The Light At The End Of The Tunnel

Jasmine

I flipped my hair over to the other side getting ready for school that morning. It was a really crappy day out today so I decided to go easy with the outfit. I didn't really care what I looked like.

No one really expected much from me anyway. I was just the quiet girl. I wasn't popular, but I wasn't lonely either. I just kinda, stayed low.

Never been much of a partier, never liked to travel, and kinda just rather to stay at home in my room.

That's something I've never been good with. Cars.

For the longest time, I have no clue why. I get uneasy, I get scared, anxious, everything that I shouldn't be while sitting in a car going the speed limit. My mom always said that she thinks I was hit by a car in a past life, she believes that stuff. I don't.

But I don't think I was hit by a car, I have dreams about it all the time, only it's not me, it's a boy, but I'm seeing from his perspective. I see his watch on his right hand, reflecting the streetlights on his road as he swerves in and out of lanes. And then I'm no longer driving.

There's a deafening metal crunch sound, and a white light, and I wake up. Almost every day. That's how it works.

Ironically, I'm not the safest person.

I may stay away from cars, but everything else is a good time to me. Sex, drugs, my boyfriend is in a gang.

I know, I know. It doesn't make much sense, but it doesn't need to.

My boyfriend Daniel is in a gang in the school. We don't come from a great area, my parents weren't exactly prepared to have a child, they were both young.

Daniel came up behind me, putting his hand in the small of my back. I turned and gave him a peck on the cheek.

"Hey jazzy, I got some new stuff in tonight, if you're down. A few buddies and I are gunna hit the town and forget our names."

I smiled and turned to look at him.

"You know I'm always down for getting a little high." I smirked. He grabbed my hand and led me to his car. We drove down the road to his friend's house. I always found it ironic that he was such a cautious driver. Considering we aren't the most cautious people out there. Pulling a bag from his glove compartment, he jumped out of the car and headed up to the porch of the house.

"Heyyyy dom, how're ya doing bud." He smiled, slapping his friend on the back. He smiled back at him and pointed to the bag in his hand. "You ready?" Daniel asked, leaning in close.

His friend nodded.

____

I had to admit, I was nervous. I don't know where Daniel got cocaine but I wasn't about to ask.  This was something I had never done before. I was scared, but I was with Daniel, so I knew everything would be okay. He cut the lines and looked at me.

" all right baby girl, you can go first."

I looked at him nervously, And looked at dom, always on his phone. Maybe I was just being a prude. Everyone else seem to be fine with this, and I was the one holding everybody up.

"Fuck it." I said. I took up a line and sat back.

The room around me twisted and turned, and I felt like there was a fire consuming me from my toes up. Daniel looked at me questioningly and I couldn't even open my mouth to respond to his question.

"Are you okay?" Daniel kept saying over and over again. My words all meshed together and I gripped my legs hard. "Jasmine."

No matter how hard I tried to respond I couldn't get my words to make sense. It hit me like a ton of bricks and I couldn't breathe.

I clawed at my throat, desperate to take at least one breath but nothing would come out.

I was going to die. I am dying. This is it. I kept saying to myself over and over again.

I could see Daniel tearing up, I tried to reach out to him but my arms weren't working. A tight clenching in my chest pushed out a gasp, but that was it.

I felt my body hit the floor, and Daniel scream to call an ambulance. And then my world pulsed in and out before silence followed.