Ajay’s family was rather poor. His parents owned a truck stop diner in a small town in Indiana and life hadn’t been particularly good for restaurant owners of late, so he never dreamed that they’d all be spending the weekend at Elysian Lagoons, the greatest waterpark on EARTH! To be honest it made him a little uneasy knowing how much money they had to be spending on the trip. It worried him that they really couldn’t afford it, but he was too excited to let his worries spoil the vacation and have the trip go to waste.
By the time they got to the park it had been open for a couple of hours and the initial glut of early-arrivals had already trickled inside, leaving the entryway mostly empty. His mom had him and his three brothers line up in front of the impressive faux waterfall that was built into the side of one of the main attractions at the front of the park and snapped a few commemorative photos for the diner’s rarely-visited social media page.
“Ok, let’s do this!” His mom cheered, pumping her fist in the air energetically. “The Burke family vacation starts NOW!”
“Yeah!” He and his brother’s cheered.
The rest of the family grouped together in the shade by the main entry and anxiously waited while Ajay and his Dad stood in line together to buy the tickets. It seemed his mother had rallied everyone’s excitement a little too early, but that didn’t matter to Ajay. As far as he was concerned the vacation started the moment they left home. He always enjoyed long car trips. Working in the diner and listening to truckers talk for hours and hours about their jobs had instilled in him a curious appreciation for interstate travel, bordering on fascination. He’d spent the trip gazing out the window and letting his imagination run wild while feasting his eyes on all the big-rigs playing out their awesome function against the beautiful, natural landscape.
A few people were already leaving the park in small clusters, meandering idly through the adjacent exit path behind Ajay’s family. They were mostly groups of friends and families taking a short break for lunch. Many of them were burdened with oversized stuffed animals and prizes that they had won playing the various games and challenges in the park’s Boardwalk area.
“Hey, do you want this?” A thirteen-year-old girl asked her younger brother as they walked by. She handed the ten-year-old a large gold coin bearing the image of a trident and the striking visage of Poseidon himself.
“Sure!” He said, eagerly snatching it from her hand.
“UGH! It smells like FISH!” He said, throwing it reflexively away from his face so that it landed in the stroller belonging to Ajay’s infant brother.
“That’ll be $368.85” The teller announced flatly.
His dad cringed ever so slightly as the full weight of the number dawned on him. He scratched nervously at his beard before dropping his hand into his pocket and producing his credit card, handing it over in a half-daze. Ajay felt awful again, he hated to be a burden on his parents and wished he were old enough to work a real job like his brother Chris, but being only twelve, he was still just old enough to do odd-jobs around the diner. Still, at least it took a bit of the load off of his mom and dad.
Ajay’s dad immediately passed the tickets down to him the moment he pulled them from the teller’s grasp, fanning them slightly for show.
“Hey, why don’t you go and hand these out to everyone, Spud.” He said with an earnest smile, attempting to gloss over their shared financial pangs.
“Alright.” He said with a hesitant grin, grateful for the implied permission to put his own worries aside.
He ran over to join the rest of his family and gave each of his older brothers a ticket before grabbing one for himself and handing his mother the rest. They each passed through the entryway, presenting their tickets to the line attendant, pausing for entry to be granted, and then awkwardly stumbling through the turnstile, stepping merrily into the park at last.
“What should we do first?” His dad asked, rubbing his hands together excitedly.
“I wanna find that roller coaster we saw from the street.” Christ said.
“We should do a waterslide!“ Reagan suggested firmly.
“Yeah.” Ajay agreed. “A waterslide!”
Reagan and Ajay were closest in age of the four brothers and were generally in agreement on most matters, often biasing the families routine democratic votes in their own favor.
“I suppose the lazy river isn’t an option that anyone’s considering?” His mom chimed in sarcastically. “...Well… whatever we do, we better get changed into our swimsuits first. I’m sure even that roller coaster gets you wet.”
“Oh, it does!” Chris said with a giant smile. “And there’s even a spot where you can stand in front of its path and get DRENCHED as it goes by!”
“I figured as much.” She said, rolling her eyes as she squatted down alongside the stroller and reached underneath to unload the stowed gear bag that they’d brought along.
“Chris, see what your brother has.” She said passively as she reached deeper into the stroller’s storage space.
Chris leaned in front of the stroller and got a look at his baby brother holding the coin weakly in his chubby hands. He continued watching as the little guy brought the coin into his mouth and gummed at it for a brief moment before grimacing sourly and ejecting the offensive item clear out of the stroller and onto the ground.
“What was that?” Chris wondered as he bent down to fish the golden item from the side of the walkway where it landed. He picked it up and inspected it with interest. It looked to him to be a cheap novelty coin made of plastic. Totally worthless and instantly uninteresting. He cast it back to the ground and straightened back up, ‘booping’ his baby brother on the nose playfully.
“Deacon’s fine.“ He said. “He had a little toy coin, but he threw it away.”
Ajay and Reagan both heard the coin strike the ground behind the stroller and were immediately drawn to it with piqued curiosity as they thought it had sounded substantial and heavy. Reagan quickly dove for it and looked it over eagerly. He placed it in his palm and bobbed his hand up and down, feeling the heft of it. It was solid gold!
“Let me see.” Ajay said, snatching the coin from his brother’s grasp. He played the weighty coin around in his fingers, visually absorbing the brilliance and luster of the finely crafted bobble. “What do you think it’s worth?”
“Probably hundreds!” Reagan shouted. “I think it’s solid gold!”
“It’s plastic, you dweebs.” Chris moaned laboredly. “And probably not even PURE plastic… More like fricken plastic-plated cardboard.”
“You’re nuts!” Reagan shot back as he grabbed the coin from Ajay. “This thing must weigh at least half a pound!”
“That would make it worth thousands.” Chris stated, rolling his eyes.
“WOW.” The two boys gasped, glaring greedily at the startling treasure.
“I can’t believe I found it just lying on the ground.” Reagan said, gazing deeply into it with wondrous eyes.
“Hey, I found it too!” Ajay shouted. “And I really need that for my family!”
Ajay’s mind was reeling with the thought of getting his hands back on that coin. His family desperately needed the money that it could provide, and it had practically been HIS just moments ago. His mind wavered for a moment, thinking there was no problem, why couldn’t they share it? He could give his half of the money to his parents and the other kid could keep the rest... but suddenly that thought fizzled as he looked the other boy over. Raegan, who he had thought was one of his brothers, didn’t look familiar at all... He couldn’t share the coin with this kid; he was a stranger! They would have to settle on a single owner quickly before they each left with their own families.
“I need it for my family too!” Reagan exclaimed, looking Ajay over with confusion along with a twinge of empathy...
Looking as though he had come to the same conclusion as Ajay, Raegan clutched at the coin covetously and exclaimed. “I’ll flip you for it!”
Ajay realized right away that it was a very fair offer and his only chance at getting the coin. The other kid could just as easily run off with it at this point, so he figured he had nothing to lose.
“OK!” He agreed, hastily. Not wanting to give the other boy a chance to change his mind.
“I’ll take heads.” Reagan said, before flipping the coin into the air and catching it cleanly. He flipped it over onto the back of his left hand and slowly revealed the result…
… a trident.
“Tails!” Reagan shouted in ruinous disappointment. He fleetingly entertained the thought of going back on their deal, but as he looked again at the coin he immediately became struck by how dull and lifeless it suddenly appeared and how poor the craftsmanship really was. He brought the coin to his face, getting a good look at the foil-like coating and ruffle-seamed edges, and noted how little the coin truly weighed.
“What the heck, this is a chocolate coin!” He grumbled, tossing it to Ajay. “I hate chocolate.”
“Come on Reagan, your father and brothers are already getting changed.” Their mother called out before entering the women’s changing area.
“I gotta go, man…” Reagan said with deflated spirit. ”It sure would have been cool if it had been real gold.”
Ajay passively observed the other boy wandering away with his peripheral vision. The bulk of his visual field was devoted to the coin. It was glorious. He wondered how anyone could mistake it for anything but pure gold. It gleamed hypnotically in the sun as he fondled it adroitly between his fingers. He was already making plans to take it to the pawn shop on Elmhurst Avenue the instant he got home. His family would be thrilled with all the cash he would earn! This trip hadn’t been financially reckless after all; it was already paying huge dividends!
Ajay appeared lost in wonder, admiring his precious prize. People were bustling around him on all sides, paying him little mind, but in spite of the constant din of the jubilant revelers surrounding him, he thought he could hear a voice singing sweetly from someplace deep within the coin itself. It was a small femanine voice, clear and perfect. It sang neither harmony, nor melody, but the sound it produced was vocal nectar; sweet Ambrosia to the ears. He willed the coin closer, that he might hear the dulcet tones it produced all the more clearly, but try as he might he could not manage it. He felt the coin grow heavy in his hand; so much so that it drew his arm down, anchoring it firmly to his side. He stood there in a quiet daze, clutching the coin with a tight grip to keep it from falling from his grasp. Even though the coin was no longer so near his face, the sound had somehow grown louder; its heavenly reverberations now seemed to be coming from deep within the park. His mouth opened slightly as his jaw went slack. He was completely entranced by the exquisite emanations.
He tried to step forward to follow the sound, uncertain if he would be able to manage it. He couldn’t feel his limbs as he glided forth, yet the world had clearly shifted backward around him in the attempt. He continued floating onward in a trance, eagerly following the divinely-bewitching noise deeper and deeper into the park. He wanted to run after the sound, to bound freely to meet its source, but he felt trapped in a syrupy haze and forced to plod drowsily at a languid pace in spite of his longing. Everyone nearby seemed to ignore him, treating him as a mere obstacle as they maneuvered around to avoid him. They seemed to pour around him like water as he idly cut through their flow like a blade in slow motion.
Broadly unaware of the passage of time, he finally reached deep into the heart of the park where he found himself inexorably drawn to the entrance of a single ride in particular. It was a water slide christened ‘Typhon's Tube’; the voice beckoned to him from its depths.
He continued ever forward, uninhibited by the careless teens and rowdy youths who pushed rudely past him or shouted from behind for him to move more quickly. He was right where he was meant to be, and nothing would stop him from reaching his goal. Once he made it to the back of the line, he stopped cold and waited patiently for the line to progress forward to its inevitable end. He swayed drunkenly, reveling in the penetrative sensations that the otherworldly sound produced deep within him. By now the sound had grown wildly forceful and percussive, he couldn’t imagine how it could possibly get any louder, but he wanted it to get louder, NEEDED it to get louder. He could still dimly hear the laughter and banal chatter of the people around him, but the music should be all he hears, all he’ll ever hear!
“Mom, he’s wearing shoes!”
“It’s fine honey.”
“...But, that’s not allowed!”
“Be quiet. I’m sure he’s not going on the ride, he’s probably waiting with friends.”
“Maybe he doesn’t know the rules”
“You just worry about yourself, Kaden”
“He’s getting the steps all muddy!”
“Shhh.”
-------------------
Ajay had nearly reached the front of the line; he could see a lean, muscular, shirtless guy sitting on a small stool with his legs spread obscenely wide. He was basking in the cool breeze in the open air at the top of the slide tower and lackadaisically instructing each guest when to approach, mount, and enter the slide.
It wasn’t until after the little girl in front of Ajay had already started her trip to the bottom that the worker noticed Ajay’s attire.
“Hold up there partner.” He said with fraternal authority. “No street clothes allowed. You’re gonna have to go get changed.”
Ajay couldn’t hear him, and wouldn’t have stopped even if he could. From the moment he finally got an unobstructed view of the mouth of the slide, he couldn’t truly perceive anything else. The cavernous opening was practically blasting his face with a concentrated torrent of pure, unadulterated, sexual energy. He began to advance again, feeling like he was walking into the untamed gale of a terrible storm. His eardrums itched and tickled ferociously with the otherworldly thunderclap of sensual oscillations.
“Hold it, kid!” The attendant repeated with frustration, waving his arms to garner Ajay’s attention. “You need to go back down, lose the shoes and put on some trunks. I’ll let you come right to the front of the line when you get back, alright?... Are you listening to me?”
Ajay stepped undeterred into the miniature launch pool which kept the water slide fed with an endless stream of flowing water. An unpleasant cloud of muddy debris sloughed away from his well-worn, steel toed, safety boots as he trode heedlessly over the rubberized sponge-medium that lined the bottom of the pool. Water was wicking its way up his loose, frayed, hand-me-down jeans, darkening them and causing them to cling to his legs. The ride attendant was frantically shouting at him now, threatening to eject him from the park. The woman behind him in line was suggesting the attendant do something to stop him, but the attendant explained that he wasn’t allowed to get physical with guests and that he’d have to let security get involved if Ajay wasn’t going to listen to instructions.
Ajay never stopped, he never hesitated or wavered. He splashed and shuffled ever onward until he reached his target. He stood right in front of the opening of the slide. His pelvis was being violently shaken and rattled by the penetrating rumble of that trumpeting, vocal cry. His penis had grown erect and strained the confines of his pants, yet he was unaware of his engorged member. The pleasure he felt was all-consuming, it touched him in all places, it pierced his very being, ringing out eternally and resonating overwhelmingly within every masculine attribute and potential that he possessed.
He had now but to complete his objective, to surrender himself to the threshold of reality and give himself over to the glorious celestial cacophony that would sustain him in blissful ecstasy for all time!
He sat down at the lip of the slide as water pooled around him, hugging his back and spilling gently over his legs. The water saturated his jeans completely and weighed his legs down. His hand, still clutching the coveted coin, dropped slowly to his side where the water immediately began to erode and consume it as if it were spun sugar. He could feel the coin melting away, his hand squeezing in vain around the fickle, vanishing ephemera. Seemingly all at once, the coin was gone from his grasp and the siren call cut to silence.
Ajay jolted awake, immediately cognizant of the low din of the park and of the commotion playing out behind him, all of which he could suddenly hear with startling, uncanny clarity.
“Yeah... He’s a weirdo kid in jeans; you’ll see him.” The attendant said, phoning security. ”Have him ejected from the park when he gets to the bottom... He won’t listen… Old enough to know better...”
“What’s going on? It was like I was under a spell.” He thought to himself. He remembered the coin and pawed around beside him in search of it, but found nothing in the water. It was truly gone, as was its influence. He could remember everything he did, but the ineffable quality of the sound that had attracted him to that spot was impossible to recall.
“Go ahead and slide down, kid. Might as well have your fun.” The attendant stated pragmatically. “You’re getting booted no matter how you get down at this point.”
“No.” He thought to himself with a rush of anxiety. “That’s what the voice wanted… That’s why I was drawn here... I need to leave. I need to go back to my family… I forgot who Reagan was… I thought he was a stranger! What if everyone forgot about me?! This isn’t right… I have to back away, I can’t go down there!”
Gripped with fear, he resolved to turn around and climb out of the slide; he was determined to get back to his family, but as he turned to crawl to safety, his entire body was gripped by an involuntary shudder, his muscles seemed to go all tense and slack at the same time as he writhed in pleasurable release. His penis throbbed of its own accord pumping unseen fluids as he felt himself slipping away. He tried desperately to clutch at something, anything to stop his descent into the abyss, but his limbs were not reacting to his commands appropriately. He managed to look up at the shrinking disk of light that had been his only avenue of escape. He was past the point of no return, there was no going back.