Get On The Left Lane, Chris Chattergoon

“Get on the left lane...On the left lane!!! Hurry Hurry. Mash the brakes!” cried my mother as I swerved left and right, dodging traffic as I raced alongside the road at 20mph. Twenty. Miles. Per. Hour. And there my mother was, shrieking in a state of panic as I sat there, discombobulated and terrified all at the same time. It seemed as though, everyone and everything was against me. The wind knocked about my car, horns honked all around me, and the morning glare blinded me as my foot mashed on the brakes, bringing my car to a full stop and sending us flying toward the windshield. And there it was. A flashback. Thirty minutes earlier.

I felt the bursts of adrenaline rushing through my veins. I could feel the ecstatic chills that I embraced. Pumped and ready to take this old Toyota on the road, with all the world watching me, I felt like the center of attention. Today was the day. The one day where I was exonerated from these confined cages that had withdrew me from the freedom of driving. I hopped in the front seat of the car, and that’s when everything suddenly disappeared. And there I was, my mother and I, along with the infinite earth that I had yet to discover. The ignition turned on. For some reason, I do not know how. The feeling in my hands went Num, for I was to apprehensive about this totally new experience.

The car gave out a huge surge of energy and power that had exploded throughout this fine piece of craftsmanship, as the car roar for speed, for life. It was ready, but was I. I sat there, head straight forward, as I waited for something to happen. Today was the day when I claimed my superlative being. Another rush of adrenaline, and then another. One after another, each one more and more intense, and suddenly, it happened. I slammed on the gas, accelerating down the once populated street, as I faced yet another obstacle, the nearby panic of my mom as it over-empowered me. Can you just think way back to when you first got you driving experience? The thrilled and arousing sense of feeling that you got when you fingers first touched the wheel. That feeling brought me back more than ten years ago when I was just a child driving behind of the wheel of my own red truck. The little two by two vehicle with plastic flames extending up towards the windshield as I zoomed past my parents going no faster than the footsteps of their pace.

Once again, we fast forward time to the actual setting. There are no fake flames, no one mile an hour speed limits. It seemed as if the whole world was sitting, watching me, against me. The wind blew my sense of direction off corse. The long veins of the trees stretched as it screeched against the windshield. The tires burned all its rubber from the acceleration of the car. And then it came. It started off as early spring morning. The plants and trees sprung up, as if waiting for years for an opportunity like this. There was no more wind. Instead, a light breeze floated across the air, gently twitching you nose and it passed on by. But this wasn’t the morning paradise I was waiting for. The sense left as quickly as it came. I watched as it chased away the clouds, and it felt as if the whole world just held its breathe for a split second. The blinding sun poked it small, but powerful glare at me, forcing me to end my road spree, and come to a near stop. At that same instinct, the leaves rained like confetti on a New Year’s night. The once so gentle breeze turned into a coalesce of dirt, sand, and pebbles. And, then, as I turned my head up, the sun had disappeared. It was like an act, an illusion. You may think you see what’s going on, but further away something more important is always happening. Suddenly, torrential dropped like bombs in mid-air, huge bursts of water exploded as it tore at the roof if the car. The wind knocked about the car like wild gun fire.

My formidable feeling was now turned into a state of melancholy depression. The journey, the long lost quest I had yet to discover was overturned by a larger obstacle with greater experience and power than mine. And, with my back hunched over, I opened the door slowly, and exchanged places with a person that had much more experience. My time of greatness had ended. Now on the right side of the vehicle, the co-caption side, the passenger side, I took one last look up into the sky, and the rained slowed down, nothing but a little drizzle here and there. It was over, but its damage was done. My trial was over as a driver. Seats exchanged, errands already delivered, there was nothing left to do but go home. It seemed like the option left, or was it...