Hi there. My name's Max, and you've probably heard of me and my twin sister, Liz. We run one of the big YouTube theme park channels. If you're into coasters and theme rides, I'll bet you've watched one of our videos. Max and Liz aren't our real names, of course - because the story I'm relaying here is one that we could never make into a video.
We've been into parks for as long as we've been alive - our parents always took us on vacation to the big resorts in Florida, and we did road trips cross-country to visit some of the less internationally famous (and less crowded!) places. Those were my favorite - less line, more ride. We started our channel a few years back, at first just filming our family vacations, and then once we realized how popular the videos were, it became a genuine source of income for us, and then for the family. You can make good money in this niche. We started going to parks nearly every weekend, getting more and more subscribers, until it was clear that this would be our full time job when we left school.
But there was always one park that remained off our family todo list. A park you probably
haven't
heard of, and certainly one that our parents kept us shielded from for as long as they could. Naturally we heard about it anyway through our network of semi-professional tourists, and although we dismissed it as a rumor at first, we read enough online to convince ourselves it was a real place, despite no photographs or videos of it existing. It was alleged to be fantastically expensive, and invitation-only. In our minds, we built it up as something mythical, something magical - a forbidden fruit that seemed all the juicier for its inaccessibility.
Liz and I had turned 18 a few months back. We were seasoned independent travellers already. I was packing in my room, preparing for a trip out to Ohio to ride a new gigacoaster when Liz burst into my room holding something in her hand, offering it to me.
"Hey, what's that?" I asked.
"Just read it," she said, staring at me.
She handed me a handwritten envelope that had been torn open. It was addressed to us both.
"How come you opened it? It's to both of us!" I protested mildly.
"Just. Read. It." she repeated.
We didn't get a lot of mail. We
never
got handwritten mail.
Inside was a short note:
Max, Liz,
It's on your dime, but I got you invites.
Jake & Elle
My jaw nearly dropped.
"Is this what I think it is?" I asked.
"Would you keep reading already!" said Liz.
There was nothing else on the note, but alongside was a gold-trimmed ticket for Jizzneyland, Nevada.
I was speechless. I held the ticket up to the light, possibly to try to see if it were fake, but actually just stunned and still processing.
"This is for me? It's a couples ticket. There's no way Debbie would be into this," I said.
"It's addressed to
us
, Max," replied Liz.
I was confused, and I could tell that Liz could tell.
"But we're not a couple? Is this a prank from Jake?" I said.
"It's a
gift
from Jake, you idiot! An incredible gift! He must be repaying us for the guest segment we did with him - his engagement stats are way up since then," she explained. "He and Elle must have been! They never mentioned that!"
Jake and Elle were a couple of years older than us, and we had helped them break into the streaming market. A ticket to Jizzneyland was a fine gift - a more than adequate repayment for the favor we had done them.
"Well there's no way I can take Debbie. She's a nice girl, and we're not even properly dating yet. I'm not even sure she's looking to date!" I said. "And you're not even dating anyone at all at the moment. Why couldn't they have got us two singles tickets?"
"They don't do singles tickets, doofus," Liz explained. "They only let in guests as pairs. Otherwise it would just be a sausage party."
"I guess we just hold onto it until one of us is going steady and then we fight each other for it?" I offered.
Liz and I had always got on well. As twins, we were closer than regular brothers and sisters. We fought all the time, but mostly playfully. Now as grown adults, and business partners too, we were closer than ever. Despite this, we
never
talked about sex. It just felt... weird. Even though it hadn't escaped my notice that Liz had blossomed into a lithe, gorgeous young woman. No degree of sisterliness could override my intrinsic male instinct to notice her firm, pert breasts and tight jeans. Just talking about these tickets was already a more sexually-charged conversation than we had
ever
had.
"Check again," she said.
I looked at the small print on the ticket.
Shit
. It was valid in June only, and it was already the 27th.
"Why did he give us a nearly-expired ticket. Is he trolling us?" I asked in exasperation.
"
All
the invitation tickets are strictly time limited," she said. "They need to keep things fresh and fluid... I guess."
Wait, had she been researching this?
"You seem to know a lot about this?" I quizzed.
"Of course I do! Don't you realize what this is? It's the missing piece of the puzzle! The one park we could never visit! This is our chance to finally tick it off the list!" she said excitedly. "I've been researching this place for
years
, Max!"
Wow.
Years?
She only had her first boyfriend a few months ago!
"What are you suggesting, Liz?" I asked, still genuinely confused.