Death's Face by Ryan McIntyre

My cousin, Michael, and I thought that it was a good idea to ripstick shirtless and barefoot. Ripsticking is hard to some, but that is only the case if you do not practice. A ripstick is like a two wheeled skateboard that looks like two ovals joined together by a bar. You stand with one foot on either oval and wiggle to move. In a way, ripsticking is like dancing on a skateboard. With that clarified... Michael is the same age as me, but not quite as tall. He does crazy things all the time, so the decision to ripstick was an easy one for him. It started out fine, since we were on a flat road. We suddenly came around a corner and found ourselves at the bottom of a steep hill. "Let's go up." Michael said. "Sure." I responded fearlessly. Progress was slow going up the hill, but we knew it would be worth it. When we got to the top, we stopped, only to look around at our surroundings and then at each other. The day was warm and sunny. It was mid-summer and there was not a cloud in the sky. The sides of the road were being overtaken by trees with deep green leaves. We processed what we were about to do. "You sure you want to do this?" Michael said jokingly. "Nah, I'm too scared." I replied sarcastically. We both shared a laugh before I stated "Let's do this!" Michael took off down the hill first, so we would not crash. He zoomed by houses and roared by empty parked cars. My turn. I stepped up onto my ripstick and started wiggling to get moving. I thought that if something went wrong, this could possibly be my last ride. Once I broke over the lip of the hill, I picked up speed rapidly. I swerved back and forth, trying to pretend that I was out of control. That did not last long. My ripstick wiggled and jostled on its own accord, and it took all of my focus and skills to regain my balance. I looked up to find Michael, and I spotted him on a flat between the upper part of the hill, of which we started, and the lower part of the hill. "Shall we proceed?" My cousin said comically. "Of course, my good sir." I replied, matching his tone of voice. We had slowed down quite a bit, so we had to wiggle through the flat stretch. After what felt like an hour, we finally reached the second drop. Once we broke over the lip, I noticed two things. One, this hill was steeper than the last. Two, my ripstick was faster than Michael's, which is probably due to the fact that his was made for tricks and mine was the original one. Mine was like the Grandfather of the family, big, fast, and old, and his was like the reckless teenager, slow and young, but rebellious. I noticed the latter as I zoomed passed Michael, heading for a certain doom. I looked at the foot of the hill and noticed a cul-de-sac. It would be my only chance. I would have to slow down in the mere 20ft that the dead end offered. It was possible, but it would be hard. The wind whipped past me like I was outside in a blizzard. My wheels made a click-clack sound as I went over the cracks in the black, hot pavement. The ripstick vibrated under my feet, making them feel like jello. I reached the flat part and waited until the last second to veer to the left, riding the curve of the side of the road. My speed decreased greatly, calming my racing heartbeat. My cousin crept to a stop right next to me. "Fun, eh?" Michael exclaimed, oblivious to my near death incident. He looked at my face. "You look like you have seen a ghost." He said, seriously. "If only you knew." I muttered under my breath. This is what always happens when I am with him; Michael has a crazy idea, I almost get hurt because of it, and he is oblivious to my near injury. This time, I "looked in the face of death and took its mask off." (She Will Lil' Wayne)