiting for them. Then down they went, the four of them screaming as they hit the bottom. There was a big whoosh as they approached the first blade, and all four of them screamed at the breeze created by the blade slicing the air above them.
The car angled into a sharp corner which whipped them around and up another incline. Then down they went again. Sheila saw the next blade ahead of them, and she screamed bloody murder, her friends’ shrieks merging with hers. There was another whoosh and then they were past and taking another sharp curve. There was another climb followed by yet another stomach-lurching descent.
They all saw the blade up ahead, and they all screamed as one. Another whoosh and they were right on by, whipping into yet another series of curves to give them more speed for the last two inclines.
“See, Sheila?” Katie called out to her, turning her head back to look at her friend. “Piece of cake!” Then there was another whoosh…
Four sets of screams were instantly silenced. A moment later there was a collective gasp from the crowd in line who were in a position to observe. Then it seemed as if much of that area of the park erupted in a wild cheer, the crowd filled with a strange bloodlust.
There was one final descent, one final whoosh. But it no longer mattered. The girls heads were gone, their bodies of t-shirts and blouses spasming in place as copious amounts of blood spurted out of four severed necks.
The car pulled up to the debarking station as extra attendants hurried over to remove the corpses. They were quickly unstrapped and then dragged out for processing at the cannibal tent. After all, there was another car waiting to be let loose 20 yards in front. It couldn’t go until this one was ready and safely moving forward.
The attendants didn’t even bother washing down the car; there was no time. It simply rolled forward to pick up the next set of passengers. A few seconds later there was a chorus of screams as four riders in the front car went speeding down the incline, screams followed by a whooshing sound.
The car pulled up and a quartet of riders looked inside – a male and three females. “Cool!” a blonde with her boyfriend blurted out. “Look at all the blood!”
“Gross!” one of the brunettes in back gasped. “These two pissed themselves. There’s blood and piss everywhere!”
“Climb in, ladies; we ain’t got all day,” the attendant motioned hurriedly. “Don’t you know how many people are waiting to get on?” They all climbed in, the two girls in back wincing as they sat in blood and piss.
“We’ll be all right now, won’t we?” the brunette on the right side of the car asked nervously. “I mean… it just took some heads so we’ll be ok for awhile… won’t we?”
“I wouldn’t count on it, Susie!” the girl in front said with a laugh.
“Not funny, Stephy; not funny!” Then there were more screams before they heard the sound of the car behind them coming to a stop indicating that last group had safely made it through. Then their car lurched forward.
“Oh gawd!” Susie gasped anxiously. Then she tried to look down to see where those heads might have gone. There was a large padded umbrella shaped funnel at the bottom of the ride where most of the heads were liable to be collected. All four female heads had dropped smoothly and swiftly down the funnel. It would only take a few minutes before some additional attendants retrieved them, cleaned them up a little and then put them on display.
“This isn’t such a good idea!” Susie muttered to herself. “We’ll be all right,” her companion sitting next to her reassured her, although she herself wasn’t so certain. What if the blades randomly went off again right after just taking four heads??
They were nearing the top when they became aware of the chants from the crowd down below… “Go – go – GO – GO – GO!” Then the car started down the incline, racing toward the first blade. Everyone in the car screamed as the razor sharp device whooshed above them. But for Sheila and her friends, the day at the Dolcett Theme Park had just come to an abrupt end…
© 2015
(written Jul 10 ’15 by riwa)
(Inspired by APDamien’s “Dolcett Theme Park” idea in this thread http://www.dolcettish.com/index.php?topic=5940.0)