Narrative Essay: A Cold January Night
Rachel M
Dr. M
ENGL 1301
30 September 2013
A Cold January Night
“COME ON! MOVE IT!” I screamed from inside my car. It was cold that afternoon, the kind of weather that you only see in January. As I sat in my car trying to stay warm, I could feel the cold, wet air penetrating down to my bones. I had just gotten off of a long, exhausting day of work and was ready for a hot bath and a nap. I was tired and all I wanted to do was get on 249 from Beltway 8 and go home. As usual, the five o’clock traffic was horrendous, with bumper to bumper cars overflowing with irritated commuters trying to get home. I was used to the daily grind by now but I was not prepared for what would happen as I was trying to weave around the traffic.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
The sound of my blinker was all I could hear as I turned my head to the left to see if I could switch lanes. I pushed my foot down on the gas pedal and picked up my speed to fifty miles an hour. I looked back at the car in front of me, I was frozen, unable to move at all and all I could think to myself was, “Oh Shit!” as I watched my car slam into the shimmering brake lights of the Mustang in front of me. I just had my very first car accident and it was my fault.
ERRRRRRK! The only sound I heard as I slammed on my brakes was the squealing of the brake pads and the smell of burning rubber, but it was too late, the damage was already done. My white Hyundai Sonata slammed violently into the back of the car in front of me. I can’t remember what happened next, all I remember is opening my eyes and being surrounded by a thick cloud of smoke as I tried to cough it out of my lungs. I had no idea where the smoke came from until it began to disappear and I saw my airbags had deployed. The smoke was actually dust from the airbags. That moment of confusion felt like hours, I had no idea what just happened or why my air bags deployed.
“Are you okay?!” the woman from the other car asked me worriedly.
“What happened?” I replied.
Dr. M
ENGL 1301
30 September 2013
A Cold January Night
“COME ON! MOVE IT!” I screamed from inside my car. It was cold that afternoon, the kind of weather that you only see in January. As I sat in my car trying to stay warm, I could feel the cold, wet air penetrating down to my bones. I had just gotten off of a long, exhausting day of work and was ready for a hot bath and a nap. I was tired and all I wanted to do was get on 249 from Beltway 8 and go home. As usual, the five o’clock traffic was horrendous, with bumper to bumper cars overflowing with irritated commuters trying to get home. I was used to the daily grind by now but I was not prepared for what would happen as I was trying to weave around the traffic.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
The sound of my blinker was all I could hear as I turned my head to the left to see if I could switch lanes. I pushed my foot down on the gas pedal and picked up my speed to fifty miles an hour. I looked back at the car in front of me, I was frozen, unable to move at all and all I could think to myself was, “Oh Shit!” as I watched my car slam into the shimmering brake lights of the Mustang in front of me. I just had my very first car accident and it was my fault.
ERRRRRRK! The only sound I heard as I slammed on my brakes was the squealing of the brake pads and the smell of burning rubber, but it was too late, the damage was already done. My white Hyundai Sonata slammed violently into the back of the car in front of me. I can’t remember what happened next, all I remember is opening my eyes and being surrounded by a thick cloud of smoke as I tried to cough it out of my lungs. I had no idea where the smoke came from until it began to disappear and I saw my airbags had deployed. The smoke was actually dust from the airbags. That moment of confusion felt like hours, I had no idea what just happened or why my air bags deployed.
“Are you okay?!” the woman from the other car asked me worriedly.
“What happened?” I replied.