Young writers in Action: Driving blind

DRIVING BLIND by Analia, 10, New York, USA

Nothing. Just grey. Panic took control of me. Why did we have to drive at night? What if we were driving off a cliff? I was close to tears on the high mountain. My mum tried to put on a reassuring smile but it was clearly fake. I squeezed her hand so tightly it hurt for me as well. My sister was the navigator and my dad was the driver. Endless grey consumed us. The lights of the cars behind us shone but there were none ahead to guide us. We had to brake several times before the cars behind us got impatient. They weaved left and right, then passed us. They cruised ahead then halted as they became blind. I felt like I was in a horror show and there was no exit, no escape to leave. As the other cars regained their speed by turning on “fog lights” that we didn’t have, we almost lost the cars. That’s when the arguing began.

My sister thought it was best to increase speed so we didn’t lose our guiding light. I agreed with my mum, though, who thought it was risky to increase speed driving when we can’t see anything. My dad agreed with my sister so he started speeding up to catch up. I squeezed my mum’s hand and started to hyperventilate.  I couldn’t calm down. With my free hand, I put my hand on my heart and uneasily listened to the rapid beating.

As if the situation couldn’t get any worse, my sister announced, “There’s a sharp turn coming up.”

The large yellow signs with the midnight-coloured left arrows were the only help for us. Again questions invaded my mind. How will we escape this? Will we lose the cars ahead? Just then the car in front of us disappeared. A new question formed inside my stressed head. Was it condensed in the fog or lost to something else ahead?

Sadly, my dad didn’t share my same worries so we continued, but found the car again in front of us. As we silently drove, I continued to hyperventilate until at one point, it let us go. Clear from up ahead. This didn’t comfort me though. There could be more of those areas. I was tired and wanted to close my eyes but the fear overtook me. Squeezing my mum’s hand while listening to my heartbeat I continued to look up ahead but didn’t see anything but roads, jungle, and no fog!

Analia is a frequent contributor to Alphabet Soup. You can read her earlier work here. To send us YOUR story, poem, artwork or book review, check out our submission guidelines.