Before getting into my car this evening, I was already not sure how to feel about the night. Luckily, I put on some loud, screeching tunes and it pumped me up. The only thing that is going to get me through this month is adrenaline. And the camaraderie. And maybe energy drinks (Yerba Mate, to be exact).
I arrived a little early tonight (early for hayride folks) to help my buddy try to find his phone, which he lost the night before; it just disappeared while in his hat that was tucked away into a corner. Strange things happen in these woods and this will certainly not be the last time. But anyways, no luck on the phone.
The night began like any other. Fine and fun! No issues with any patrons, nor any issues with myself or my co-monsters. But then my bracelet broke. It was a bracelet a friend had made for me with my name and colorful beads. I had cherished it! But the wagon had gotten a hold of it and given it no mercy. The beads fell all over and I tried to regain whatever I could, but it will never be the same again. It upset me for the next few wagons coming through. I knew that this night was going to be a tough one. Just like that bracelet, the night would tear me to shreds when it was done with me.
Even with an exhausting night ahead of me, I did not let up. I hold myself at a very high level with almost everything I do. Most of the time, it isn't the smartest thing to do because I will have such high expectations that I will not even bother trying, for it is too much. However, with this gig, I do not like to let up at anytime. People come from far and far to see why this attraction is the best in the nation! And I don't want them to have a bad time, so therefore, I attempt to make sure at least a few folks have a good time on each wagon. If I'm not getting any screams, I definitely want some laughter, and I've gotten pretty good at that especially with my twangy voice and sassy comments.
I will admit though, it did get to be a lot to handle. And I must take measures next time to take better care of myself. It was especially a little much when we first looked at the time and it was only 8:30PM. Tickets stop selling at 10:30PM on a Saturday night. So we still had 2 hours plus the hours of the remaining customers, which turned out to be about an hour and a half. And we were already feeling it. It got to the point where any energy we had left was saved and used for the wagons. After a wagon came through, Colin and I would immediately collapse back in our scene after skipping and hollering just a few seconds before.
Besides the fatigue of the dragging night, there were some strange happenings. At one point, a lady with a hooded sweatshirt ran through our scene, but she ran from the end of our scene through to the beginning. I was too tired to holler out to her, but I knew something wasn't right. She ran through our scene and out of my field of vision, so I ran over to Colin to ask where she went. Colin told me she just ran straight into the woods, not the hayride trail. And she never came back. It was very odd, it was as if we had seen a ghost!
At the end of the night, every wagon that came through was just another test of our well-being; our physical state and our mental state. Whenever we would hear chainsaws, we would sigh in unison, out of frustration and exhaustion. The chainsaws are used by actors in a scene that is about 2 or 3 scenes ahead of ours. Sooner than later though, that last wagon came through (which we actually thought was the pick-up the actor wagon which made for a very awkward scare) and the night was over.
Well, not entirely, I still had to drive back to Philly that night. And decided to stop by the local bar for a relaxing conclusion to the chaotic night. And to top it all off, I slept with my make-up on, only to wake up 2 hours later to see a lot of dried "blood" on my sheets and pillow. Great. Not.
(End of 4th evening).
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