On my fifteenth birthday my life completely changed… and not in a good way! It all started late the night of June 1st, 2010.

My three best friends were coming over to spend the night with me for my fifteenth birthday. Hailey lives about three minutes away and so does Shelbie. Brooke lives about twenty minutes away, though. Hailey and Shelbie got to my house at 17:30. Then Brooke got here around 18:00. When she walked in the door, I asked her, “What kind of pizza do you want?”

“Well plain cheese is the only kind of pizza I like,” she answered.

“Okay, same here. Shelbie? Hailey? Is that alright with y’all?”

“Yeah! Sounds good!” They both answered.

So, I then ordered the pizza. We all started eating and I got our drinks. Then I got a few movies out and asked which one they wanted to watch. “Vacancy? Friday The 13th? Saw? Um… or how about Wrong Turn: one, two, or three?”

“Vacancy!” Shelbie Shouted.

“Vacancy!” Hailey yelled.

“Brooke? Does that sound good?” I asked.

“Yep!” She smiled.

We watched Vacancy and then we watched Wrong Turn: one. Then we all decided to get ready for bed. I went and took a shower and put my pajamas on. I brushed my teeth and went and sat on the couch.

We started talking about where my mom was taking us tomorrow for my birthday. Then after they were all out of guesses, I yelled, “KINGS ISLAND!!” They all got really excited and started jumping around.

After they all settled down we started talking about which rides we were going to ride. Shelbie and Hailey were all excited about the ‘Drop Zone’. Brooke was too, but I refused to ride it.

“I hate heights!” I yelled.

“But it’s not as bad as you think it is. It’s actually really fun!” Said Shelbie.

“She’s right!” Exclaimed Brooke.

“Guys… if she doesn’t want to ride it, then we can’t make her. It’s HER birthday. NOT ours,” said Hailey.

“How about this… tomorrow… I’ll see if I change my mind. Okay?” I asked.

“Okay, sounds good. Well let’s go to bed so we will be well-rested for tomorrow,” suggested Hailey.

So I got up and went to my room, turned the light off, and grabbed my phone off the nightstand and lay down in bed. I checked for text messages. I had one from Michael.

Michael: Goodnight (: I’ll see you tomorrow.

I sent a text back.

Me: Goodnight (:

I grabbed my headphones, plugged them in, and started listening to my music. My favorite song was on, but before I knew it, I fell asleep.



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I woke up at about 7:00. My mom was in the kitchen setting up a cooler. She was putting Gatorades and waters in it. Then she put two bags of barbeque chips next to it on the counter. She then got a box of donuts out of the pantry. She started walking toward the family room. She woke up Shelbie, who was sleeping on the couch, then Brooke, who was in the chair, and then went into the living room and woke up Hailey, who was sleeping on the couch in there. They all got up and started walking toward my room. But, then my mom stopped them. She grabbed a donut and put a candle in it. She lit it.

They all started walking to my room again. The candle, in the donut, lit.

I shut my eyes quickly so I was capable of acting surprised.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO…,” they all sang. I blew out my candle and made a wish. I wished that today would be a great day.

I got up out of bed and got dressed for the day. I straightened my hair and put my makeup on. Then I dragged myself into the kitchen. Everyone else was all dressed and sitting at the table eating donuts. I sat down and grabbed one. I ate it. Then I got some grape juice. I was so excited for today!

While we were waiting for Michael to get to my house, we all loaded up the car. I put the cooler in the trunk and the bags of chips in there, too. Then I put my phone and my headphones in the front seat. I checked to make sure I had some Ibuprofen incase I got a headache and I checked to make sure I had my money. Yup. Yup. I thought to myself.

Finally around 8:30, Michael pulled up. We all ran outside to jump in the car. I asked if he had anything he wanted to put in the trunk. He said no, so we jumped in the car.



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At about 10:45 we pulled into the parking lot. “Finally!!” I yelled as I opened the car door.
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Looking back now I remember how excited I was. I was so happy to be going to King’s Island for the first time; I even wanted to ride every single ride there! No matter the height of it. But, now I regret that decision. I still wonder what my life would’ve been like if the accident hadn’t of happen.
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I jumped out of the car, so did everyone else.

“Let’s go!” Yelled Michael.

Shelbie, Hailey, and Brooke started cracking up. I got the tickets from my mom and told her to call us if she needed something.

“Okay. Well, I’m probably going to be by the little kid’s rides with your brother the whole time!” She yelled after us.

“So what ride do y’all want to go to first?” Asked Michael.

“Well…,” started Brooke, “how about we ride the ‘Vortex‘, ‘Diamondback‘, ‘Flight Of Fear‘, ‘Fire hawk‘, ‘Beast‘, and then the ‘Drop Zone‘?”

“Sounds good,” said Shelbie and Hailey.

“Well, Morgan, is that alright with you?” Asked Michael.

“Yep! I want to ride them all, no matter the height because I can‘t let that get in the way of having fun. I’ll miss out on way too much.”

“Um… sir? Your ticket?” The guy at the window asked Michael.

“Oh sorry sir, I wasn’t paying attention,” apologized Michael.

“It’s alright. It happens,” the guy accepted.

Shelbie, Hailey, Brooke and I handed the man our tickets. I squeezed through the entrance thing, and then looked at the map on the podium. It took me a few minutes to figure out how to get to the ‘Vortex’ because it was my first time being here.

After about five minutes, I found it. I pointed it out to everyone and we started walking there.

“The line is humungous!” Shelbie exclaimed.

“Well maybe we should start with the end of our list?” I suggested.

“You want to start out with the ‘Drop Zone’?!?!” Brooke asked surprised.

“Yeah, I guess so,” I smiled at her.

“Well okay! Come on! Let’s go! We don’t need to waste time!” Hailey yelled back at us as she ran off.

So when we got over there we walked up to the line. It was at least twice as long as the line to the ‘Vortex’…. “So,” I suggested, “Why don’t you guys go ride it? I’ll just stay here.”

“What?! You said you wanted to ride this! You said you weren’t going to let your fear of heights get in the way of having fun!” Brooke yelled at me.

“Well I have a bad feeling about riding this! GOSH! I’M SOR-RY!!”

“Please just at least ride it once!” Begged Shelbie.

“But… I just… have a bad feeling about riding it….”

“STOP!” Michael yelled, “If she doesn’t want to ride it then don’t MAKE her.”

“Yeah,” agreed Hailey.
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I remember how bad of a feeling I had about getting on that ride. I knew something bad was going to happen. You know, that feeling in your stomach or that voice in your head that you get or hear when you know you’re about to do something you know isn’t right. Or could possibly in-danger you? Yeah, I had that feeling in my stomach and the voice in my head. The voice was yelling at me to turn back. GET OUT OF LINE! GET OUT OF LINE! SOMETHING ISN’T RIGHT! But I ignored it. I ended up getting on that ride. That STUPID ride.
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“Ok. Ok. Ok,” I said, “I’ll go.”

“Are you sure?” Asked Michael.

“Yeah….”

It was now our turn to get on. I felt sick. I couldn’t move. My feet wouldn’t walk.

“Come on… we will sit by you,” Hailey said.

I started walking. Left. Right. Left. Right. Left…. I sat down, and had Hailey buckle me in. Hailey sat to my left. Michael on my right. OH…. MY…. GOSH…. The music started playing. I started crying. We all started going up….
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I remember thinking how the music was no help at all. It made me more and more sick. I wanted down so bad. I was squeezing my eyes shut so tightly… I just wanted DOWN!
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“Morgan! Calm down! You’re fine!” Hailey yelled.

We were about half way up now….

“I NEED DOWN!!” I screamed.

We reached the top… I opened my eyes. Tears were rolling down my cheeks. I was terrified.
*Click ONE*
*Click TWO*

“MICH-,” I started to yell.
*Click THREE*

We dropped…. Something hit me legs…. It stings… BAD!

EWWW, something is on my face! It’s warm, wet, and sticky!!

I can hear people below screaming: “EW!”






“OH MY GOSH!!”






“HELP!!”






“CALL 911!!”

What are they talking about? What’s the emergency? Oh my gosh WHAT in the WORLD is on my face?! A bug? What’s with the pain in my legs?! Maybe it’s just from going down so quickly…. I thought to myself, unable to talk.

I couldn’t stop thinking about the pain in my legs.

Finally the ride stops. We are being lowered down slowly now. People are still screaming, and now they are running, yelling, and pointing… at me?

I now see two ambulances pulling up and a fire truck and now a few police cars.

There’s too much noise.

OH MY GOSH!! What is the problem? I’m getting a migraine now. THANK YOU to the people screaming their heads off!

I turned to Michael, “Michael?” I turned to Hailey, “Hailey? What’s with all the ambulances and fire trucks and po-” I stopped mid sentence.

I reached down to rub my legs where they were hurting. They’re sticky… wet… MISSING. I looked down… BLOOD. EVERYWHERE. I reached up and wiped my face. Looked at my hand. Red. Blood. EVERYWHERE.

I started screaming and crying. Michael and Hailey were now standing in front of me. Just standing there. Doing nothing. Just in complete shock.

I couldn’t hear the screams anymore. Everything was getting blurry…

I fainted.