Jawbreaker

I rode The Cyclone with the other kids in the choir, and that's when the accident happened

We were at the top of the loop, when the rollercoaster made this kind of screaming metal sound

Sparks were shooting all over the place

And then the screaming and the sparks just stopped

And there was like this weightlessness

My heart jumped a gazillion beats a second, but I didn't scream like the other kids, no

I was just soaking it all in

'Cause on a certain level, it was so rad

Sailing through the air upside down, you could see all the other rides, and it was like

Something unlocked in me

My heart just welled out with all this love for everything

Images and all this feeling flooded into me like

Like climbing back into my bed in the morning and feeling the heat left over from my body

Hanging upside down from the monkey bars 'til my head starts to tingle

Smelling Jiffy markers

Listening to music and dancing around my room before going out to a party

And pretending I'm going to have the perfect time

Finishing an essay, undoing a knot, pizza night, Halloween

Watching my baby brother dance naked to ABBA

Being in the choir at the height of the Hallelujah chorus and feeling all the voices rattling my bones

I started laughing like a crazy person, giddy with endorphins

It was all dancing leprechauns and rainbows and unicorns

Streams of chocolate, whirling rides, flashing lights

There's no shame in loving my small town

The only good things that happened to me happened in Uranium

It took a horrible accident for me to realize how goddamn wonderful everything is