My afternoon band practice had just gotten out and there was only one thought that went through my mind as I walked out of the band room door and to my mom's car, a joy ride. I was seventeen and had just earned my license two weeks ago along with my mom's keys to the Audi for the day. My dad had shown me some country roads not long ago that were minutes away and I was more than eager to test the limits of my non-existent driving skills. .
As I drove, the scenery around me quickly turned from urban sprawl to country roads. Small apartments tightly packed together were replaced with large homes with trees and greenery. The complex city roads with bike paths, sidewalks and light posts were exchanged for simple two lane roads with unkempt yellowed grass on either side, along with a steady stream of power line poles. From the one time that I had previously been on these roads, I knew that these roads were made for "squirrely" driving. .
I turned right onto the first long stretch of road that my dad had shown me. Before I even thought twice about what I was doing, the accelerator pedal was mashed to the floor, only to let up when shifting into the next gear. My whole body was instantly glued to the back of the car seat as I accelerated. The scenery began to blur as I approached highway speeds. The yellow grass on the side of the road, the tall brown fences pushing the farmland back, and the shrubbery all became nothing more then a fuzzy scene, much like a poorly produced video. The windows were down and all I could hear was the howl of the air whipping through the cabin along with the roar of the engine coming to life. I felt free and on top of the world, nothing could stop me. My eyes scanned down the road and saw a T-way intersection and a clearly marked stop sign. My foot let off the gas pedal and found the brake pedal. I pushed it and felt the car begin to decelerate. At the same time I lost the adrenaline rush as the car came to a complete stop.
