The Last Xceleration (A Knott's Berry Farm Pasta)

The Last Xceleration

                                                                 A Knott's Berry Farm Pasta

It's been many years since that day, yet it feels like only yesterday that it all happened. Even now, the guilt has continued to grow on me, so I need to finally say something and get this whole thing off my chest for good. I should probably give a bit of information about me before I tell my story. I am a 28 year old guy named Hugh living in Anaheim California, and currently work as a forklifter at a local Lowes and live in my own apartment close to my parents home. I won't give my last name as to protect my identity as well as my families identities, and now that I've got that out of the way, I should probably get on with my story.

Ever since I was a kid, I absolutely loved Knott's Berry Farm and the Peanuts character mascots. They were the reason I loved the theme park so much, next to all the awesome rides. When I first went to Knott's Berry Farm in 1999, I was about eight years old, yet I fell in love with the place the moment I stepped through the gates with my parents. I would hang out with Snoopy and Charlie Brown for hours at Camp Snoopy, and I loved all the rides too, including Ghostrider and Montazoma's Revenge. Most eight year olds would be too scared to go on those roller coasters due to how fast they ran, especially with there being a shuttle loop on the Montazoma's Revenge coaster, but I oddly liked them the moment I tried them for the first time.

At the time, Ghostrider was considered the fastest coaster in the park; mind you that this was long before Xcelerator and Silver Bullet existed. The Boomerang coaster also still existed in this time before being replaced by the Hangtime coaster in 2018, yet I didn't really find that one so thrilling despite it being so popular. Three years later when I turned eleven, Xcelerator opened and when I saw the coaster cars modeled after a 1957 Chevy Bel Air, I instantly knew it was something I wanted to try out. Chevy Bel Air cars were my favorite, so you can guess that I jumped at the chance to ride a coaster modeled after my favorite car. Now I was a little nervous to ride it at first when I learned that this coaster was dozens of times faster than any of the other coasters in the park, approximately 82 MPH to be exact.

For those who have never seen or ridden this coaster before, I should probably give a bit of background on it. Xcelerator is a steel coaster that works like this: the riders board five coaster cars with restraint bars holding them in place, then a set of orange traffic style lights on the right side of the station labeled "PRE-STAGED" and "STAGED" will light up, indicating that the coasters launch systems are primed and ready to launch. The coaster is then launched out of the station at a full 82 MPH in less than two seconds, easily making it the fastest coaster in Knott's Berry Farm.

While I was slightly hesitant at first, I eventually gave Xcelerator a go, and I surprisingly enjoyed it to the fullest despite being eleven years old. Over the years, I continued to go there each summer when me and my family got the chance, yet the place got gradually more expensive as the years passed. Because of that, we weren't able to go there as often as we used to, but we occasionally got the chance during Knott's Scary Farm which I adored since I was a horror movie fan. Once I turned eighteen in 2009, I was offered a part-time job there by my uncle Todd who was currently the park manager, and I jumped at the opportunity since Knott's Berry Farm was my favorite amusement park second to Disneyland.

I instantly applied there and I was trained on how to operate various attractions at the park, which included coasters like the Jaguar, Montazuma's Revenge, Ghostrider, Boomerang, and my favorite coaster, the Xcelerator. Once I got certified, I was hired and assigned to the Xcelerator coaster. To some people, it would seem like a boring job to just stand inside a control booth and do nothing but operate a roller coaster all Saturday long, but me being a huge Knott's Berry Farm fan lead me to enjoy it to the fullest extent. Despite making only $9.50 an hour, I absolutely loved working at Knott's, and I hoped I'd always work there. Unfortunately, fate had other plans for me. I'll never forget that one day at the park, the day that everything changed for me and my entire family.

Even now as I write this, the guilt of not being there for my dear little cousin is still eating away at my soul, but I'm getting a bit ahead of myself, so I'll explain now. Around the summer time when school let out in june, I had arrived at the park around 9:00 AM on Saturday and headed over to the Xcelerator to begin testing it before the park opened at 10:00 AM. It is required by park regulations that every attraction was to be tested in case they experienced a problem that could be potentially dangerous to the riders. Testing the Xcelerator was my favorite thing to do before the park opened. I loved watching the coaster rush out of the station like a cannonball and make its way around the track, so I couldn't wait to get down there.

Once I arrived at the Xcelerator however, I found three young men standing near the control booth next to the stars and stripes painted Chevy Bel Air coaster gawking at someone nearby. The moment I saw who the leader of these two other teenage boys were, I felt my heart sink with disgust; it was my seventeen year old cousin named Blake, and the other two guys were his buddies, Sid and Andrew. Next to them was my favorite six year old cousin named Dan, and he was balled up on the ground in a fetal position and appeared to be whimpering and mumbling something I couldn't understand. I absolutely hated Blake, and for good reason.

Here's a bit of info about Blake. Like me, he's currently employed as a part-time roller coaster operator like me and is assigned to the Ghostrider coaster. While he may seem like a casual teen on the job, in reality, he's the most disrespectful, manipulative, cruel hearted piece of dog shit you could ever come across. Ever since Blake was a kid, he and his two friends would constantly bully other kids in his school, get into fights with other kids, and even steal from other people. He was also a very foul mouthed kid and would constantly use profanity whenever he got very angry or if someone pissed him off.

I remember my mom once telling me that Blake had gotten suspended from school at age ten for calling a grouchy teacher of his a quote on qoute, "Dirty cock sucking whore!".

I have no idea where in God's name he got that from, but I honestly don't think I want to know. Blake only got worse as he grew older, and when cousin Dan was born in 2003, Blake grew even worse than ever. He'd constantly abuse the poor kid by using him as his personal punching bag whenever he got angry and would constantly yell and scream profanities at Dan if he got in his way, all because he thought Dan was getting more attention than him. His parents, who were also my aunt and uncle, had constantly tried to stop Blake's abuse of my little cousin by grounding him for a certain amount of time, and even going so far as to get rid of his electronic devices such as his Xbox, fire tablet, and mp3 player as a means of punishment.

They also sought the help and advice of several therapists in the past to try and change Blake's ways, but this didn't work, so my aunt and uncle eventually made a decision to kick Blake out of their house if he didn't get his act together and stop with his abusive and violent behavior toward cousin Dan and towards others. This finally seemed to get through to Blake a little and he tried to improve himself a little bit, but he still remained an arrogant and mean spirited person and would still bully cousin Dan whenever he got the chance. His two friends Sid and Andrew were just as cold hearted and cruel, if not, slightly worse. I don't know much about them, but their pasts aren't important, so I'll just get on with the story now that I've explained a bit about Blake.

As I noticed Blake and his two buddies bullying Dan, I walked up to them and demanded to know what the problem was and Blake turned around to face me with a smug expression on his face.

"I'm being forced to babysit this little oaf, that's what the problem is," Blake scoffed coldly. "My dad brought him here cause mom's busy at work and can't watch him, and wants me to babysit him until the damn place opens! Why is it that he's always getting the attention?! Nobody cares about what I want!".

"Knock it off, Blake! You know that's not true," I scolded. "Why are you even up here? I have to give this coaster it's daily test run before the park opens".

"Oh, very simple, cousin, verrry simple," Blake said smugly with a wicked grin, then he glanced over at the red Chevy Bel Air coaster with Stars and stripes painted on the front. "I'm gonna be performing a special test run today with this fast boy, and it's gonna have a very special passenger onboard. Can you guess who?".

As soon as I saw him and his two friends glance down at Dan, I immediately knew what he was planning and I began to panic. Here's a brief bit of background on my cousin Dan. He was born with a case of anxiety disorder which meant he could not ride roller coasters or any attractions that moved at high speed, and due to his anxiety disorder, Dan had to take medication to prevent any serious anxiety attacks. I remember one time a few years ago, my Uncle told me that he took Dan on the Aztec themed Jaguar coaster when he was just four years old thinking he could handle it since it was a slow moving coaster, and Dan ended up having a bad anxiety attack halfway through the ride.

It wasn't life threatening, but it was bad enough to where the EMT's had to come and take Dan to the medical center to be treated. Ever since that incident, Dan had always been terrified of roller coasters and any ride that moved at high speed, especially Xcelerator. The only rides that Dan could handle were the train rides and the log ride since they moved at slow speeds, but any of the other rides would cause Dan to have an anxiety attack, and Blake knew this very well. As soon as Blake reached down to grab Dan, I rushed forward and pushed him back.

"Are you out of your mind, Blake?! You know for a full on fact that Dan can't ride roller coasters! He has an anxiety disorder, and you know it! And besides, it's against the rules to let riders on the rides before park opening time, so just stop!" I snapped in a commanding voice.

Blake responded by shoving me back and glaring at me in a very angry manner.

"Does it look like I give a shit?! Your not the boss of me, and if I say that Dan is okay to ride, then he's okay to ride! That little problem he has is probably just him faking it cause he's being a big fucking pussy! If you ask me, he needs to man up and grow some fucking balls, and I'm gonna help him with that like a big brother should!".

I knew at this point that there was no reasoning with Blake, so I knew I'd have to get physical if it came to that.

I reached down and helped Dan onto his feet, then I looked at Blake and said in a harsh voice, "Dan is not getting on that coaster, and if you don't leave right now, I will notify Uncle Todd about what you and your two friends here were about to do. If you truly want to help him, then you'll leave Dan alone and stop bullying him. Your his brother, for God's sake, so treat him like one and not some punching bag!".

Blake immediately grabbed Dan by the forearm and violently kicked me backwards so hard that I landed on the ground, then Sid and Andrew shoved me down the exit/fast lane stairs, causing me to scrape my foreleg.

Blake then yelled, "I don't need a lecture from you on what to do! Your not my parent, and I can do what I want whenever I want! And I'll prove it right here and now!".

As I struggled to get back up, I saw Sid and Andrew grab Dan roughly by his shirt and shoulders, then Blake pointed at the front coaster car and said, "Put him in!".

As soon as Dan saw the roller coaster car that he was being dragged towards, he began struggling and screaming. I tried to get back on my feet as quickly as I could to stop Sid and Andrew, but my left foreleg was burning with pain since I landed on it while tumbling down the stairs, so I wasn't able to move fast enough.

"No, stop it! It's not funny! Stop!" Dan yelled, struggling to get free.

Blake just ignored him and rushed into the control booth and began tapping away at the controls as Sid and Andrew violently threw Dan into the front coaster car and pulled the restraint bar down, locking Dan in place. I eventually got back up and rushed over to the coaster car and attempted to pull the restraint bar up, but it was locked in place. Dan was now crying uncontrollably and begging me to get him out, and that's when I began to lose my temper.

I spun around and yelled, "Blake, you son of a bitch! Let Dan out of the car this instant! This isn't funny!".

Blake sighed in frustration and said, "Fine, fine, let me just...".

He then tapped several buttons on the console in the control booth, and then I heard a loud air hissing sound. I checked the coaster cars and expected the restraint bars to come back up, but they didn't, and that's when I looked back into the control booth to see Blake smirking in a very sinister way.

"Oops! Looks like I hit the wrong button!" he snickered in sick delight, and so did Sid and Andrew.

I quickly glanced back at the coaster and saw the Chevy Bel Air coaster cars roll slowly backwards a few inches on the track, then I saw the magnetic brake fins drop down on the track ahead, and that's when I realized what Blake had just done. He had not released the restraint bars holding Dan in; he had started the coaster launch sequence!

Now enraged, I turned to Blake and yelled, "You god damn bastard! Let him out now! This is going way too far!".

Blake smirked and said, "Sorry, no can do, cousin. He's gonna have to ride it out now".

Panicking, I looked back over to the other side of the coaster and saw the first set of orange lights under the word "PRE-STAGED" light up, and then two seconds later, the "STAGED" orange lights lit up. The moment I saw those lights turn on, I knew there was no way Dan was getting out of that coaster. Once those two sets of lights turn on, that indicated that the coasters catapult motors were fully pressurized and ready to launch the coaster. This meant that there was no turning back now; Dan would have to indeed ride it out. When Dan noticed the pre-staged and staged lights light up, he immediately knew what was about to happen and went into full panic mode, thrashing around and screaming hysterically. He begged me in tears and hysterics to let him out and that he'd do anything if he was set free, but I knew there was nothing I could do at this point.

"I... I'm sorry, Dan" I stuttered, feeling completely hopeless.

I glared back briefly at Blake, who was now outside the control room with Sid and Andrew, laughing their heads off at poor Dan as he begged Blake to let him out. I thought about running inside the control booth and hitting the emergency stop button, but I knew Blake and his two friends would probably overpower me and prevent me from doing so; I was helpless to stop what was about to happen. I then looked back at the traffic style lights and saw the first set of red lights turn on, and Dan noticed this as well, making him panic even more. I watched helplessly as the second set of red lights turned on, then the third, and then I felt my heart skip a beat as the green lights turned on. The moment those green lights lit up, the coaster instantly flew out of the station at a full 82 MPH in less than two seconds, carrying a screaming Dan with it.

As the coaster sped up the large tower and slowed down near the top, I could hear Dan screaming louder than I had ever heard him scream in my life. They were not screams of joy or amusement either; they were screams of fear, dread, and blind terror. I knew that there was no way that Dan would come out of this without having an anxiety attack, so I could only pray to God that he'd be alright once the coaster ride ended. I watched as the coaster dropped down from the hill and sped towards the first sharp turn, and even from where I stood, I heard Dan still screaming in terror as the coaster zipped around the hill. Blake, Sid, and Andrew were all whooping and hollering in delight as they watched the coaster zoom around the track, and they were even filming it on their cellphones; heartless bastards!

Once the coaster made it through the first sharp turn, it sped down the track towards the final sharp turn which partly ran upside down, and then finally slowed to a crawl as it reached the end. However, the moment I saw the coaster slow down enough to where I could view the seats, I immediately noticed that something was horribly wrong with Dan. Even from where I stood, I could see him quite clearly, and he wasn't moving or screaming anymore. As the coaster moved briefly out of view, I rushed to the far end of the station, praying that Dan was all right. Unfortunately, I'd soon get my answer, and I wish I could tell you all that it wasn't too serious, but I'm afraid I can't do that.

Once the coaster came into view and slowly rolled back into the station, I felt my heart nearly stop when I saw the sight I was greeted with. Dan was slumped over the front of the restraint bar and appeared to be unconscious, but that wasn't all that I noticed. When I approached the front coaster car, I noticed a foul odor coming from inside it, and that's when I noticed a large splatter of vomit all over the hood of the front coaster car and in the seat next to Dan. He had apparently thrown up at some point during the ride, which wasn't a big surprise at all given his anxiety problems. Blake and his two friends also noticed this and their demeanor's immediately changed from being all smug and rebellious to that of fear.

"What the hell?" I heard Andrew exclaim.

"Uh, Blake? He doesn't look too good" Sid pointed out, sounding very nervous.

Blake, still acting rebellious, walked towards the coaster and said, "So he puked! So what? He's probably just faking being passed out to get attention".

As soon as Blake was about to touch Dan, I violently slapped his hand away and shoved him backward with my foot and yelled, "STAY AWAY FROM HIM, YOU DAMN BASTARD!".

I then turned back to Dan and then began to shake him softly, hoping he'd wake up, but he didn't move.

"Dan? Dan, can you hear me? It's me, Hugh" I said, trying to wake him up; still no response.

Seeing as how Dan wasn't responding, I gently reached my hands out and placed one on Dan's chest and one on the back of his neck and gently lifted him up, taking care to avoid touching the vomit. After lifting the restraint bar up, I was horrified at the sight I was greeted with once Dan was laid back against the seat. His eyes had rolled backwards into his head and he had a dead like expression on his face, and there was also vomit splattered on his shirt, but that wasn't the worst part. I noticed large streaks of bloody tear marks on Dans cheeks, and that's when I realized that Dan had cried so hard that it had caused him to start crying blood presumably while the coaster was still running on the track!

The moment Sid and Andrew and saw this, I heard one of them say, "Holy fucking shit!".

Blake did nothing except stare at Dan with a pale face and an expression of fear, but there were still traces of arrogance in his eyes. I tried not to panic as I felt Dans wrist for a pulse, but any hopes that I had completely vanished when I felt absolutely nothing; there was no pulse. Time seemed to slow down all around me as I realized just what I was dealing with here, and I nearly fainted from the realization that my little cousin... was dead. I slowly stepped back from the coaster, my face turning pale and my stomach churning with horror and sorrow, then I vomited all over the side of the station.

When Sid and Andrew saw this, I think they knew they were in very big trouble, because they both took off running out through the exit like dirty rotten cowards. Blake didn't even more though. He just stood in place like a statue and continued to stare at the lifeless body of his little brother with a soulless expression on his face. At that point, Blake knew he was in trouble; he knew that he had taken his prank way too far. As I emptied out the last of my stomach contents, I broke down sobbing as I pulled Dan's lifeless body out of the coaster car and held him close to me.

"Dan... DAN!" I cried out, desperately shaking him to try and revive him even though I knew it was useless.

As I cradled his lifeless body in my arms, I heard Blake say, "S-stop messing around, Hugh! He... He can't be dead".

The moment I heard Blakes voice, I nearly lost my sanity as my rage boiled over. I slowly lay Dan's body on the ground and stood up, clenched my fists in rage, and glared at Blake with the ferocity of a honey badger. He now looked visibly freaked out as I stomped towards him and grabbed him by his shirt and then slugged him hard across the face so hard that it went him tumbling to the ground.

"YOU MOTHERFUCKING MONSTER! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?!" I thundered furiously.

Blake said nothing and continued to stare at Dan's body with a bloody nose and with a mortified looked on his face. This only furthered my rage and I stomped up to Blake and kicked him in the ribs to get his attention.

"ANSWER ME, GOD FUCKING DAMN YOU!" I roared at him.

Blake at this point was now in tears and shaking with fear as I prepared to strike him again, but he held his hands up in defense and begged me to forgive him.

"I... I didn't know this would happen! I didn’t intend to kill him, I swear! I thought that..." Blake yelled in a pleading voice, but I cut him off halfway by striking him on the side of his head with my fist.

"You thought? YOU THOUGHT?! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT THE HELL YOU'VE JUST DONE, YOU BASTARD?! MY COUSIN, YOUR OWN BROTHER, IS DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU! AND FOR WHAT?! JUST BECAUSE YOU WANTED TO PULL A FUCKING PRANK?!" I shouted angrily at the top of my voice.

Blake was now breaking down uncontrollably and whimpering the words, "I... I didn't... didn't... I'm sorry!".

I was so tempted to just beat Blake up to a pulp for what he had just done. Because of his prank, my favorite cousin was now dead. Blake had killed his own little brother, and for what?! Just to prove that he was top dog in the family? If Blake had any brains at all, and if he was truly sorry like he said, he would stopped this madness. However, it was too late now; Dan was dead.

I glared down at Blake as I pulled out my cellphone and said, "If there really is a Hell, and I'm pretty sure there is, your probably going there for this!".

I called my uncle and then the police and told them that I needed them down here immediately. Blake instantly took off running while still in tears and ran through the exit. I yelled at him to stop, but he just ignored me and kept on running; not a big surprise at all. Once my Uncle arrived at the Xcelerator, he demanded to know what was going on and why I sounded so urgent, and that's when he saw me in tears along with Dan's body laying on the ground.

Uncle Todd then glanced over at the Xcelerator coaster and saw the vomit all over the hood area of the car and on the front seats, and that's when he began to panic and immediately demanded to know what happened. I told him everything about what Blake and his buddies had done and how I tried to stop them, but had been unable to since my leg had been briefly injured when they shoved me down the exit stairs.

The moment I was done telling him what happened, Uncle Todd reacted in a way I'll never forget. His face turned pale as a sheep's wool and he fell to his knees in front of Dan's lifeless body, completely silent, not moving at all. He stayed this way until the police arrived with paramedics ten minutes later, then he completely broke down in tears of both sorrow and anger. The officers questioned me about what went down as the EMT's loaded Dan's body into a body bag after declaring him Dead On Arrival, then they loaded him into the ambulance. I explained everything to the officers about what Blake and his two friends did in full detail, then they asked me if I knew where they might have run off to.

I told them that I had no idea and that's when one of the other officers asked Uncle Todd if they could view the security camera footages from all around the park in order to find out where Blake and his buddies ran off to. Through his tears, he agreed and the officers headed over to the park security office where they viewed the camera footage from all the security cameras around the park, including the ones at the Xcelerator coaster bay. The officers requested to my Uncle that they first view the footage from the Xecelerator coaster as they would need it as evidence to prove that my story was true. Uncle Todd agreed and said that he too wanted to see exactly what had happened for himself, but I really didn't want to relive that horrid moment again, yet I knew it was necessary in order for the officers to build a case against Blake and his two friends.

I was forced to watch the whole nightmare repeat itself on the camera screen as the cops played back the footage, starting from right before I arrived at the Xcelerator. The footage showed Blake dragging Dan up the steps leading into the Xecelerator coaster bay with Sid and Andrew following behind them, then they began yelling at Dan to get inside the front Chevy Bel Air coaster car, berating him and calling him a coward for not wanting to stand up to his qoute on quote "fears". Dan pleaded for them to stop and said that he couldn't because of his health problems regarding his anxiety, but Blake got angry and started threatening to beat him with a crowbar if he refused. It was around that point where I arrived at the coaster and saw what Blake and his friends were doing, and the rest is history as you know.

I was absolutely shocked from what I saw. I had already known that Blake, Sid, and Andrew had already forced Dan up onto the ride against his will, but I had no idea that they had made threats of such extreme hostility towards him, and neither did Uncle Todd. The police then checked the parking lot cameras and saw Blake and his buddies running out of the rear parking lot entrance next to the Ghost Rider coaster track, then splitting off in different directions. This was more than enough evidence for the police to build a strong case, so they copied the CCTV footage onto their police laptops to save for the court date yet to come. My Uncle Todd was still in a traumatic state from losing his youngest son, but through his tears, he said something that I'll never forget.

With an expression of pure hatred and rage, Uncle Todd said in his slightly deep voice, "I want you officers to do me a favor. I want you to find those murderous motherfucking monsters, and once you do, I want you to use those nightsticks and break every bone in their bodies for what they did to my son. And as for Blake, I want you to let him know when you find him and are done beating him that I'm officially disowning him! He's no longer my son!".

I never thought I'd hear my Uncle ever say something like that, but I knew from his time that he really meant what he said. The pressures between Blake and his parents had been building for years due to his rebellious and sometimes violent behavior, and this one incident had been the catalyst that opened a pandoras box that could never be closed. After the police assured him that they'd definitely do all they could to find Blake and his friends, then they called my aunt and my parents over to inform them of what happened.

As you can guess, my entire family was devastated when they heard that Dan had died from a severe anxiety attack caused by Blake's sick prank. Because of what had gone down at Xcelerator, the entire park was shut down for the remainder of the day while the police continued their investigation, and the Xcelerator was to be closed down until further notice. The police searched all around the park in an attempt to try and find Blake, but he was nowhere to be found, and neither were his two friends. I eventually returned home, completely devastated and traumatized by everything that Blake had caused. He had always been a rebellious prankster and a big jerk towards Dan, but I never thought he'd ever go this far and do something so cruel towards his own brother.

I knew for a fact that none of this was my fault since I had tried to stand up for him, yet my Uncle had yelled at me, demanding to know why I didn't notify him about the incident before Blake had forced Dan onto Xcelerator. He then berated me, saying that if I had actually bothered to notify him about the situation, Dan might still be alive. I know that my Uncle was angry and devastated by the loss of his son and he wasn't intentionally trying to make me feel useless, but I knew that he was right. I had been outnumbered three to one, and if I had actually bothered to call Uncle Todd over to Xcelerator before approaching Blake and his two buddies, I could have possibly stopped this tragedy from happening; it was too late now.

The police did eventually find out where Sid and Andrew had been hiding after several hours of searching the city. The two of them had tried to hide in an empty house that had been vacant for about a month, but several witnesses ratted them out to the cops and they were caught and arrested as accomplices to murder. As for Blake, he never returned home, and the police couldn't find him. However, after Sid and Andrew were pressed on by the police inside the interrogation room at the Anaheim Police Station, they eventually gave up his location after being threatened with life in prison sentences for aiding a criminal if they didn't comply and reveal Blake's location. Turns out, Blake had hidden in a large junkyard and slept there overnight in dirty old abandoned RV trailer to try and avoid the police, but the cops eventually found him and arrested him for the murder of his little brother; Blake surprisingly put up no fight at all and just surrendered calmly.

A week later, their court trials came and I went to the courthouse with my Uncle and family to testify against Blake and his friends for what he had done. I explained everything that had happened to the judge in full detail and the CCTV footage from the Xcelerator coaster bay was shown to the entire courtroom by the prosecutor. Various people gasped and exclaimed in shock when they saw and heard everything on that footage, and my Uncle simply glared at Blake with pure hatred in his eyes. My aunt was in tears seeing all of this, and my parents looked at him with absolute disgust on their faces.

However, that wasn't even the worst of it. After the CCTV footage was shown, the prosecutor revealed Dan's autopsy report from the medical examiner to the entire courtroom, and what we all heard was horrifying. Up until that point, everyone had believed that Dan had died because of a severe anxiety attack, but that unfortunately wasn't the only reason. Turns out that after doing several X-rays on Dan along with a thorough autopsy, the medical examiner discovered a large amount of vomit inside of Dan's lungs which had been caused by the immense G-forces of the Xcelerator coaster. At some point after the coaster was launched from the coaster bay, Dan had begun vomiting from severe shock and terror, but because the coaster was moving at such high speeds, the G-forces had forced the vomit back down into his throat.

In other words, Dan had not died right away from having a severe anxiety attack; he had also choked slowly to death on his own vomit. The medical examiner determined through his examination of Dan that it took at least thirty seconds for him to die from both a severe anxiety attack and choking on his own vomit. This horrible realization threw me and my entire family into complete despair, knowing that poor Dan had died a slow and painful death, but Blake and his friends appeared to have completely lost their sanity after finding this out.

The judge eventually questioned Blake, Sid, and Andrew about their prank and why they did it knowing full well about Dan's anxiety disorder. Blake of course tried to make excuse's and said that although he knew about Dan's condition, he thought that Dan might have had no problem riding a coaster. This statement of course outraged my Uncle who yelled at Blake, saying that what he was saying was complete dog shit and that he knew Dan would never survive going on a coaster that fast. The judge silenced him and then questioned Sid and Andrew about why they went through with Blake's prank, and they said the most infuriating thing that any accomplice in trial would say.

"We were just following orders. Blake's our friend, and we didn't want to lose him if we refused to assist him with his prank. We never intended to hurt Dan" Sid had said.

Andrew also agreed with Sid and this sent my entire family into an enraged frenzy, shouting every horrid word in the book at the two of them for actually believing something so preposterous. It took almost a full minute for the judge to get the courtroom back in order, but once he did, he lectured Sid and Andrew about how what the said was one of the oldest excuses in the book.

"It doesn't matter at all weather you did what you did just because you were following "orders". Your basically saying that you had no choice but to do it so that you two wouldn't lose your best friend, and there is absolutely no excuse for that whatsoever. If you really had no intention of hurting Dan, you would have walked away, or at the very least, you should have stopped Blake before he could do anymore damage" the judge lectured.

He then turned to Blake and said, "And as for you, Blake. Words can't even begin to describe how serious this is. You said it in your own words that you knew that Dan had an anxiety disorder, so tell me why you honestly thought Dan would survive going on a coaster that travels at very high speed like Xcelerator. Tell me why you even forced your own brother into that coaster to begin with".

Blake was silent for over a minute, before saying in apologetic manner, "It... It was only supposed to be a prank".

The judge told him that what he did was no prank, but rather it was an act of cruelty. The audio from the CCTV footage inside the Xcelerator coaster bay had captured everything that Blake and his friends had said to Dan. From what he had said, it was clear that Blake had done what he had done out of jealousy and all because he wanted to be the center of attention. The judge also knew that Blake had always been a problem child to my Aunt and Uncle since they had been questioned about him earlier, and they gave the judge the full history of Blake's cruel behavior.

After seeing and hearing all this evidence, the judge ordered the jury to prepare a verdict for Blake, Sid, and Andrew. About ten minutes later after the trial had been temporarily adjourned, the verdicts were prepared and everyone came back into the courtroom; all three of them had been found guilty. Because Blake was seventeen years old, the court declared that he be judged and convicted as an adult, and the same went for Sid and Andrew. Due to the fact that Blake knew all along about Dan's condition and that he couldn't ride high speed rides and because of everything he had berated Dan for as shown in the CCTV audio footage, what he did couldn't be considered a prank; it was murder in the courts eyes.

Because Blake had been the mastermind behind Dan's murder, he was sentenced to life imprisonment without bale or parole. As for Sid and Andrew, they were given thirty-five years in prison for being accomplices to murder without any possibility of parole. Afterwards, they were escorted out of the courtroom by several cops where the three of them were taken to a prisoner transport bus which would take them to prison to begin their sentences. A week later after Dan’s funeral, his body was cremated and his ashes were given to my aunt and uncle, who at this point had lost all sense of happiness. My aunt fell into deep depression and started using anti-depressants to try and keep herself sane, and as for my Uncle, he ended up losing his job as the manager to Knott’s Berry Farm due to extreme depression and cutting days and days of work.

As Uncle Todd had promised, he disowned Blake the moment his prison sentence began and vowed never to see or speak to him ever again, and my Aunt did the same as well. As for me, there was no way I could continue working at Knott’s after what had happened, let alone go near Xcelerator. I ended up quitting my job there and instead began working part time at a Chick-Fil-A to try and put this horrible tragedy behind me, but that proved almost impossible. I ended up falling into depression and started drinking to try and ease my emotional pain. Blake had not only ruined my life, but he had ruined the lives of everyone else who had known Dan, and he had forever destroyed my attachment to Knott’s Berry Farm and the Xcelerator.

I can never go back there since it is the very place where my favorite cousin was murdered, let alone ride the Xcelerator again. Its been exactly ten years since all of this happened, but it still seems like it all happened yesterday. If your wondering about Blake and his buddies, then your in for some unsettling news. Sid and Andrew are currently still serving time for their crimes, but they aren’t doing well at all. From what I heard from my aunt, who has since divorced my uncle since he’s become heavily abusive towards her due to extreme alcohol and drug addiction, Sid and Andrew have ended up hospitalized at least twice due to being attacked by several bloodthirty, savage inmates who had once been members of an extremely dangerous criminal gang consisting of cannibals, rapists, and cop killers.

They have since then been transferred to different prison cells because of this. As for Blake, unfortunately, he didn’t survive his sentence. Approximately eight years ago in 2011, my aunt and uncle got a disturbing phone call from the prison where Blake had been serving his sentence and were told that he had been found dead in his prison cell by his cell mate. The guilt that had been building up inside of him each year was too much for Blake to bear any longer, so he ended up committing suicide by hanging himself in his cell with a makeshift noose made from his bedsheets. Blake had left a suicide note saying that he was sorry for what he had done to Dan and that he hoped that his death would give his parents relief, and of course, they were very relieved. I found this to be quite cruel and heartless, but I couldn’t exactly blame them. Blake’s parents had been thrown into horrible depression due to losing Dan, and it had been Blake’s fault, so it was only natural that they’d find some relief knowing that the one who had killed their son was dead.

I didn’t care that much about Blake’s death at first since he had been the one behind the murder of my cousin, but overtime, I began to feel a bit of sympathy for him each passing year. While Blake had always been a problem child, I don’t believe that he intentionally wanted to kill Dan, yet that was still no excuse for doing what he did. Blake knew about Dan’s illness, and so did Sid and Andrew, yet they had completely ignored it simply because they wanted to pull a nasty prank on him. I know for a fact that they had only been teenagers back then, and teens often do very reckless things. However, even at that age, I knew they were old enough to understand that they had taken their prank way too far.

As the years passed after Blake committed suicide, my aunt and uncle’s relationship got worse and worse, and completely fell apart in 2015 after my uncle started doing drugs and alcohol which made him physically abusive towards my aunt. And as I mentioned earlier, she ended up divorcing him and moved in with my parents where she is still trying to recover from the loss of her youngest son; she never forgave Blake for taking Dan from her. My parents have put Dan’s death behind them and are currently helping my aunt, but my Uncle is now in prison as I write this after being caught with multiple illegal drugs by an undercover cop on the deep web disguised as a drug dealer.

I still miss Dan very much to this day, but have since put it behind me, which is what Dan would have wanted. That’s pretty much my whole story. Before I go though, I do have a few things to say. If you see someone being bullied and are outnumbered like I was, don’t try to stop it on your own, get help. If I had actually decided to call for help before confronting Blake and his friends, I might have been able to prevent Dan’s death. While standing up for another person is in fact the right thing to do, sometimes you can’t do it alone if your outnumbered. If I had bothered to take that into consideration, history may have gone differently, and perhaps better.

Dan, if your watching me from above, I hope that you’ll forgive me for not being able to save you. You didn’t deserve to die at such a young age, and I was a fool to try and stop Blake and his friends alone, outnumbered and outmatched. I hope we meet again in the afterlife, and please continue to watch over me and my family for as long as we live.