The wind is sending my hair in all different directions, the sun is baking my face, I turn to look at Gab and she smiles. She turns back to the road and we laugh we’ve finally done it were on the road-trip that we spent hours planning as little immature girls. “We’re free,” I yell reaching my hands towards the sky. We start laughing as we talk about life jumping from one subject to the next; she tells me about her love life and I talk about school. The road curves and loops at a slight incline and tall trees reach up to the sky. I can smell the freshness in the air, each inhale brings the earthy smell of dirt and forest life to my nose. As we get to the higher parts of the mountain my stomach starts to growl, searching through my purse for something to quench my hunger I only find one granola bar; its not even chocolate chip.
I’m watching the sunset, from this height it’s beautiful the clouds meet the highest peaks of the mountains and the sky is gorgeous hues of pink and orange. There’s not another car insight we are completely alone, “should we be worried?” Gab asks. Then we hear a weird sound coming from the engine and then it starts to smoke. “Gaby gain control” I yell, she slams on the breaks and my head jerks forward banging on the dashboard. We both get out to see what’s wrong and I can smell the blood as it trickles down my forehead, but I try to ignore it. As she walks around gab assesses the problem, “we have a flat tire and something is leaking out of the back of our jeep” she yells, “Of course we aren’t prepared,” I complain kicking the jeep “we have no idea what to do and there is no spare under the jeep”.
The wind starts to pick up and I can feel a chill go down my back. I know were in trouble, but I try to ignore the panic that is building in my chest and push it back. I go and get our sweatshirts out of our bags and we slip them on. Gab is sitting on the bumper with her head in her knees, “What are we going to do?” she mumbles. “I have no idea” I answer; We sit and think for a while. Having no other options Gab calls a to-truck form a small town we passed about 3 hours ago. “They can’t be here till the morning”, she tells me after hanging up. We climb into the back of the jeep pile our clothes and everything warm we have on ourselves, “it’s going to be a long night” we sigh. By now were both starving; I kind of feel guilty for eating the last granola bar. We cuddle together to keep warm-Gab has always been a cuddler- every single sound is making me jumpy the wind is getting louder and the clouds are covering up the sky. The night is too dark and I can feel my stomach drop as I think about all the things that can be out there, “what if we don’t make it” I wonder aloud. Soon enough Gab is snoring leaving me to face the dark alone, but I can’t calm my nerves I stay like this for hours, exhaustion weighing down my eyes until finally it takes over and I drift to sleep.
Morning comes early; I wake up as soon as the first ray of retched sunlight burns into my eyes. They crack open, and I turn and see a huge truck coming towards us. It stops in front of us and I hit Gaby’s face so she will wake up, “oww” she grumbles. A big man steps out he has a long beard and he’s already sweaty, “ hello ladies, this the car” he asks, then he promptly directs us out of the car and wastes no time loading up the jeep. We climb into his truck and the smell is horrendous like BO and old pizza; I try not to gag because I’m sitting next to him. Three hours later we drive into the miserable town we had passed yesterday.  When we get to the mechanic they check out our jeep, a couple of hours later a guy comes out and tells us that the news is bad; the car needs a lot of repairs. Reluctantly we call our parents; there livid, I can hear my aunt yelling at Gaby over the phone, eventually my dad agrees to come and pick us up. We wait for hours on an old oil stained couch in the mechanic’s shop neither of us saying anything. Until my dad pulls up, “Our freedom is gone,” sighs Gab, “ the trip is over” I reply.