The Day My Life Flipped

Skirt! Skirt! BANG! That was all I heard as I walked into my room. I found my friend Quinn sitting on the bed watching car crash compilations on YouTube. My other friends Terell, Javonte, and I sat down to join him watching these videos. Five minutes after watching the idiodic driver compilations, I got a text on my phone. It was my friend Isaac letting us know he got off work and he was ready to be picked up. My car was in the shop so this meant I would have to ask my mom to use her car to go get Isaac. She had already let me drive it multiple times that night so I had no clue if she would let me drive it again.

“Hey Mom is it ok if I take your car one last time to go get Isaac he just got off work and was asking if I can go get him”, I texted my mom.

“Yes, Trenton, that’s fine. Be safe and be back by midnight”, she replied.

As I got her text I went around the room asking everyone if they wanted to go with me to pick up Isaac. Only Quinn seemed interested in taking the trip, as Terrell and Javonte wanted to wait for two other friends who were planning to show up. I simply explained how we would be taking my mom’s 2009 G37, how the car was “fast”, and how Isaac did not live more than five minutes away from me. Terrell and Javonte immediately changed their minds and agreed to come with me and Quinn.

We left my house around 11:15 P.M. CST. The drive to Isaac’s was nothing out of the ordinary. We were going around 10 miles per hour over the speed limit, but I felt as if I had total control over the car. We quickly arrived at his house around 11:19 P.M, and Isaac jumped into the car full of energy. We immediately pulled out of his driveway and sped down the street. I felt the pedal touch the floorboard of the car. I was at full acceleration.

¨Bro, Slow down!” Isaac yelled at me.

¨Dude he is fine.” Terrell responded before I had a chance to.

As I reached the end of the street, adrenaline pumping, I had a craving to drive as fast as I had gone earlier. I instantly decided to take the long way home so I could speed again without worrying about getting a ticket on East Concord Road.

Pedal to the floor board, I made the same motion as I did on Isaac’s street. Speeding forward, I saw the glowing Quick Trip sign slowly disappear in the rear view mirror. Then the instant adrenaline rush hit. As the speedometer increased, so did the laughing in the car.

My full attention was on the road, and I could see a stop sign coming up, but it was still quite a good distance away. As we touched 100 miles per hour, the car left the ground but quickly found its way back onto the road. Then my muscle memory kicked in, and I started to slow down before reaching the stop sign.

“Run that sign” Terrell yelled from the back seat.

Without even thinking my foot slipped off the brake and jumped back to the accelerator. Going right past the stop sign, I realized I had to make a sharp turn. My hands quickly turned the wheel to try to keep the car inline with the road, but I overcorrected and we headed straight towards a house. I quickly turned the car the other direction in hopes of correcting the first mistake. However, the back of the car did not follow the front, and the car began to drift out of my control.

Skirt! Skirt! BANG! Those same sounds I heard from earlier that night watching the car compilations on YouTube were now in my own life. I got immediately punched in the face by two airbags and my vision went all white. My ears started ringing with a high frequency as I felt my body turning and flipping as if I was on a roller coaster. The car finally stopped and I had no clue where we landed.

¨Open the doors! We gotta get out of here!” someone in the back seat yelled as we struggled to get the door open due to the simple fact that the car was on its side.

¨Are we on fire?!¨ I yelled in response as the heat from the airbags felt like it was burning my skin.

Terrell thought quickly and kicked out the car’s sunroof so we could all escape this burning sensation. I was the last one out of the car and immediately walked across the street to check and make sure that everyone was okay. Within five minutes the police and other first responders were there. They instantly started with questions to figure out what was going on. The whole street was blocked off due to the accident. The tears and emotions instantly poured out as we all called our parents to inform them of what had happened. When our parents arrived their emotions were an understandable mix of anger at our idiotic decisions that night, and gratefulness that everyone in that car was all okay.

Within the next couple of days I took a lot of time to reflect on these quick turns of events. I quickly realized that one decision can affect your life and those around you. This completely changed the way I have looked at life ever since. I wake up every morning with the thought of how lucky I am to still be alive and how lucky I am for my friends to be healthy and still living after we were in a car that flipped four times. In a matter of seconds a slight amount of peer pressure and a will to be “cool” almost ended not only my life but every one of my friends in the car. I realize how every day is not promised for myself and those around me, so I have to make the most out of the time I’m given.