Page 60 of Don’t Let Me Go

“Consider yourself kidnapped,” Audrey announces, eyeing me in her rearview mirror as I buckle myself into the uncomfortably

tiny back seat of her Volkswagen Beetle.

“But fun-kidnapped,” Tala adds, turning around in the front passenger seat to flash me a reassuring smile.

The two of them showed up at my house this morning just as I was finishing breakfast and informed me that I’d be spending

my birthday with them. I’m pretty sure they arranged the whole ambush in advance with my dad. Normally he insists on us spending

birthdays together as a family, especially when a birthday falls on a weekend and he’s not consumed with work. This morning,

though, he couldn’t have been happier to see Audrey and Tala carry me out the door.

I should’ve seen this coming. I haven’t spoken to my friends in almost two weeks, and I haven’t left the house except to go

to work. It makes sense then that Audrey and Tala’s impromptu birthday kidnapping feels less like a celebration and more like

an intervention.

“Where are we going?” I ask suspiciously as we merge onto I-4.

“It’s a surprise,” Audrey answers.

“Where’s Duy?”

“Duy and Caleb are meeting us there.”

I nod and stare out the window at the passing hotels and outlet malls. I should be excited to spend my eighteenth birthday

with my friends on some mystery adventure. But as with everything else in my life right now, I can’t muster much enthusiasm

for it.

“Are you still missing Jackson?” Tala asks, studying me carefully in the rearview mirror.

I sink down into my seat to avoid her gaze. “I don’t want to talk about Jackson.”

“No problem,” Audrey says. “We won’t mention him for the rest of the day.”

That’s a very agreeable and thus very un-Audrey answer. I narrow my eyes in wariness. “You promise?”

“Hey, your birthday, your rules.”

“Says my kidnapper.”

Audrey rolls her eyes. “Please. It’s not kidnapping if nobody wants you.”

My mouth drops open.

“Audrey’s kidding.” Tala laughs. “We want you. And we love you.”

“Eh.” Audrey shrugs.

“We do. We love you, Riley. And we are going to have the best day at Dizzy World.”

I sit up in my seat. “Dizzy World?”

“Oops!”

“Wow, babe, really?” Audrey groans, casting an exasperated glance at her girlfriend.

“Sorry! It just slipped out.”

Audrey shakes her head and sighs. “Well, cat’s out of the bag. Surprise, we’re taking you to Dizzy World.”

Despite my all-consuming sadness about Jackson, a small part of me can’t help feeling a smidge of excitement. Dizzy World

has the distinction of being Central Florida’s “most affordable” theme park. It’s also, as the name suggests, an unrepentant

knockoff of Disney World. Instead of Space Mountain, they have Galaxy Peak. Instead of Thunder Mountain, they have Lightning

Canyon. Instead of Splash Mountain, they have Waterfall Drop.

Even their mascot, Mackey the Mole, in his red overalls and white gloves, looks a lot like a certain cartoon mouse.

It’s honestly shocking that Disney hasn’t sued. And maybe they will. The park opened only a few months ago, but as soon as

their sketchy commercials started airing on TV, my friends and I became obsessed with going. It just seemed like such a clusterfuck

of bad taste and copyright infringement, we couldn’t resist.

“Well, is it everything you were hoping for and more?” Audrey asks half an hour later once we’re standing in Ye Old Town Square

(which is definitely not a knockoff of Disney’s Main Street, U.S.A.).

“It’s fucking glorious,” I answer as I take in the cheap and gaudy storefronts designed to look like shops in a colonial village

despite the fact that they sell burgers, ice cream, and an endless supply of Dizzy merch. A man in a Daryl the Drake costume

waves at some kids, but the lopsided wild eyes sewn into his headpiece make him look like he’s either drunk or rabid, and

the children scream.

“I can’t believe this is an actual place,” Tala whispers in awe.

“It’s a trainwreck,” I agree, basking in the bad taste. “I love it.”

Audrey smiles and puts a hand on my shoulder. “Happy birthday.”

I smile back, and to my surprise, it’s a genuine smile, my first since Jackson and I broke up. Maybe it’s because Dizzy World

is a bigger shitshow than me, but for a moment, I don’t feel the endless crushing sadness that’s been pressing down on me

since the breakup. Or maybe the emotional reprieve has more to do with Audrey and Tala, my two best friends, still caring

enough about me to take me out on my birthday even though they’ve been on the receiving end of my shitty attitude for the

past two weeks.

“I’m sorry I’ve been such a mess,” I say, turning to them with a guilty sigh.

Audrey shrugs. “Breakups are hard. We get it. But you know you don’t have to go through it alone, right?”

“You sound like my dad.”

“Good. Your dad is smart as fuck. You should listen to him.”

I nod. I don’t know why it’s always been so hard for me to ask for help—and even harder to accept it. I guess it’s because

I never feel like I deserve it. I never felt like I deserved anything—until Jackson came into my life. That was the first

time I let myself want something.

“I’ll try to be better about asking for help,” I say. I know I made a similar promise to my dad only a week ago, but this

time, I think I mean it.

Audrey and Tala pull me into a three-way hug, and once again, the numbing weight on my soul lifts for a moment. I know, of

course, that it’s only a matter of time before it returns. But I also know that the only way I’ll have any chance of getting

through the rest of this year, not to mention the rest of my life, is if I have my friends by my side.

“So, should we ride some rides?” I ask, pulling back from the embrace and wiping a tear from my eye.

“Actually, Duy and Caleb just texted,” Tala says, looking at her phone. “They should be here any—ah! There they are.”

Tala points to the entrance of the park, where I see Duy and Caleb strolling through the wide gates hand in hand. They spot

us, and Duy waves excitedly. I’m just about to return the gesture when my eyes catch someone following in their wake, and

my heart stops.

Duy and Caleb aren’t alone. A third person is walking behind them. He’s in such a daze, overwhelmed by all the absurdities

of this insane amusement park, that he doesn’t register my presence until he’s right in front of me.

“Riley?” He gasps, stopping dead in his tracks.

“Jackson?”