Ah, Memories

-My dad was here the day one of the parachute ride jumpers, ya know, jumped. He was actually in line when it happened.
-No shitting? Did, did he see it?
-He said a bunch of people started screaming and then just the sickest sound he'd ever want to hear. You know how people say it's like a watermelon bursting. He said it really was exactly like that but loud. Real loud and then like literally dead silence. No one could speak. All the screamers were choking for breath. Everyone in the vicinity was losing their shit, running over to get a glimpse, which is so the opposite of right as far as I'm concerned but whatever. He said he didn't see anything though because ya had like 60-70 people in a big circle around the body. But he could never get that sound out of his head. Like, he could see and feel the sound. Pulp and bloody and everywhere.
-Damn. Just damn. Did the park close? Tell me they closed the park.
-I don't know. I figure it's a 50/50 chance. That's how they are. Maybe closed off half the park until the ambulance could come by, maybe sprayed a hose.
-No way, no way. If it was like the incident at Zoom, maybe but-
-What happened at Zoom?
-Oh, it wasn't that long back. A lady suffered an aneurysm as she was getting off. Collapsed right on dock and was probably dead before she hit the ground. Janet was telling me about it. They cleared the dock, cleared the queue, let the authorities come by to take the body and that was about it. Don't know if Zoom was closed all day but nothing else was effected. But that's the thing, it had nothing to do with the ride. Completely incidental so there wasn't anything potentially criminal or a need for investigation-
-And there's a hell of a difference between someone plummeting 200 feet and liquefying on contact, probably spitting bits of brain 10 yards away-
-Nice
-...and someone just keeling over. No fuss, no muss, no mess. Offer some counseling to the ROs on duty to cover their own asses, maybe slip a few complimentary tickets into the sob-soaked hands of the grieving family and...hey, did she have any family with her?
-Janet told me there was a husband. She was young too, from what I hear.
-...Sucks.
-Hey, now that you've brought it up, how many jumpers did Parachutes have?
-At least two. I'm pretty sure.
-'Cuz at the SEP meeting Joey was talking about being here for all 3 incidents. That covers Plunge, Zoom and Ghost. So what the hell?
-I don't think anyone died at Ghost. Someone got nailed in the face with a tree branch, I know that.
-Oh yeah. Huh. I wish we had this stuff in the employee manual. This is the important shit.
-For us, maybe, but not so much for the guests. Remember when Supervision heard whatzhizname...Roger when he was on the mic joking about dying.
-Hey, I don't joke. When someone asks me if anyone's died on ride I always say, super solemn-like: "Not on this one." And then I walk the fuck away.
-You're a good man. Noble.
-Seriously though, it's like I've heard so many conflicting stories about Plunge. If I ever get cross-trained over there I won't even know what to say. Because guests will ask, you know they will. I don't want to lie. After the thing with Xcel and then this belt thing with Zoom I'm getting nervous. I don't want it on my conscience that I, like...
-Led guests to their slaughter? With a smile?
-Exactly. I always joke with guests when they get frightened but, I mean, there is a fucking risk to this shit.
-Eh. There's a risk to getting up out of bed. I'm not worrying about it. You shouldn't either. You've been here too long to lose perspective.
-I've been here too long. I was hired same day as Roger, shared same intro class, trained together. And he was fired half a year ago. I only wanted to work here for Haunt. Somehow I've been here nearly two years. This is not good for my health, as the saying goes.
-Eh. What is? Life is misery, right. Shit, is that clock right?
-Time to get back. I hope Xcel is still down. I'm not in a mood to deal with anyone about anything right now.
-Oh that's a change of pace. Fuck this place.