Analia Rivera is eleven years old. Analia's passions are reading, writing, and running. Currently, Analia is at a writing camp, Writopia Lab, which has helped Analia cultivate so many of her writing talents that she still has today. So far, Analia has gotten published six times in an Australian Magazine called Alphabet Soup, three times by a New York magazine called Magic Dragon, three times by Young Writers, and Analia's play was accepted and performed by the Worldwide Plays Festival.
“Nothing. Just gray. Panic took control of me. Why did we have to drive at night? What if we were driving off a cliff? I was close to tears on the high mountain. My mom tried to put on a reassuring smile, but it was clearly fake. I squeezed her hand so tightly, it hurt for me as well. My sister was the navigator, and my dad was the driver.”
Nothing. Just gray. Panic took control of me. Why did we have to drive at night? What if we were driving off a cliff? I was close to tears on the high mountain. My mom tried to put on a reassuring smile, but it was clearly fake. I squeezed her hand so tightly, it hurt for me as well. My sister was the navigator, and my dad was the driver. Endless gray consumed us. The lights of the cars behind us shone, but there were none ahead to guide us. We had to brake several times before the cars behind us got impatient. They weaved left and right, then passed us. They cruised ahead, then halted as they became blind. I felt like I was in a horror show and there was no exit, no escape to leave. As the other cars regained their speed by turning on “fog lights” that we didn’t have, we almost lost the cars. That was when the arguing began.
My sister thought it was best to increase speed so that we didn’t lose our guiding light. I agreed with my mom, though, who thought it was risky to increase speed driving when we couldn’t see anything. My dad agreed with my sister, so he started speeding to catch up. I squeezed my mom’s hand and started to hyperventilate. I couldn’t calm down. With my free hand, I put my hand on my heart and uneasily listened to the rapid beating.
As if the situation couldn’t get any worse, my sister announced, “There’s a sharp turn coming up.”
The large yellow signs with the midnight-colored left arrows were the only help for us. Again, questions invaded my mind. How will we escape this? Will we lose the cars ahead? Just then, the car in front of us disappeared. A new question formed inside my stressed head. Was it condensed in the fog or lost to something else ahead?
Sadly, my dad didn’t share my same worries, so we continued. But we soon found the car again in front of us. As we silently drove, I continued to hyperventilate until at one point, it let us go. Clear from up ahead. This didn’t comfort me though. There could be more of those areas. I was tired and wanted to close my eyes, but the fear overtook me. Squeezing my mom’s hand while listening to my heartbeat, I continued to look up ahead. But I didn’t see anything but roads, jungle, and no fog!
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