All I could hear was the pounding of my heart and the screeching of the car tires as we swerved off the road. Our hands were shaking, her vision was fading in and out, and I kept thinking this shouldn’t be happening. 

It started the night before. My best friend and I were planning a sleepover movie night at her house, when we discovered a bar of chocolate under her bed. Not just regular chocolate, but a bar infused with 1000 mg of marijuana! Another friend must have left it there a week before. I had never heard of anything truly bad happening under the influence of weed, and it seemed harmless at the time. My friend consumed 1½ pieces, and we laughed it off. 

Later that night, however, she really regretted her decision.  It was messing with how she saw, spoke, and more. We figured the best way to deal with it was to just sleep it off. After what felt like hours of trying to get her to fall asleep, she slowly relaxed. 

The next morning, a shrill alarm reminded me I had to be home early. My friend agreed to drive me home, and other than being a little unsteady on her feet, everything seemed fine. I loaded up my overstuffed bags into the car and we set off down the neighborhood street. By the time we made it to the stop sign, her vision was blurry. Keeping her foot on the brake, she laid down her head for a minute to try and stop the dizziness. We should have turned back, but the fear of what my mom would say if I wasn’t home when I was supposed to be kept us going forward. She merged onto the street, and by the time we arrived at the red light only 200 feet away, her vision went completely black. She anxiously muttered that she couldn’t see if she was in the correct lane or where anything was. She laid down her head again for a few seconds and her vision returned, just long enough to get past the green light before her vision disappeared again. 

My hands were sweaty and shaking. My friend was trying to look for a place to pull over, but she couldn't see the road or anything. She could only hear. She heard the car swerve off the road a few times before she managed to somehow get it back on the road. 

We were about to pull into a safe parking lot, when she accidentally swerved off the road completely. We felt the car slamming us up and down as we went off the road into tall grass in a small ditch. My head was pounding and the tires were screeching as she tried to brake before it was too late. Her foot stopped the car as the wet ditch flung muddy water everywhere, and the bushes made a loud scraping sound against the paint of the car. She passed out for a second before she woke up, vision slightly returning, and pulled into a parking lot. We were still shaking and petrified about what just happened. She laid down, as much as she could in the small car, for a few seconds. A truck behind us saw everything and pulled around to talk to me. He yelled, “Get off the road. You could have killed someone, or yourself. Call your parents to come pick you up.” One last rev of his engine signaled him driving off.  I immediately called my parents, and they headed my way. Only a few minutes later, the police showed up. The officer checked through our windows and asked me about what had happened. He started to call an ambulance for my friend, before my parents arrived.  My parents informed the officer that they were taking us to urgent care, where my friend tested positive for marijuana. My parents’ arrival helped her narrowly avoid a DUI. 

I often think back on what happened. Almost every day I drive down that road and am reminded of everything that took place. Anytime I think about it, the memory completely consumes me, and it's like I’m taken back in time, living through it again. For months, you could still see the black tire marks going into the tall grassy ditch. We were only yards from hitting the metal guard rails. Only 9 feet away from likely killing ourselves. I still remember every detail. When I think about it, my hands start to shake, and my heartbeat rapidly increases, serving as a reminder of what could have happened.

This experience truly changed me. I learned that what seems like “harmless” choices, can have devastating effects. I will never ride again with someone under the influence, nor allow someone under the influence to drive. This one event changed not only my mindset, but my actions and my thoughts for a long time. It impacted me to want to help other people and educate others on what could happen. The wrong decision made in a moment can impact the rest of someone’s life and affect their future plans.  I want to become a nurse to support people in their worst moments, and educate patients on how one seemingly innocuous decision can mean the difference between life or death.