This post is part of Writer’s Digest February Flash Fiction Challenge. Flash Fiction is a short, often under 1,000 words, style of writing. I hope you enjoy my 28 contributions!
Day 2 Prompt: Building Tension
Sarah screamed excitedly as the bobsled careened around the corner and dove down the final drop into the small manmade lake. As they slid to a stop, Mason turned around and yelled through his gap-toothed smile, “That was awesome!”
They hopped off the bobsled and Mason ran to the exit towards his dad and little sister, who was too small to ride The Matterhorn. Sarah called half-heartedly to Mason to slow down before realizing he was running towards her husband. It was Mason’s first trip to Disneyland and, like any eight-year-old’s first trip to The Happiest Place on Earth, he was beyond elated, which translated to extremely hyper. He had already given Sarah and Tom approximately two heart attacks when he ran too far ahead into a hoard of tourists and had been reprimanded once for knocking over a toddler as he stared at the waterfall finale of Splash Mountain.
“So, how was it?” Tom asked Mason, moving Ella to his other hip.
“It was so cool, dad! There were snow monsters inside and drops and turns. I think we were going at least a million miles per hour!”
“That sounds awesome!” Tom attempted to match Mason’s level of excited. He turned to Sarah and said with a wink, “I’ll take him on the next ride.”
“I got to go potty, mommy!” Ella said, tugging on Sarah’s sleeve.
“Alright, honey, I’ll take you potty.” Sarah looked over at Mason and said, “How about your dad takes you to get a churro while I take your sister to the restroom?”
Mason’s eyes and smile grew wide and wild. Tom walked with Mason towards the nearest churro stand while Sarah and Ella took off in the opposite direction towards the bathrooms. True to form, Tom had to call out to Mason a couple different times as he jetted off into the crowd ahead of them.
After an excruciating ten-minute wait, Tom finally ordered two churros for the family to share. While he was fishing out the small fortune amusement park food cost from his wallet, Sarah and Ella wandered up to him, hand in hand. “Those look delicious!” Sarah said with a smile. After a second, she looked around the cart and the line of people, “Where did Mason go?”
Distracted by the transaction with the vendor, Tom managed to say, “he’s right around here. He was just here a second ago,” before focusing his attention back on the churros.
Sarah, grasping Ella’s hand a little more tightly, walked around the churro cart calling Mason’s name in a controlled tone. With no luck, she walked over to Tom and whispered with some alarm, “I can’t find him.”
“Ok, let’s do a quick walk around here before we freak out,” Tom said in a collected manner. “He’s probably just sitting on a bench or something.”
The three of them walked around the vicinity of the cart, looking for Mason’s bright orange shirt. As maternal fear started to toil within Sarah, she resorted to calling Mason’s name out loud, attempting to quell the alarm in her tone. “Mason? Mason, where’d you run off to?” Before long, Tom joined in, followed by the small, high-pitched voice of Ella.
“I don’t see him, Tom. Oh, God, where did he go?” Sarah started to retrace their steps to the last ride they went on, a dreadful intensity growing on her face. “Mason, honey! Where are you, Mason?”
Sarah was moving quickly, calling Mason’s name, ignoring the reactions of the people around her. She went up to a line attendant at The Matterhorn and asked if they had seen a boy in a bright orange shirt. The line attendant responded to Sarah with concern that they didn’t think they had seen him. Following protocol, the attendant asked Sarah if her son was lost, but her frenzied demeanor rendered her deaf to the question. Sarah walked back towards Tom, her eyes darting all around her. Tom was continuing to look for Mason, asking visitors on the park benches if they saw a little boy in orange.
Sarah could feel eyes on her and could sense the muted conversations about her as she continued yelling for Mason. Tom caught up to her and asked, “anything?” Beads of sweat were forming around his hairline and, despite his outward calm disposition, Sarah cold tell he was terrified. She buried her head into his shoulder for some sense of security, to feel something solid and strong. She pulled Ella in close and took several deep breathes, trying to collect herself.
“Star Tours!” Sarah said suddenly. “Mason mentioned Star Tours when we were getting off of The Matterhorn.”
Sarah didn’t wait for Tom’s reply or reaction. She put Ella’s hand in Tom’s, ripped the park map out of her purse and started walking quickly in the direction of the ride with her nose buried in the map. She nearly ran into several groups of people in pursuit of her lead. She was breathing heavily, emotionally exhausted, clinging to the hope that Mason simply ran ahead. She wound through queues and crowds and around artificial rocks and fountains with dizzying speed. Finally, in the distance, she saw the marquee for Star Tours. Almost reflexively she broke into a run towards the ride.
By the time Tom and Ella caught up to Sarah, the question of whether or not she had found Mason was apparent when they saw her tearfully talking to a security guard. Tom’s heart sank. Unable to speak coherently, Tom broke in for Sarah to give the security guard a description. Numbness and shock began to overtake Tom as he described his son, fully coming to terms with the fact that their little boy was lost in an amusement park that hosted 50,000 people a day.
Seconds felt like hours as their world blurred around them. Ella, confused and scared, began to fuss and cry, pulling at Tom’s hand for comfort. The security guard put his finger up for a second to excuse himself as he recounted the description through his radio. “Uh huh… uh huh… yes, Mason… uh huh… bright orange shirt.”
Sarah sat down on a glittery curb and buried her head in her hands. Tom picked up Ella, hugging her, and fixated his eyes on the security guard while he continued his conversation into the radio. “Ok, yup. Thank you.” The security guard walked over to the family and said, “we found Mason. He’s over at our kid’s club with some staff. It’s all ok – follow me!”
A tidal wave of relief washed over the them as Sarah jumped up, grabbed Tom’s hand and the three of them marched towards their awaiting reunion.
