The scary house

I was ready to turn my world upside down in the most adventurous way. All of 6 and I felt the wind riding through my short curly hair. It was my first time to two cities together! What a wonderful double plus! I was finally tall enough to ride my first roller coaster at Imagicaa, located somewhere in the middle of Pune and Mumbai. 

I was thrilled yet anxious at the same time. I didn’t know what to expect and whether the ghosts there were real or just a play of light and makeup. I put up a brave face in front of my cousin brother and parents but only I knew at the moment that I had both nervous and happy butterflies in my stomach. Roller coasters are fun to ride or so I thought. My cousin brother who had had many of these experiences influenced me and made me think it was child’s play. But when I witnessed a monstrosity of rails and both adults and kids screaming at the top of their lungs.. 

I realised… I was doomed. My cousin had challenged me saying it is impossible for me to go through that ghost tunnel all by myself. I gathered all my guts and wits and super powers and took up the challenge and decided to ride solo. What’s the worst that could happen?

The amount of nervousness was paramount. Ghost or no ghosts the outcome would’ve certainly resulted in me turning pale and white like a ghost. Doing anything new for the first time in itself is a scary experience. On top of that putting up a straight face was the one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I really didn’t know whether I was scared of ghosts at that moment as I had never seen one, but I had made up my mind, I said to myself – “If this is the time, so be it”. 

I sat at the very first cart of the ghost train praying to god with the feeble trembling voice I could speak. The carts started filling up one by one and the time to do or die had begun. And the buzzer went off with the scariest laughter I’d ever heard. I buckled up and closed my eyes. I felt as though, this is it! The world had come to an end but it turned out that the ride had just begun. As the doorway to dark dungeon opened, we crashed into a bunch of sticky cobwebs and skeletons greeted us with their jaw literally dropping laughing “he he he!”. 

A pirate screamed “ahoy there” and I was splashed with water. My stomach was growling with hunger or was it screaming with all it’s nerves asking why? As the carts slowed down I saw zombies acting like zombies and I believed that they’re just some plastic dolls. When to my horror one jumped out of nowhere and decided to share my seat. He decided to treat me, his new human friend with a song. A polite yet strange gesture, rather a shocking one as I never knew zombie’s could speak Hindi! Or even sing at all.

He started singing one of my favourite Bollywood songs – "Itni si hasi, Itni si Khushi". Khushi is my nickname and I am called by that name by only my close friends and family. After he sung the song he said “Hello Khushi kaisi ho?” that is how are you Khushi in english. I sat still wondering how a zombie knew my name. All this while what kept me going was how the smirk would be wiped off my cousin’s face. Or how I could tell him I wasn’t nervous at all! 

I wanted to take advantage of the fact that he lost the bet. So the adventuring crew sat in the buggy and horse rid all the way to Baskin Robin’s and grabbed a scoop of my favourite ice cream flavour there- Very berry strawberry. Sweet and tangy just like my day! The only question that arises is how did Mr. Zombie know my name.