 |
| Are you ready to write? |
Think about the scariest thing that ever happened to you. Was it really scary, or just scary at the time? Write about that event in the third person as though you are watching the events unfold in a movie.
Joyce and Joey are winding their way through the twists and turns of Lake Como Drive in Joyce's Chrystler 5th Avenue on a wet afternoon in June. The rain has slowed from a downpour to a fine mist and the roads are slick and treacherous. The steel body of the cars gives the friends a false sense of security and safety as the zoom along the road.
Joyce loves the way the car hugs the curves of the road as she eases it in and out of the turns. She is young and full of hubris. She is looking forward to the next curve - a particularly sharp one - and she accelerates slightly as she approaches it.
Midway through the turn the tires of her car lose traction with the road and the vehicle begins to spin as it hydroplanes into an open field toward a tree. There is no way for Joyce to regain control. As the car spins through the field, the two friends are silent. They don't even scream. It's either over or it isn't. There's no point in degrading themselves in their last moments if this is the end.
As suddenly as it began the car spins to a stop just before hitting the tree. The two friends are rigid and breathless. They look at one another.
"Don't tell my mother." Joyce says.
"Only if you promise not to tell mine," Joey replies.
They look out the windows of the car and realize that they are right in front of a house.
Joyce turns to Joey. "I wonder if they saw us?"
"Let's get out of here before someone calls the police."
The car is still running, so Joyce lets off the brake and it begins to ease forward in the grass. Thankfully the wet ground did not leave the car stuck. As they begin to drive they notice the huge circles of dirt in the grass where the car had spun.
"I hope whoever owns that field isn't made about the grass." Joyce says as they pull away.
(344 words)
