I remember it clear as day. It was Monday, June 25th, 2018, around 9 pm. My mom and I were driving back from my grandma's house, about 20 minutes away from mine. We were driving separately and I was behind her. I was about 5 minutes down the road, just listening to music, and singing along. It was "No Problem" by Chance the Rapper. Little did I know, there would be a problem in just a few seconds.
I had just gotten to the top of a small hill, when I saw a car driving on the wrong side of the road and coming straight at me, without showing any sign of slowing down. I immediately stopped singing, and my mind just knew what to do. I began slowing to a stop as quickly and safely as I could. My mind went blank, and I did not have any thoughts, just looking straight ahead, slowing down, looking at the oncoming car.
The driver in the other car tried to swerve at the very last second in an attempt to avoid a collision, but it wasn't soon enough. My car immediately came to a stop, and the other driver continued driving.
Screaming, with tears running down my face in disbelief, I tried to put the car in park. After a couple of tries, I got it in park. I wasn't touching the steering wheel, but the front wheels were turning left and right on their own. Glass was everywhere. The car was making all kinds of weird noises.
I called my grandma immediately and tried to stay as calm as I could. I told her what happened and she and my grandpa came right away, with my cousins. People that lived in the surrounding houses came running out in shock to see what happened. I was screaming, crying, and shaking in awe. The only words I could say were "oh my gosh". I could not get over the event that had just occurred. A few minutes later, my family was there, along with the cops, and the ambulance.
The paramedics pried open my door, got me out and took me to the hospital, for precautionary measures. It was while I was in the ambulance that we found out the other driver was drunk. My car was totaled but luckily, I came out completely fine, with just a couple scratches on me from the glass.
We finally got closure on the case, and never gave up on it, despite the constant pushing back of court dates from the offender. It has been almost 10 months, and I still get nightmares about it. This tragedy changed my life completely, and I am beyond thankful it didn't happen to anyone else, and that I didn't have any passengers in the car.
After seeing my life flash before my eyes, I learned to really live every day like it's your last, never go to bed mad, and be grateful for everything. If you take one thing from this, please NEVER drive drunk. There are so many other options because after all, life is priceless.
