A Bad Dream

A Bad Dream

COMM/105

Ted Mierzwicki

August 20, 2005

Word Count 818

A Bad Dream

At 2:30 pm, I was walking out the entrance doors of Oxon Hill high school in Oxon Hill, MD. My friend Kim skipped school today to spend time with Shaun, her new boyfriend, so I had to walk home by myself. As I walked towards my house on Leyte Drive, I noticed a burgundy Mercedes that resembled my stepfathers' car, parked along the curb just a block away. As I was getting closer to the car, I could see a man in the driver seat with a Redskins baseball cap on his huge head just like the one my step dad wore everyday, reading a newspaper. When I got closer to the car, I realize that the man in the car was actually my step dad, Jeffrey. I went over to the car to say "hi", and he told me to "get in". Once I got in the car, he sped off and proceeded to tell me that he was on his way to get some barbeque chicken from "The Grill", and he needed to make a stop to get gas from the gas station on Livingston Rd, which was only five blocks away. I nonchalantly, strapped on my seatbelt and readjusted my seat, although I found it somewhat awkward that he was waiting in his car for me near the school. "Are you hungry?" he asked. "Yes, I want some chicken, cole slaw, and barbeque beans". "Tracy, when are we going out on a date without your mother?" he asked. I looked him as if he was crazy then I nervously said, "I don't know". "Let me ask you something, if an older guy came on to you, what would you do?" When he asked me that, he rubbed his hand on my thigh. My mind started speeding with mixed thoughts of anger, frustration, confusion, fear, betrayal, hatred, and violence. I checked the odometer to see how fast he was driving; it read 42mph. I noticed that my door was unlocked; so I placed my hand on the door, to get myself into position just in case I had to jump out the car while it was in motion. Just when I was about to answer his question, my alarm clock went off at 7:30 am. It was time for me to get up and get dressed for school. I sat straight up in my bed, wiped the sweat