I wrote this last semester with the instructions to write about the most life changing moment in my life. When it was all said and done, my professor told me it was one of the most moving essays they read. Tell me what you think, and enjoy.
"Collision Decision"
“Hey Alex, you all ready to go man?”
“Yeah sure; who’s going in my car?”
“Derek I think.”
It was if death had spun the bottle to pick its next victim.
“All right, well I’ll see you guys there; Derek, you ready to go?”
“Yeah, let’s do this.”
His words were the bottle coming to a rest. We were heading to a car modification garage about 15 miles due south of where we were at the time. It was Bryan, Daniel, Nathaniel, Derek, and me. We took three separate cars down for the trip, thinking we’d come back with all three; but we were wrong. We didn’t even come back with all of ourselves.
Derek and I jumped into my silver 2001 Acura Integra. This car didn’t have a single scratch on its exterior from front to back bumper. It was as immaculate as a newly-born child. I took care for my car, unlike most of my friends back then, who just threw their unwanted or forgotten objects into the abyss also known as the trunk. My neatly-stitched cloth seats were kept vacuumed, never revealing a crumb onto its smooth black and blue colored surface. My gloss paint was completely untouched, always glistening through the sunbeams like the calm waters of Aruba. This car was my child, and I always looked after it.
“Let’s bump some beats, man,” Derek said to me. Back then, Derek’s most prized possession in life was the music he listened to. Without his music, he would be like a sweet old grandma who couldn’t even bake a single cookie. The one thing Derek loved with so much enthusiasm would be quite suddenly the last thing he’d hear or even think about.
I still remember to this day the exact song I chose while whipping through traffic down the highway. We played “(I Would Walk) 500 Miles” by the Proclaimers. We played the song so contently, we just couldn’t stop singing and being obnoxious to all those we passed by in their cars. I kept the pace in my car going down highway 15 at a constant speed around 60-70 mph. I had no respect for other’s space and safety on the road and completely ignored other drivers‘ concerned expressions as I cut them off. Little did I know that my reckless decisions would ultimately alter all the ones I made in the future.
As I glanced over to Derek for a moment, I could see Bryan’s 1989 Honda CR-X appear from the distance. Then came Bryan’s face, and then I saw his arm out the window. He motioned a signal for a race to take place between him and me. My consent on the race was just the final stamp of approval to end one of my greatest friend’s life. We slowed down to an average of 30 mph since we were so far ahead of all the cars. As soon as I gave the go-ahead to Bryan, he signaled his horn, beeping three times for a substitute of a start light. The first honk went off. My head said to me, “Don’t do it Alex.” The second rang through my ears like a Sunday Mass bell. “It’s not worth it.” The third bell rang.
I slammed on the gas pedal like it was a threatening bug at my feet. Our wheels chirped, and our clutches snapped into place. I banged through third gear, then fourth. Hitting 50 mph, I listened to the sound of my roaring B18 engine. My engine screamed at me: “Don’t do it; it’s just not worth the pain.” I kept pounding the gears, hitting 60 mph. 70 mph. When I threw it into 5th gear and waved goodbye to Bryan as I left him in the distance but was just approaching the toughest obstacle in my life.
We were approaching the turn off onto a new highway that would lead us to our destination. To most of us, the destination was the car garage, but to Derek it was the end of the line. I took the turn off doing 70 mph, continuing to accelerate. I was now prominently far ahead of the rest of my friends. As the right angled turn off came to a straight, I began to hit 80 mph. I kept my speed, but only for a short amount of time. For here, my life would change forever.
I turned and looked back behind me for Bryan but could see nothing. I looked all around me and saw no one but myself on the highway. So against all my judgment, I forcefully cut the wheel to the right with all my might, trying to mentally declare myself king of the road by swerving around and around. I thought the feeling of that power would be so great in my mind, but it had the most opposite affect anyone could have ever dreamed of.
The car’s suspension lost control of its grip on the asphalt, sending Derek and I into a endless cycle of spins and the almost near rolling of the entire car. As we spun and spun for what seemed like hours to my mind, I was put into a state of something beyond shock. To this day I can’t really describe what the feeling was exactly like. It felt somewhat like I was just in a dream and none of this was real as we kept spinning through time in this car. As my altered state finally came to a halt, I looked up through the windshield as I saw the car was hurtling at 80mph on a course to a solid one foot thick concrete jersey wall positioned on the side of the highway.
To be quite honest, I thought we were both destined to die right there into that wall. Most people would say I just got lucky, but it’s the unluckiest thing to ever happen to me. We weren’t both going to die. Death was pointing out Derek.
The front passenger side was the first to hit the wall. Of course, since it was the first, it was the hardest impact. Then the backside of the car came right after, ultimately putting the car lined up directly next to the wall. The airbags deployed, burning the hairs off my forearms due to the rapid release. I paused for a moment just starring at my lap trying to recuperate and understand what just happened.
After I was done with my self-examination, I peered up to see if Derek was all right. What I saw of Derek at that moment in time is something I never want to witness again or will ever forget till the day I die. I’m not going to describe what I really did see in that passengers seat of that battered Integra all those years ago. It’s just not something I could really ever or even want to explain to anyone.
When my friends finally caught up to the scene, they could tell on my face what had happened. They just knew from my expression what had gone on in that matter of five minutes that I lost visual contact with them. Fortunately, there was a paramedic vehicle driving down that highway that came nearly a couple of minutes after the crash. They took care of the accident and contacted parents.
On the day of July 18th, 2007, I lost one of my best friends to my own poor decision making. I took the choice to act upon my selfish needs and, in the process, ended another’s life. I will never forget the day I made those awful choices, and I will also never forgive myself. Everyday I get into a car, talk with my friends, or even here the name Derek; I shut down inside for a moment and remember what happened that day I made that collision decision.
It was good.
You were driving like a jackass and something bad happened.
Was really sad because the song Move Along came on my iPod while I was reading :'(
I'm so sorry.
It's sad that you really had to find it out the hard way, but it was written nicely. It was a good read.
tl dr
But it was probably great
it's a bit too long.
That's actually really good (the writing). I felt slightly moved.
It sucks , go and do it again .
:frown:
That was sad and i started to cry a little
Thanks guys, and fuck you Satansick.
Well-written. Sorry you had to learn things the hard way, but I'm glad it did change your life. Too many people would have been arrogant and stupid enough to continue recklessly endangering those around them.
Hard lessons make impressions.
You really should have slowed down at the end, turning hard was a stupid idea.
Writing-wise, I think you used way too much obvious foreshadowing, it made it sound corny and overly dramatic.
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