The London Eye

I wish I’d never let them persuade me. Even now I still ask myself why. I will always remember the terrifying screams and the icy wind whipping around me. I still get really upset when I think about it. Why did I not realise this would happen. It’s been so many years now.
You see it all started when me, my mum and my dad went to London for my birthday treat. It was a dull dreary day with huge black rain clouds looming above us. As you can imagine London was busy and bustling, the sea of people pushing and shoving. There’s a river there too with the Westminster Bridge stretching to the other side. The London eye towered above us like a huge bike wheel. I couldn’t wait to have a go on it.
I glanced upwards. The thirty two little pods slowly going round and round making my head spin. Just looking up at it made me feel sick and dizzy. I stumbled backwards and slumped on the nearest bench. Everything around me suddenly went all blurry and unclear.
Darkness.
Everything went black. I felt like I was shut out from the rest of the world. I was trapped. Suddenly I heard smashing and shards of glass were shooting towards me. The deafening screams rang through my ears. “Honey, are you okay.” My eyes snapped open. I was sitting on the bench again like nothing had happened.
“Come on Sophie, we’ll miss it and we’ll have to wait.” Mum grabbed my arm and hauled me towards the queue to the London Eye. I tried to pull away. I tried to escape, but Mum had a firm grip on my arm and she wouldn’t let me.
“No” I stammered. It was no use. I knew we shouldn’t go on it but I didn’t have a clue why. I’d wanted to go on it for ages but now I had a sickening feeling we shouldn’t. “Come on, what’s wrong with you” groaned Dad. I let them pull me towards it all helpless and weak. My heart was pounding so hard I thought it might burst out of my chest.
As we stood at the little booth where Dad paid for the tickets I couldn’t help but notice one empty pod coming slowly down towards us.
Why hadn’t they filled it up? Why was it empty? The lady at the counter suddenly spoke up as if reading my mind. “What’s wrong luv? There’s nothing to be afraid of, it’s perfectly safe.” Although she smiled a warm friendly smile she scared me and a shiver ran down my spine. “Are you sure that pods okay to ride in” I asked. Her face suddenly looked stiff as if she was annoyed I’d asked. Then she smiled again and a sudden rush of warmth filled me and I didn’t feel scared any more, I felt really confident. I felt so safe and that there no point worrying.
We boarded the next pod to come down with no more questions. It was the empty one. The one with the yellow and black tape around the edge. There was a red danger sign on the floor. I sat gingerly on the edge on of the seat. I felt darkness swirling around me. I saw it, swirls of black stuff. Sticking and clinging to us. I blinked. It was gone. I started to think I had imagined it. I looked at mum and dad relaxing on the other side and told myself I was just being silly and I needed to relax a bit too.
Up and up we went. The higher we got the more I started to enjoy it. What on earth could go wrong now? We were quite far up and I could see for miles around. The view was amazing.
We didn’t notice it at first as we were too busy enjoy ourselves. Admiring the view. I was first to spot there was something wrong. My face went white. “Its stopped” I gasped. I’m just overreacting, I told myself. It was no big deal; it would probably start in a few minutes anyway.
We waited for half an hour. Dad started to get really restless and mum started panicking. “Oh for god sake, we haven’t got all day.” Moaned dad pacing back and forward. Mum put her head in her hands praying it would move again and we wouldn’t be stuck here any longer. All our enjoyment and smiles had been wiped away. I could see dads worry was turning in to frustration. “What’s going on” he shouted. Taking out his anger by banging on the glass. The people in the pod next to us gave us funny looks. This made him even angrier and he started bang harder and shouting louder. But they just laughed and started banging and shouting too. I knew it wouldn’t be long until mum would join in as she always gets angry we dad does.
I curled up in the corner of the seat and sobbed. I knew something would happen. I’d said right from the start. But that was not the thing that scared me. You see the thing was I had a sick feeling inside me this was not the end of it. That this was nothing compared with what would happen next.
I could see through tear filled eyes that mum was getting angry. She was grinding her teeth and tapping her shoe. Then she jumped up and started screaming and shouting through the glass. I squeezed my eyes tight shut.
Then I remembered. The vision. The glass and the screams. How could I have forgotten? I should have known. I opened my eyes. Mum had taken off her shoe and was banging he heel on the glass. Everyone was angry now. Then the glass cracked. Mum and dad didn’t seem to notice as they were too busy shouting. The people in the other pod did though. They shouted at mum to stop. They tried to help. Mum lifted up her shoe again. I didn’t know what to do. There were tears streaming down my face. “NOOOO!” I screamed. But I was too late. Mums shoe had smashed the glass, deafening screams surround me, and bits of glass were puncturing into me, a cold icy wind whipped around my face. It was like the vision all over again only this time, it was real.
That lady, the lady at the counter. The one who told me everything would be okay. All I could see was her face. She wasn’t smiling any more though. She was laughing. A cackling evil laugh that whirled around my head. I put my hands over my ears to tried and shut it out.
As they were carrying me out and away from the London eye. I saw her. She was laughing and laughing. Her smile made my skin crawl. “She did it” I tried to shout but it only came out as a small whisper and no one could hear me. I saw her move her lips and somehow her voice was in my head. She said two words. The same two words that still scare me, even now. “Your next.”
I can’t really remember much more. It’s all a one big muddle. I live with my aunt and uncle now. They made me tell them everything. I did… well except about her. Something told me to keep that to myself. I knew they wouldn’t believe me anyway. They told me lots of stuff but I wasn’t really listening. They said we weren’t allowed on that pod in the first place and that mum and dad fell. The glass was being ready to be fixed as it was really weak and I was saved by the people in the helicopter. My mum and dad are dead. I remember the danger sign on the floor. I remember her.