This is the first half !!
It's’ been three months. I’ll always remember that curved stretch of road. It holds my most terrifying memory.
Kayla, her name is. My best friend. I always think about what it would’ve been like if she weren’t in the passenger seat. We were so close. I miss being her friend. I want to talk to her again.
. . .
My alarm is so loud. I slam my right hand down on the snooze button and attempt to go back to sleep, no luck. Right as I start to doze off again, my brother, Elijah, bursts into my bedroom, right at the same time my alarm starts going off again. I press the stop button. He’s playing rock music when he comes to stand beside my bed. “Dad said to get up. We’re leaving in twenty minutes.” I sigh, stretch, and sit up. “Okay, get out.”
After fifteen minutes, I’m ready to leave. I make my way into the kitchen to get a slice of toast, hug my dad, and head out the door. “Bye, Dad,” I say to him with a mouthful of toast. “Love ya, Liv,” He says as I’m shutting the door.
I walk to Elijah’s navy blue car. When I open the passenger door, his friend, Jason shakes his head at me. I roll my eyes and open the backseat passenger side door. He starts driving before I get my seatbelt on.
When we reach the school, I get out as fast as possible, meeting Kayla at the front door. We greet each other and head to our lockers.
“So, I was thinking. Since you’re freshly licensed, why don't you take us for a drive? I know you’ve been nervous to start officially driving, but I know of this old road, where all our street-racing classmates like to go. It’s an easy drive honestly and it would be good practice for you. Plus, there are never any cops. You can drive as fast as you want.”
“Kayla…… I think that would be an awesome idea, I do, but what if we didn’t do that,” I ask. She sighs, “Don’t you think it would be fun?” I sigh this time, “Yeah. What time?” She jumps up and down several times, “I’ll text you,” she says as she branches away from me, walking into her algebra class room.
The entire school day went by in a blur. The last bell just rang, I’m right outside the front doors, sitting on the cement ledge next to the stairs. Elijah comes out three and a half minutes later, sits right next to me, and says, “C’mon dork. Let’s go.” prior to immediately hopping up and walking away. I follow suit.
At home, my dad asks us how school went. Elijah talks to him for a while, and I tell him it was a pretty boring day, and that I’ve got biology homework to do. He wishes me luck and I head upstairs to do it.
It's 4:30 p.m. I’m getting ready to go drive with Kayla at 5:00. She texts me ‘On your way ???’ I reply with ‘Yea’ and make my way to the front door. “Ah, ah, ah, not so fast. Where are you going?” My dad calls from the dining room. “I’m going to Kayla’s.” I respond. “Be safe. Have fun.” He says. I chuckle, “Those two don’t go hand-in-hand, Dad.” He laughs, “They better.” I laugh and close the door behind me.
When I pull up to Kayla’s house, she gets in the front passenger seat, and starts directing me.
Once we arrive at the 12-mile road, she says, “Well? Get to drivin’!” We both laugh, and I say, “Let’s admire the scenery, weirdo.”
The sky is a lavender color. There are a few large, translucent clouds. To our right, there’s lots of tall yellow-ish grass. Not a beautiful scene, but a calming one.
I start to drive. Slowly, if anything, but I’m driving. After a few minutes, I speed up. We’re going 64mph when Kayla tells me to go 80. I speed up as we near a curve in the road. I start turning and we see something yellow flash past us. I slow down, as we are both curious, and I make a U-turn.
When we get back to the yellow blur, we find out it was a suitcase. It’s got clothes spilled out of it, maybe someone dropped it on the run. We both make up crazy scenarios of how it got there. I start driving again, reaching higher speeds, albeit quicker than the first time.
Turns out, the road was a loop. We finish the loop fairly quickly, and Kayla bets me that we won’t be able to finish it sooner the second time around. I accept her challenge, and turn the radio louder.
We’re turning the curve when something comes out of nowhere, and, BAM! Right into the passenger side. My car spins and almost tips over, I’m screaming the entire time, but I don't hear Kayla.
