It was a comfortable temperature out. The perfect kind of weather for walking around a theme park that afternoon. When they arrived at Six Flags everyone sort of scattered, splitting up to do their own things. Jane and Mason went one way, Tina and Sam the other, and Madison had rushed off in the direction of a ride she had wanted to go on. So, it left Roderick on his own for the most part. He utilized this time in wandering around, somehow making his way over to Kingda ka. Standing meters back, at the base of El Toro, he stared up at the large coaster and watched as each car went speeding up then did a dive head first. If you listened closely you could almost hear the scream of the people shooting up the track of the coaster. Part of him began to wonder how people had the stamina to do something like that. They’d ultimately be parallel to the ground for a few seconds, something that would scare Roderick beyond what he would be comfortable with. So, as much as it was something he would love to try, he decided he should keep his distance from it.

Turning to start heading back to the center of the park, he jumped nearly a foot in the air. Stood directly behind him was Madison; she was staring up at him, almost like she was watching him. After making eye contact with him, she gave him a soft smile and brushed a strand of her hair behind her ear. “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you. The ride I was looking for had an hour wait. So, I figured I’d walk around until I found someone from the building. You were the first I found.” She explained, crossing her arms behind her back as she stood in front of him.

“It’s fine.” Was Roderick’s response before a short, somewhat awkward, silence stretched between them. One that was quickly broken with him continuing by asking, “Why didn’t you just say something? Instead of standing behind me and staying quiet?”

Madison just gave a shrug of her shoulders, beginning to rock herself back and forth on the heels of her feet. “You seemed like you were concentrating. I didn’t want to bother you, incase you were.” She explained, then immediately jumped to a new topic; pushing that one aside. “You should come with me. I need a ride partner, and everyone else seems to be preoccupied… or paired up.” There was an off feeling that seemed to settle itself down on Roderick’s shoulders. It must seem silly, suggesting that the group go to Six Flags and then getting scared of the rides. However, he wasn’t expecting the severity of them; the height, and the speed. It wasn’t until he actually got there that he took them in and realized what they were, and they sure were thrill rides. Opening his mouth to go object, Madison held up a finger to silence him. As if being able to know what he was going to say, she said; “And remember, you were the one who told me you’d make sure nothing would happen to me while we were here.”

With a sigh, Roderick nodded his head. Maybe it wouldn’t be a ride that was too terrible. “Alright, sure, why not? Which one do you want to go on first?” He asked. Madison’s face curved into a smile as she turned and pointed up at El Toro besides them. Of course it would be a thrill ride. Roderick let out another sigh. “Okay, sounds good to me.”

“Great” Madison said, then latched onto Roderick’s wrist and tugged him toward the entrance of the ride. There was a bit of a line, with a wait of what could have logically been 30 to 45 minutes. As they waited, the two of them made small talk. Bringing up things about what was going on in the building, what needs to get done around the apartment, or even having a small conversation about Mason and Jane. Then, before they knew it, they were almost to the coaster train. “You don’t have to be so nervous you know. There’s seatbelts for a reason.” Madison said over her shoulder, stepping to get into the line that would lead them to a seat in the middle of the train.

“Nervous? Who said I was nervous?” Roderick asked, his fingers beginning to toy with the hem of his shirt in a jittery fashion.

Madison turned and looked up at him, her face set in a pointed stare. “The past thirty minutes were spent with you saying way more words than actually necessary. Kind of like the first day we hung out. Did you forget you do that when you’re feeling nervous about something?” A sheepish smile stretched its way onto Roderick’s features. He actually had forgotten he did that, and was partially embarrassed that Madison remembered that over him.

“I might be a little scared.”

“Little would be an understatement. And, you shouldn’t be. They’ve been running this thing all day, and all of the people before us made it off just fine.” Madison said, turning back around to take a step forward. They were next in line to get into one of the coaster trains, something that only made the pressure on Roderick’s shoulders worsen. Hopefully Madison was right, hopefully this would end well. Whipping back around to look up at Roderick again, Madison bounced excitedly up and down. Something that quickly drew to a stop when she took in the way Roderick must have looked. Reaching a hand out, she placed it on his forearm then said; “You don’t have to ride it if you don’t want to, you know. When the train pulls up, just walk across ours and go out the exit.” Her voice came out in a soft tone again, almost reassuring. To this, Roderick just nodded, but before he could respond the train pulled up.

Madison stepped out of the way so Roderick could go ahead of her; giving him the option to leave the ride if he wanted to. Roderick stepped onto the train, and debated leaving for a second. However, instead he just sat down in the farthest seat. Why wait a good half hour only to not achieve what it was for in the end? At this, Madison smiled wide and took the seat besides him.  The attendants for the ride came around to make sure that everyone was strapped into their seats properly then the ride started. The train made it’s way around a bend then up the hill to get to the top. Another turn left, and then the train dropped. Neither of them had time to think, Roderick just barely able to register that he had to reach up and hang onto his glasses.

Minutes after the ride started, it came to a halt. The two exchanged a quick glance, a grin making its way onto both of their faces. There was silence as they were let out of their seats and off of the ride. Nothing being said until they were back outside of El Toro, when Madison simply asked; “Well?”

“Well what?”

“Well, what did you think? Did you enjoy yourself?” She asked him, strolling over to small kiosk where they were able to look at the picture of them that was taken during that ride. Leaning against the counter, she looked up at the screens. Excitement growing on her face as her hand shot up into the air and she pointed at the screen farthest to the right. “There we are. Oooh, that is one very unflattering picture.” She said with a giggle. “My face is all scrunched up, and my hair is everywhere and… and what are you doing with your hand?” Madison looked up at Roderick, a playful smile etched onto her face.

Roderick smiled back and shrugged. “I needed to make sure I didn’t lose the things that help me see. Otherwise I would have been blind for the rest of the day.” He said.

Madison gave a nod of her head, then turned to head in another direction. “Come on Meeks, I really want to ride the log floom. Let’s get there before the line gets too long.” She called over her shoulder, ordering for him to speed up.

It was dark by the time the two of them had made their way off of the ride Houdini’s Great Escape. Something that Madison wasn’t very happy about, considering with the darkness came the monsters. Roderick could feel her trailing behind him, latching herself to the hem of his shirt. “Why’d I let you talk me into coming to this thing?” She asked him, her head ducked low so all she could see was the ground the were walking on. She was relying entirely on Roderick to guide them in the right direction.

“Because, subconsciously you knew you didn’t want to miss out on spending the day with everyone.” he said over his shoulder, side stepping to avoid walking into a scared child; who was stood frozen with fear from one of the clowns on stilts.

“But I didn’t spend the day with everyone! I spent the day with you. And I’m sick of being harassed by a bunch of actors who couldn’t make it in the business, so now they wait for their yearly chance to dress up like nightmares and pretend it’s a good enough acting job. Can you please just direct us out of the park? Please.” She said. The sound of a chain hitting the pavement chimed somewhere from the far left of them, causing Madison to jump a bit and duck her head down lower. Coming to a halt, Roderick turned around to face Madison. Her head stayed ducked though, and she started shaking it quickly. “What’s going on? Why are we stopping? I don’t want to stop, I just want to go find Mason.”

“Will you just look up for a split second?” He asked. Madison complied, lifting her head slowly and looking around quickly. “They’re fake Madi. They can’t hurt you, or attack you. As soon as we do find the others, we can leave. I promise. I just really need to you calm down right now, okay?”

She let out a huff and nodded her head. “Fine, can we just find them then please. My feet hurt and I just want to leave. I don’t know how much longer I could wander around this place with my eyes closed.” Madison said, hanging her head a bit again.

Letting out a short sigh, Roderick  took Madison’s wristed then turned back around. Looking around for a moment, he led them over to a bench that was off in one of the safe areas. “Climb up.” He said, motioning to the bench with his head.

“Why?”

“Just do it.”

Madison nodded then stepped up, using Roderick as support to get her balance. Once she was safely stood up there, she looked down at him and asked. “What the hell is the point of this?”

Turning around so his back was to her, Roderick said “I’m going to carry you. Now come on.” There was a stretch of silence from Madison behind him. For the most part, she didn’t know if he was being serious or not. Tilting his head back, Roderick looked up at her again. “What’s taking so long? At this rate we’ll never get to them.”

“Roderick, I’m not getting on your back. Thank you… but I’m fine.” Madison immediately followed his statement with a protest.

“Why not? You said your feet were tired. This way you could close your eyes and not have to worry about walking. Come on, I used to do this for Jane all of the time.” He explained before straightening himself up again. “Now let’s go.”

“But… Your girlfriend-”

“Madison, just come on.”

“Okay… fine.” She gave in with a sigh before stepping forward to wrap her arms around Roderick’s neck. Reaching back, Roderick’s hands cupped under her knees and he lifted her from the bench, her legs quickly moving to wrap around his torso. “There” he mumbled, bouncing her a bit to position her correctly on his back. Then he began walking, heading in the direction that the texts he exchanged with Jane had said the rest of the group would be waiting.

As he walked, he felt Madison tense a little with every frightening sound around them. If he weren’t trying to concentrate on navigating through the busy and dark theme park he probably would have tried to talk to her and keep her mind off them. She seemed to be handling herself as well as possible though. After a few minutes of walking, she had her head tucking down between his head and shoulder. And he could feeling the air coming out of her nose as she breathed. It was an odd feeling, but he made himself ignore it.

Eventually he managed to find the others at the large fountain just before the entrance and exit of the park. When he walked over, he and Jane made eye contact then her eyes flicked to Madison on his back. Jane looked back at him and raised an eyebrow, and he just shrugged. “I’ll explain in the car.” He told her when he was close enough.

“Explain what?” Tina asked, she was leaned into Sam, his arm draped over her shoulders.

“Nothing, can we just head out now? Get to the rent-a-car?” Roderick asked.

At the sound of Tina’ voice and the mention of leaving, Madison lifted her head, keeping her chin resting on Roderick’s shoulder. She nodded, and gave a short forced smile. “I agree. Can we please get going now.” She chimed in. The others nodded, then led the way out of the park. A few more minutes of walking passed before they got to the mini-van they had rented to accommodate all of them.

There was some settling, all of them shoving or removing things into/from the trunk. Small side conversations taking place. Then, they all climbed into their respective seats in the car. Sam and Tina upfront, Sam in the driver’s seat. Then Mason and Jane took the middle bench seat, the two of them whispering back and forth to each other. Which left Madison and Roderick in the back bench seat.

Madison was laying curled up on the seat, leaving Roderick just enough space to be sitting back there. The ride was silent for the most part, the only sound to be heard was the soft murmur of whispers coming from Mason and Jane. Until Madison turned over so she was on her back, and was looking up at Roderick. “Thank you. You didn’t have to carry me through Six Flags you know… so…. thank you.”

“It’s no trouble at all. Really, I just wanted to get us to everyone else as fast as I could.” He responded with a nod.

“Well, either way. Thanks.” She said, turning back over, so now she was facing the back of the bench seat. A silence fell again, Roderick turning to look out the window at the trees that lined the side of the highway. “Also!” Madison popped up again, looking at Roderick with a small smile.

“Yea?”

“I went back to that photo kiosk.” Madison said, settling her head down on Roderick’s lap. “While you were in the bathroom right before heading to the log floom. The picture’s in my bag in the trunk. Remind me to hang it up when we get home?” She asked, bringing her hand up to start tracing the plaid of Roderick’s shirt.

“Sure will. Wouldn’t want anyone visiting us to miss out on that, would we?” Roderick said with a small chuckle, draping his arm loosely across Madison; not really having anywhere else to put it.