What Happens In Your Dreams:

The Cliff:

Excitement, the car bubbled with it. We were all headed to the lodge to meet up with our parents and celebrate 10 years of knowing each other. We had all taken separate cars just because the parents wanted to catch up and the kids... well, the kids wanted to be rowdy. Only one of us had our license, so obviously she was our designated driver. She was careful, quiet, and completely ignored all the rest of us, AKA the best driver we could have had other than the parents.

While driving down a back road we all received a mass text stating that the caravan of parents had arrived at the lodge already, and they wanted us to pick up marshmallows. So, laughing, we searched for the next closest gas station. Our driver pulled over and we all piled out, me grabbing the cash and running in after everyone. All the kids picked out snacks, growing progressively louder and crazier as everyone tried to talk over each other. I smiled quietly and paid, hanging back and observing as everyone piled back into the car. There seemed to be a scuffle at the driver's door so I wandered over to figure out what was happening.

"I have my permit!"

"But it is a winding road and I don't think its safe..."

"Come on.... We only have a mile left and I need practice! How am I going to be able to drive on a winding road on my own if I don't have practice?"

"Okay fine.... But I sit in the passenger seat."

I watched with trepidation as our designated driver's sister slipped behind the wheel. We had been amazing friends for years and I loved her with all my heart, but she was reckless and the prospect of her driving? That was terrifying.

I climbed back into the car, heart pounding as the engine rumbled to life. We rolled out onto the road and slowly the noise levels in the car grew to their previous heights. I stayed quiet, keeping a close eye on our new driver. We were making good time on the road and so far, nothing bad had happened, so I slowly let my guard down and laughed and played with my friends in the back. As the minutes and winding road passed by slowly, I began to get anxious once more. It had dawned on me that the driver was beginning to participate in the conversation again and even our designated driver, who was supposed to be supervising, had stopped paying attention to the road. I raised my voice, trying to be heard over the raucous rabble in the car, but was completely ignored. My panic rose as the car began to swerve, and to make matters worse, my phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey Honey!"

It was my mother.

"How's the party going mom?"

My voice shook.

"Great! What is your ETA?"

"I'm... I'm not actually sure mom. I'm really sorry but we may not make it."

"What do you mean?"

"The car is slowly getting out of control, we may get pulled over or get in an accident."

The worried sound of my mother's voice slowly faded as the edge of the road came into view.

When driving up a mountain, as everyone knows, you often drive next to the precipice of a cliff, and this was one of these roads. Time seemed to slow and sounds faded as I looked around the car. I observed the smiling and laughing of my friends, the driver and passenger entirely turned around. I savored their joy and I savored my mother's voice as the wheels left the road. I watched the ground rise up to meet us, and as the laughter turned to screams and the world seemed to panic, into the phone I murmured the only words I could think to say.

"I'm sorry. I love you."