Personal Narrative

She sat there cold, motionless, waiting for me to make the first move. I was nervous, hundreds of possibilities and “what-ifs” spun around in my mind. Yet I didn’t know how if I had the will power to resist her temptation, she was all but begging for it. I walked nervously upstairs and got my keys. Once I was outside, I decided to go for it.

We had never been this close before. My parents had forbidden it, but I couldn’t stop myself. The chrome held still held the slightest glow even at night. The running horse on the grille seemed to come to life in this pale light. Her gunmetal gray paint screamed muscle car, but it held its own quiet elegance.

“My mom’s brand new Mustang, I’m not supposed to drive it. She just got it.” I said to myself. “What if I wreck it?”

“Fifteen minutes won’t hurt anything, they’ll never know” I thought, picturing a miniature devil and angel, one over each shoulder whispering thoughts into my ear to try and sway me. I took a step forward. Then another and without thinking I opened the door.

“The devil must have won” I thought as I sat down in the soft leather seats and shut the door.

My palms sweaty, I inserted the key, I paused a moment, then firmly, but gently turned it. The engine came alive with a low growl. Anxious, but excited I slowly rolled out of the driveway. Here I stopped taking everything in, and remembered to turn on the headlights before I took off into the night. Before I knew it I was free, the thoughts and worries that had held me down before were now distant memories in my rear view mirror. Every man has had the dream of driving away in a fast car with a beautiful woman, and I had it. Well I had half of it, and for that instant I was fine with that.

I took the car down to what my friends and I called “The Strip”, it was Highway 99 in Hazel Dell. A lot of cars could be seen down here at any time of day. The bright lights and neon signs lit the road in front of me, and the sights of other cars around me kept me from feeling isolated. But I drove down here with an objective, I drove here with the tiniest sliver of hope; I would pull up to a stop light and in the car next to me would be an ex girlfriend of mine or any girl who ever turned me down for a date. Hoping they would look over and see me in this car and instantly jump out in and fall deeply and madly in love with me, and like in everyman’s dream we would drive off into the night together. I drove around for 15 minutes; I didn’t see anyone I knew, let alone anyone at all. Disappointed and feeling foolish for dreaming my car would attract flocks gorgeous women, even at this time of night, I drove on. I followed the road to the outskirts by the lake, here the asphalt was long, flat, and straight for miles. I surveyed that land around me, like the road it was flat for miles in all directions with patches of fog obscuring my view. I pulled over and shut off the lights. The moon eerily lit the road in front of me. It taunted me, it was calling me out. I knew what I had to do.

Turning the lights back on and rolling the windows down, I pulled back onto the road. I gripped the steering wheel tightly in my left hand and the shifter even tighter in my right hand. I checked everything, seatbelt, lights, adjusted the steering wheel and my seat, and then turned my eyes to the road. I took in a deep breath, the cold night air was refreshing.

“Alright,” I thought. “Let’s go.” My foot thrust the pedal to the floor, with a squeal of the tires and a roar from the engine I was gone. The chill of the cold air blowing through the open windows was warmed by the adrenaline flowing through my veins. I was worked the pedals