Chapter 1 - STOP THE RIDE
Vanessa Carter shoved nine-year-old Emily backward into the ride seat.
“Mom! No! Please!”
Emily grabbed the side handle and tried to stand.
Vanessa pulled her hand away.
“Sit down.”
Then she yanked the restraint across Emily’s lap and stepped back.
Emily twisted against it.
“Let me out!”
“SIT DOWN.”
The boarding platform roared with music and excited voices.
Emily was crying hard enough that nearby guests started looking.
Then she shifted.
The seat moved sideways.
Not the restraint.
The whole seat.
Emily froze.
She grabbed both handles.
“Mom… something’s wrong.”
Vanessa saw it.
Emily knew she saw it.
Her mother’s eyes dropped to the base of the seat.
Then back to Emily.
But Vanessa said nothing.
The ride-start signal sounded.
Operator Ryan Miller reached the row during final check.
He pulled Emily’s restraint.
Then stopped.
The seat shifted under her.
Ryan grabbed the side.
It moved again.
His face changed.
“Wait!”
He turned toward the control booth.
“STOP THE RIDE!”
Emily screamed:
“GET ME OUT!”
The train lurched forward.
Ryan ran beside it.
“EMERGENCY STOP!”
The ride rolled beyond the loading mark.
Emily clutched the handles as the seat shuddered again.
Ryan shouted:
“HER SEAT ISN’T SAFE!”
Then the train stopped.
Hard enough to scare everyone.
Not hard enough to injure anyone.
Emily closed her eyes.
For three seconds, nobody moved.
Then Ryan reached her.
“We’ve got you.”
He released the restraint and lifted it.
Emily scrambled out before he could help further.
She ran past him.
Not toward Vanessa.
Toward an elderly woman standing behind the platform gate.
“Grandma!”
Vanessa’s face went pale.
Because Vanessa had told everyone Emily’s grandmother was in Florida.
May you like
She wasn’t.
And she had not come to the park by accident.
