Ten Seconds

Word Count: 202 - 2 minute read

The bar he gripped was pure ice, his palms were frozen, his fingers curled round digging into the heels of his hands.

Ragged uneven breaths wheezed through his clenched jaw, the vice-like tension in his head causing spasms in his neck and shoulders. The metal clack-clack-clack of wheels on track vibrated through the hard seat, rattling his bones.

They were neither going up nor down, the car teetered on the precipice. Random instances from various points of his life played across his mind like an unedited silent film.

His beating heart pulsed through the sides of his tongue and under his arms, as its rhythm played a rapid offbeat through his chest.

The sound of his shallow breathing mixed with the roar of rushing blood in his ears. A kaleidoscope of butterflies took off in his stomach as the rollercoaster plunged down the seemingly impossibly steep track.

His eyes flashed wide, his mouth contorted and twisted, teeth bit down hard on the corner of his bottom lip. A long, low, guttural, primal scream wrenches forth from the pit of his stomach drowning out all the shrill shrieks of his fellow passengers.

The moment was over, but the ride had just begun.

Cryptogee