Personal Narrative

As I fidget with my chipped off nail polish, I keep regretting what I am about to do. I am literally terrified. But I can’t stop it now. I watch Mama buy me a ticket for the 43m bungy jump from Kawarau Bridge into a frigid river in Queenstown, NZ.

“Chal beta, ave karvanu, okay?” (“Come on dear, now you are going to do it, okay?”)

“Okay!” I reply with a nervous look hidden under my fake smile.

Mama hands me my ticket, as we walk out of the ticket shop. I try to take my edgy mind off of the insane thing I’m going to do. I take a deep breath and inhaled the crisp air with a hint of ice cream. I smile at Mama and she grins right back at me.

“Okay, but only because I want some too” she said.

We walk over to the ice cream shop and can sniff

the delectable aroma of a variety of different flavors!
“At least this can ease my mind up”, I think.

Mama points at the “Hokey Pokey” ice cream, a mix of vanilla ice cream and chunks of honeycomb toffee. I choose cotton candy, my favorite of ALL TIME. We stroll away from the shop, while I wolf down the last bit of my cone. Mama gives me a small peck on the head.

“Have fun, Anna!”

I run across the bridge, beaming, clutching my probably wrinkled ticket. I finally arrive at the jumping point, completely out of breath.

“Can I have your ticket, hon’?,” the lady says.

“Oh, yeah, here you go,” I

reply.
I hand over the crinkled ticket, and she smiles at me.
“And whea you from, kiddo?”
“California, USA.”
“Aaah, the beach is nice, eh?”
“Yeah, it is.”
She then guides me to the corner where I get suited up. A man gives me a harness for my waist, and ties a cornflower blue bungee cord to my calves. I stand up, hiding my skittish body, with a confident look on my face, looking like Superwoman.
“Woo hoo!!

Yeah Annika, you can do it!” Daddy yells.

I took a deep breath. “I can do this.” But I had already triggered the little voices inside of me. “You are so going to die. Don’t do it! What on earth is wrong with you?!” “You have no life.” But nobody was going to wait for me.

“3, 2, 1, JUMP!” the man exclaimed.

Whooooosh. I could feel the cool air blow against my face, along with my long hair. My adrenaline soared, all my fear had been washed away, replaced with pleasure, although my entire body was wobbling in mid-air. As I tried to make myself comfortable, I bounced back all the way up, to see Dad record me with his GoPro. I close my eyes, and enjoy this once in a lifetime opportunity. As I near the end of the bouncing, I’m swaying above a giant body of water. “BEST. DAY. EVER”, I thought. A big yellow inflatable boat nears me, with one guy holding a long pole.

“Grab on!”, he yells.

I extend my arms as long as possible, reaching for the pole. I had gotten ahold of it, as they pulled me down. I exhale gloomily, as it was already over. As the boat took me back to ground level, I step off, thanking the people on the boat. As I near Dad, he is smiling, recording me like he is a reporter.

“How was it?”, he

asked.
“So fun!”, I replied.
“Were you scared?”
“A little at the beginning, but everything else was great.”
“Well, you’re lucky you didn’t die up there.” “It’s like winning the lottery, it never happens!” I roll my eyes and stride on. Mama came and she smiled at me. I held her hand, she held Dad’s, and Dad held Arjun’s. I look back at the jump I have conquered, the jump I was terrified of before I realized how fun it had been. Knowing that I was no longer scared, I wish that I could return to do it another day.