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Kasey

Pekin Community High School, Illinois

My whole life I have always been close to my family. I come home everyday and talk to my parents about my day. No matter what happens in my life I feel safe going to them. But one day something happened that made me closer to my family.

The day started out just like any old day. It was October 24, 2019, and it was a beautiful out. We had no school and I was on my way to hang out with my friend Gabby. The Manito black top was closed so I had to take the long way to Spring Lake. I wasn’t so sure where I was at because I never take townline to get to her house. I was about five minutes away when my whole life changed.

The wheel of my car got caught in loose gravel and I didn’t know what to do. I only had my license for a month and a week and we never got taught how to get out of this situation in driver's education. So I did what most people would do. I took my wheel and I over-corrected. For a second I thought I was fine but then my car started swerving from left to right back to the left until my car rolled three times and I ended up on the opposite side of the road flipped upside down. Sitting there upside down the only thought that was going through my head was “this is how I am going to die.” Quickly I realized that I was fine and needed to find a way out of my car as soon as possible. As I unbuckled I saw that my back passenger window was broken and I could shimmy out of it. As I got out of my car, all of the oncoming traffic was rushing towards me as I called my mom. The first responders showed up and my mom pulled up shortly after.

As My mom got out of her car and frantically looked for me, fear and disbelief hit me. I never saw my mom so terrified in my life. She almost lost her youngest child and it made me have a reality check and opened my eyes. The firefighter walked my mom over to me and he continued to inform us that I was lucky to walk away alive and I was even luckier to walk away with only a broken knuckle and a concussion. Ever since that day I never leave my house without saying I LOVE YOU to my parents because you never know when your last day will be.

© Kasey. All rights reserved. If you are interested in quoting this story, contact the national team and we can put you in touch with the author’s teacher.