[ WP ] Woman works at an amusement park to test whether or not the rides are enjoyable . She slowly becomes desensitized to fun .

Julie sighed as she cruised down the drop on *Kingda Ka* going 180 mph. 
 The man who sat next to Julie was screaming at the top of his lungs louder than her colic son had the first week they had him. After the drop, she noted the mans horrified expression gradually morphed into a smile and his screams turned to laughs. Someone was yelling `` Woohoo'' from a seat behind her over and over again. 
 Julie was annoyed at the intense volume of these particular riders. It seemed even at the mellow points of the ride someone was screaming loudly. She stared straight ahead and tried tuning out the screams. 
 As the ride slowed to a stop, Julie listened to the other passengers. 
 `` THAT WAS AWESOME!'' A teenage girl said to her friend. 
 `` Let's get back in line!'' Another teen said. 
 From the sounds of everyone around her, Julie noted that the ride was a success. 
 The man sitting next to Julie turned to her, `` Woah, that was crazy!'' He said with a genuine throaty laugh, clearly still shaken up from the ride. `` You did n't even seem scared'' He said to her. 
 `` Yeah, well, it's my job to ride the rides. I make sure they're enjoyable to our customers.'' 
 `` That's awesome! You must have the most fun job in the world!'' 
 Julie gave a fake chuckle and nodded her head. As she got up from the ride, she came to the realization that she had n't thought her job was `` fun'' in years. She used to love going to work. Each day was filled with excitement, traveling to different parks to ride the fastest, scariest, and biggest coasters across the country, but now it seemed like a drag. In fact, everything seemed like a drag to Julie now. Julie could n't even remember the last time she had fun. 
 Julie walked across the park more aware than ever of the joy around her. Families smiled for pictures, friends ran to the next ride together, and couples held hands and walked close. Everyone in the park seemed like they were having a great time besides Julie. 
 Julie walked up to the first game booth she saw. 
 `` Hey lady, come right up, take a seat, join the next game. First place gets a big prize, second place gets a prize from that wall. Test your luck.'' 
 Julie took a seat in front of one of the water guns labeled 11 and waited. She positioned her gun directly in front of the target. Once almost every seat was filled the announcer started the count down. 
 `` 5... 4....3....2....SPRAY!'' 
 Julies pulled the trigger and immediately made contact with the bulls-eye. Julie heard other contestants laughing, but she only focused on the target. The water started to fill up her tube fast, and not long after the game started, Julie's bell went off. 
 `` Look's like we have a winner folks, congratulations number 11. Who will place second?'' 
 Before anyone placed next, Julie got up and walked away. 
 When Julie was playing, she felt nothing. As Julie came close to filling up her tube, she felt nothing. And as Julie was announced as the winner, she felt nothing. The past few years of her life have been filled with a whole lot of nothing. 
 Julie started walking faster and faster, pushing into people as she struggled to make it out of the park. A sea of wide stretched smiles filled her vision forcing her to look to the ground to escape them. She started sweating as she struggled to tune everything out but the background laughter seemed to be mocking her. She caught sight of the exit but was bombarded with large groups of people blocking her way without a care in the world. Julie slowly maneuvered through with an increasing ache in her heart as she stared at people she had nothing in common with. Every person there felt something she was numb to, something she wanted to experience again but did n't know how. 
 

