My seven-year-old self was not courageous, brave, or bold like my brother was. In fact, I avoided yelling, intensity, and events. I was not extroverted at all. I can’t say I am now, but I was more introverted then. But I took on that green and fire-red dragon like I wasn’t afraid to do it. I was tossed, turned, and even crushed by my own mom. I flew through the air and conquered the beast single-handedly. I was not afraid to ride that steel dragon again. 
It was a young Saturday evening; I was very tired. We walked around Busch Gardens looking at animals for a while.  
“Mom,” I tugged on my mom’s shirt. 
“Yes honey?” She looked down at me and smiled. 
 “Can we go on some rides now?” My mother looked at me a little mildly,  
“Oh alright.” Then she smiled. It was about time. I could finally feel alive for a bit. I was a little sick and tired of the same old slow, agonizing baby rides, I was growing up. (At least I thought I was). 
As we were on one of the kiddie rides, I realized I should ride something more intense. That idea popped into my head like a switch being flipped at light speed.  
“Mom,” I tugged on my mom’s skirt 
“What?”  
“Can I go on the roller coaster?” She looked at me very surprised.  
“If you want to. I can’t make that decision for you. You must decide that for yourself.” In that moment, I became so excited; I thought I was becoming a man. 
We arrived at the departure of where we were going to get in line to ride the dragon, but I became overwhelmed with fear. I stopped for a second and stared at the station. I couldn’t see the station anymore; I saw a dungeon. I felt the burning embers of fire resting on my skin, dissolving, and sizzling through my flesh. I saw mountains of blood red stone. Lava oozing and bubbling around me. I could see the dragon, the beast, which I have brought myself to. I began to worry what this realm might do to me.  
“Why aren’t you coming?” My mother asked when she realized her hand was stuck on mine, a pillar. I was frozen solid. “What’s wrong?”  
“I can’t do it mama!” I began to scream, cry, and kick everywhere.  
My mom, a little embarrassed, said, “Come on Max, come on, its ok.” 
“But I don’t want to do it!” I just went crazy. 
“Ok, ok. you don’t have to if you don’t want to.” I relaxed more when she said that. We walked over to a nearby bench and sat there for a second. I wiped my tear-filled eyes. “It’s ok Max.” Mom comforted me. We sat there for a little bit, just relaxing. That was peaceful. 
“I want to go on it now.” I jumped up.  
“What?!” My mom looked very surprised. 
“Yeah! Let’s go mama! Come on! Come on!” I grabbed her hand and began trying to drag her to the beast which was right across from us.  
She sighed loudly, “Ok. Just don’t throw a fit this time.” “I won’t mama!” We made our way back to the dragon. I saw it all again. The horror. My fears were not going to hold me back this time. I mustered all the courage I could to even stand still and wait in line. It was agonizing. The feeling of fighting off the fight or flight feeling is horribly hard.  
My mom would occasionally check in on me to see how I was doing, “Hun, are you okay?”  
“Yes, of course! I’m so excited!” Nope. I wasn’t excited, and I wasn’t ok. 
“So, you're ready?” 
“Yeah mama.” I knew I sounded a little unsure. I was no warrior. I was even secretly fidgeting. I tried to do that as least I could so there would be no suspicions. 
“Okay, if you say so.” She also said a little uncertain. “It’s our turn!” 
“What!?” I couldn’t hold back my emotions. It was like she snuck up on me and yelled, “BOO”. I then turned to find the dragon smiling at me. The smile burned a hole through my stomach, that’s why I felt so sick. “Mom, I can't do this, I- Mom I’m scared!” I wasn’t kicking or screaming, it was more contained this time. I had an implosion. Every muscle in my body began to tense; It was happening again. 
My mom grabbed my hand and said, “It’s ok hun. I knew you were excited to go on this, so do it. And if you really don’t want to do it, then you don’t have to! You don’t have to prove anything to anybody. Not even yourself. Not even me!,” She said softly, “All I know is that you’re strong and brave enough to do this.”  
“Ok. I’ll do it.” I softly wiped the tears from my eyes. My mother returned a smile to me. She grabbed my hand and led me to the dragon and helped me onto its back. I could feel it breathing beneath my feet. its stomach was churning with fire; ready to give me the ride of a lifetime. I felt a little calmer, but I knew this wasn’t going to be the end of my troubles. I thought I could take on the beast, yet here I am. A coward. 
I saw a disgusting goblin walking toward me, “Put your hands up please.” 
“Ok, but please don’t hurt me.” I pleaded. He looked horrifying. I thought for sure he was going to find my head a tasty treat. 
“What?” His vocal cords sounded like they were loose guitar strings. I couldn’t handle this. He reached down to my waist and tugged on a metal bar secure above my legs. Why the heck would they want to protect me on a ride that was supposed to be so dangerous? I couldn’t figure it out. The entire goblin-checking process was horrible because the whole time, my body was a rock. I was so tense, not even rain could weather me. My mom put her hand on my shoulder which helped a bit, but not too much. 
I felt the dragon slowly start to creak, jitter, and move. That goblin from earlier put his thumb up as we passed him. I thought that was stupid. “I’m glad your having fun!” I thought. I suddenly was looking up at the sky gradually. I felt like I was going to fall out of my seat. “I’m dead” I accepted. We were again slowly tilting back to the horizon, this time, a bazillion feet high. I could see the greenery that lay ahead of us. For such a horrible demise, That view was awesome. 
The rest was a blur. I can’t say it was the end because my adrenaline was pumping high. I was having a mini heart attack. All I could remember was me flying at 1,000 miles per hour around this green landscape. I was twisting and being crushed by my mom. One thing I did notice as I got off, though, was the changes around me as I got off. The station was no longer a dungeon. The air was no longer unbreathable and burning. The dragon was just a plastic design made to embed the theme into the ride. I don’t know what happened, all I know is I just changed. 
“Can we go on it again mama? Please?” I was begging to go on it? Again? 
“Ok, honey. As much as you want to.”