Story Of A Nurse

I'm 30 years old and a nursing student. Thanksgiving 2020 went from exciting to terrifying for me. It started with the fact that I passed the exam with an 86%, and I passed it before Thanksgiving with my boyfriend and his family (he was leaving for Cal Fire). It was that night before Thanksgiving that I spent at my brothers' house. I left home around 8:00 a.m. I woke up exhausted, but my mental state became manic. I woke up and wanted to surprise my sister for me and her kids. When she didn't respond, in my manic state, I decided to go to her house.

It was a fun day with lots of food, drinks, and dancing. I love it! Around 6:00 p.m., I planned a trip to my boyfriend's temporary home. We had a small argument, as I told him that since it was a three-hour drive, I would leave around 1:00 a.m. He disagreed, thinking it would be too late to go to a dark room in the countryside; which prompted me to remind him, "I grew up." (Error) I was a little nervous and annoyed. However, we later agreed on my arrival. The vacation continued with my sisters. Entertainment included alcoholic drinks, family Thanksgiving photos, and food. Around 11 p.m., I decided to take a nap, but my mind, running amok, decided to shower.

Since I needed help with the shower and combing my hair, I went to bed around midnight.

I decided to sleep until 1 a.m., but eventually passed out. I set my alarm to wake up at 1 a.m., but, of course, I overslept. I woke up at 3:30 a.m. when my sister asked me, "Why didn't you leave?" I woke up and frantically left her house.

I left my phone behind and had to turn around and go back. As soon as I pulled out my phone, I was driving for the second time. I ended up going the wrong way because I confused the two cities, both beginning with "CH." Once I turned on the GPS and realized I was going in the wrong direction, I continued on my way. The first hour felt disappointing, as at that point I thought I'd left my vapes behind. (Thanks to my sister, who told me I'd left them behind, that she meant actual vapes... it wasn't her fault, it was mine) (although two days later I found vapes in my purse 🤦🏾‍♀️).

As soon as I left the city or Sacramento, I signed up for the Silverado race they filmed, and my envy of the fact that I was driving an SUV outweighed a nice truck. I decided to race until I hit 120 mph for about 10 minutes and decided it wasn't worth the fine. At that point, it was just me, the Silverado, and another Ford on the road. After about 5 minutes, the Silverado shut off. Now it was just me and my Ford in the dark countryside. During the drive, I noticed the Ford was next to me, and at one point it seemed like it was close enough on the right side to hit me.

Because of my dark blindness, I was more focused on driving safely than on a car that seemed to be cutting other cars off to get next to me (it was a two-lane road, so you can see why I didn't care). We got to a small town, which meant driving 5 to 8 kilometers on the main road, going through the traffic lights. At one point, I thought, "Damn, I hate people around!" It bothered me, but after two flashes, the Ford shut off, and I felt a little childish. Two or three flashes when I went through the green light.

It was the same car, and at that moment my body started to shake as the car made sure it was on my right again, this time keeping up with me. My head started to hurt, and at first I didn't understand what was taking over my fear. Why is this car coming back onto the main road? There are only three cars left, and he's right next to me. The hit-or-flight response started to take me by surprise, and I didn't want to turn my head as if I'd just noticed.

At that moment, I didn't want to call my boyfriend; "What if I'm just paranoid?"

I used to travel long distances alone at night... Do I still have alcohol in me? My boyfriend and my mom will lose it if I call them. Why is this happening? Don't panic... At that moment, I saw the light turn yellow as we approached. My mind began to reason, and I thought, "Don't panic, stay calm, ignore the headache. When the green light comes on, stay still, see if it goes away..." We approached the light and stopped. The light seemed much longer than the others.

I looked at the friend in the Ford next to me. The windows were slightly tinted, but I could see the hat and the person looking back at me. Then, after a few seconds, I looked at the light and leaned back out the passenger window. My head and heart fused, with pain and fear. Then the light turned green; Two cars were following us, but I held the brakes, didn't move, and didn't see their car enter the intersection.

I turned my head to look and got a better look at the face of the man under the hat watching me. I pulled out slowly to gather my courage and, apparently, didn't panic, and he too, without missing a beat, slowly drove through the intersection. I heard the beep of the car behind us, like a light switch. In the distance, I saw a truck at the last light, crossing the chasm of a single-lane country road. I decided to speed up to make it to the last light. But his friend Ford also kept up with me.

He seemed to be trying to cut me off, but I reached 105 km/h. The trucks were going slowly, and now he was behind me, so close I couldn't see his headlights. Panicking, I pulled over to the side of the road to pass the truck; so did he. When I realized I'd overtaken him and was still just as close, I saw a second truck, reached 145 km/h, and pulled left into oncoming traffic to cut him off. My reasoning was to speed up, and even if I stopped, I'd be safe (I hoped).

I shut off the truck and began to gain speed; I could now see far ahead in the rearview mirror. In the alley ahead, behind the trees on the right, the Ford seemed to crash into the alley and pull out. It tried to shut off the truck without a second thought. By then, even the trucks' headlights were far away; I reached 193 km/h and continued effortlessly, as I'm experienced at driving fast, and the adrenaline rush of "flying" relieved me (I was still shaking and crying, and the headache was bearable).

After about 5-10 minutes, I dropped to 128 km/h (80 mph), then to 105 km/h (65 mph) after about 30 minutes. An hour later, I stopped at a convenience store that seemed to have a lot of customers, prompting me to pull over because I was paranoid and couldn't be 100% sure the same Ford wasn't nearby. I went into the store to get food and coffee, but my appetite had disappeared, so I decided to get coffee and a smoke instead. Upon entering, I saw both customers and employees staring at me with wide eyes, and then sad eyes, which embarrassed me. I was shaking, and my makeup was running down my face from crying, and I'm sure I looked like I was coming off the drug because my sympathetic nerve was transferring its work to the parasympathetic (I was getting off the adrenaline). I went to pay for the coffee and asked for a cigarette, but the tremors made it difficult to enter my debit card PIN; I had to try three times. I returned to the car scared, my head pounding in my ears, hoping the cigarette would calm me down. The smoke seemed to calm me down a bit, but the tremors and headache were still bearable.

The sun came up and was almost there. I was still trembling, still upset, and I cried again and again. Of course, when I arrived with my boyfriend, he noticed and knew how to get the truth out of me. I saw I was upset, but he tried to comfort me. With hugs, kisses, and a comforting rest to calm me down. It was difficult to study that day, the headache didn't go away, and

I stayed in bed. My boyfriend decided I wouldn't drive late at night anymore, and he even made sure I stayed in his apartment until he left with me. It'll be dark in a few days, and I'm afraid to go out. I'd like to know. Whether I'm 30 or not, no one, man or woman, should think they can go out on the town at night. There are crazy things...

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