We were driving towards downtown, me, Jacob, Ellie, and Kayla. We often hung out at random restaurants, trying new food places, downtown had an endless amount of choices. We had to cross the Evanston Bridge to make it downtown, it was a big blue goliath of metal and wire that connected one part of the city to the next. I always hated bridges, just never had a real reason for it.

Kayla was driving, we were wary about her driving because she had just gotten her license no less than two days ago. But she was doing pretty well having to drive with us three crazy people, singing almost every song on the radio without missing a word. We laughed and joked around, then we stopped at the Evanston bridge toll. The bridge connected the two cities, so you had to pay an annoying $20 toll just to get to downtown.

Kayla turned down the music and the rest of us quieted down as we approached the toll. Kayla pulled out $20 and handed it to the 40 year old women at the toll booth. The woman was taking exceptionally long to take a twenty dollar bill, it wasn’t like we handed her change that she had to count. A noise roared in the distance, you couldn’t make it out at first, but as you listened closely you could piece two and two together. I looked in the rearview mirror to see a car coming straight for our lane at least over 100. But before I could warn Kayla to back out of the lane it was too late.

We went flying past the toll, Kayla couldn’t gain control of the wheel, in seconds we flipped, the car tossed and turned over the bridge until the point it went over the railing. All I could here was the screaming of my friends and I falling to what could be our death. Time seemed to slow, they always say that your last seconds on this world are the longest. I saw Kayla’s head smashed in, on the front steering wheel. Jacob knocked out by the front air bag, and Ellie’s mascara dripping down from the crying and screaming. I thought, maybe if we had 5 extra seconds we could’ve made it out of this.

We were driving towards downtown, me, Jacob, Ellie, and Kayla.We often hung out at random restaurants, trying new food places. Downtown had an endless amount of choices. Jacob lit a cigarette, Jacob smoked a lot and his limit was not cigarettes; nor was any of the others in the car. Yet Jacob smoked constantly. At least 50% of his day consisted of smoking; whether it be nicotine, cannabis, or other alternatives I’d rather not mention. Jacob supplied pretty much all of us, his parents were filthy rich and had no problem showing it. They bought Jacob his own 4 bedroom house when he was ten. He rarely sees them, it’s like they never existed in his eyes, just a bank account that he can withdraw from without having to worry about the amounts he takes.

We got closer to the toll. I hadn’t peed before we left, and we had already been in the car for about an hour. We weren’t close to any exits on the highway, we would have to cross Evanston Bridge before we could stop at a place with a rest room. If I didn’t go then and there, I felt like I was going to pee myself.  I asked Kayla to pull over to the side of the road so I could let it out. I stood for what felt like hours, hearing my friends laugh at me peeing on the side of the highway. Multiple cars ran by, yet a noise roared in the distance. You couldn’t make it out at first, but as you listened closely you could piece two and two together. I looked to my right, there was a car flying down the road at least over 100. The speed from the car passing us created a strong wind that shook my clothes to the left.

Not to far behind the speeding car were three equally fast police vehicles. After a few seconds I heard a big crash farther up the road. I finished up then hopped into the car, we approached the Evanston Bridge not far ahead. The middle toll had been ran through, there was debris from the broken toll stick on the ground, and a long line of cars being held up. We got our spot in a line of what looked like 7 cars, they only let cars through every few minutes. Jacob was aggravated and had no problem showing the whole highway that he was. He grew impatient quick, yelling curses out the window and flipping people off. It was a miracle he even made it up to the toll without getting into a fight.

It took us about 30 minutes to get past that toll but after that it was smooth sailing. Kayla turned the music back up in an attempt to lighten the mood, nobody sung though. About a quarter way on the bridge you could see smoke and a strong gasoline smell filled the air. It was the car that ran the toll, it was crashed into the left lane railing. Smoke was flying out of it and gas and oil leaking from below it. Jacobs first cigarette dragged out, he threw it out the window, pulled another one out, then lit his lighter. They always say that your last seconds on this world are the longest.

The flame from the lighter lit, then it spread, and spread, and spread. I could have went my whole life without hearing the blood gurgling sound of my friends being burnt alive —  seeing my friends skin blacken from the intense heat of ignited flame. The cars fake leather melted, and the air became unbearable to breath. It wasn’t long before the car up and exploded sending our near cremated bodies up into the atmosphere.

We were driving towards downtown, me, Jacob, Ellie, and Kayla.We often hung out at random restaurants, trying new food places. Downtown had an endless amount of choices. You had to cross Evanston Bridge to get downtown. Before we reached the bridge we pulled over so I could go to the bathroom. I had been holding it in even before we left. Some maniac ran the Evanston Bridge toll so that made us have to wait even longer to get to downtown. Jacob was pissed about that. After a while we passed the toll and started crossing the bridge.

We were passing the car that was crashed on the bridge, Jacob dragged out a cigarette and tried to light a new one. Before he could reach the lighter I gave him a hard slap across the head. I told him it was stupid to light a fire with a gasoline scent so thick and the air. He put the lighter in his pocket and pouted like a little kid, turning his head towards the car window and not talking to anyone for a while.

Further down the bridge was a weird amount of backed up traffic. You don’t usually see a lot of traffic on the Evanston Bridge, but it was rush hour. Some asshole kept beeping the horn behind us, it wasn’t like we had anywhere to go there was too much traffic ahead. Unless he wanted us to ram our way through the cars in front of us he had no other choice but to sit there and wait. The beeping continued, Jacob was still too pouty to care, but Ellie was annoyed as ever.

The car started blowing the horn for longer amounts of time, just beeping to horn to no avail at this point. It looked like Ellie was about to burst a blood vessel if this guy didn’t stop being an asshole. Soon Ellie had enough, she stuck her body out of the window and gave the car a stern middle finger with every sense of hatred involved. Her face turned from furious satisfaction, to instant regret. Turns out the asshole that was beeping the horn was a police officer.

The police vehicle’s lights began to blink, the man stepped out of the car and proceeded to approach us. Ellie started panicking, she rummaged around in her pockets and pulled out a little baggie. At first I didn’t know what it was, but its small sized and mashed contents made me realize, Ellie was carrying drugs around in her pocket this whole time. The officer was getting to close to the car. If I was to take them from Ellie he would have saw, and I would have been the one going to jail for possession. I pushed Ellie’s hand away, she gave me this fierce look of betrayal.

Before Ellie could slide the drugs somewhere else it was too late. The officer saw the little baggy sitting right there in the palm of her hand. The officer said that we were all under arrest, and began calling for another police cruiser to help carry us off to jail.

We were driving towards downtown, me, Jacob, Ellie, and Kayla. We often hung out at random restaurants, trying new food places. Downtown had an endless amount of choices. You had to cross evanston bridge to get downtown. Some Maniac ran the Evanston toll so that delayed us a bit, the guy crashed on the bridge taking up one of the left lanes. A potent smell of gasoline came from the crashed car. Police officers took out fire extinguishers from the trunks of their cars to keep the car from heating.

Near the middle of the bridge traffic piled up, some asshole started beeping the horn over and over as if we could just fly over the line of cars in front of us. I saw Ellie stirring in the seat next to me. Ellie didn’t outburst a lot but sometimes she could be pushed to her limits. I saw her go to flip off the car behind us. But before she could get herself out of the car window, I jerked her back in. Turns out the car behind us was one of the police vehicles from the car crash a bit back on the bridge. Ellie thanked me for pulling her back into the car, she pulled a little baggie out of her pocket and flashed it in my face. She said if we were to get caught with this we’d probably end up behind bars.

Kayla asked if it was a bump of coke, Ellie answered her question with a devious yes. All of us in the car had known Kayla’s history with drugs. A year ago she was put into a coma after injecting heroin Jacob had stashed away in his house. She was lucky that she recovered at all, let alone survived the endeavor. But ever since then she’s had an aneurysm in the inner lobe of her brain. In the beginning she would have random violent attacks. Though after taking a number of different medication and prescribed pills they’ve seemed to calm the most dire effects of the aneurysm.

The fact that Ellie could be so inconsiderate bugged me, but apparently it didn’t bug Jacob Ellie or even Kayla. They talked about how they’d snort it in the parking lot, to have a better time on the town. They just laughed it off as if the world’s rules didn’t apply to them. Like they were immortal, as if they were to make any mistake they could just reverse time and try it again. There was no sense of consequence in their mind, and no sliver of regret for the choices they had made, no controversial thought as to the things that may happen.

The Traffic dispersed, opening space between the cars. It was cramped and secluded before, but now it was so free. It was all so clear to me now, like the walls of my brain had broken down, as if the light of day had shined through my eyes for the first time in a long time. I suddenly found myself wanting to leave the car. I asked Kayla to pull over on the side of the bridge. She questioned why, but I gave no reason, I just asked again. She pulled over and I left the car. I began walking back the way we came. They tried to stop me, thinking that I wasn’t in my right mind. But it was them who had the clouded judgement. I realized that if I ever had any chance of crossing this bridge, I would have to burn my old ones.

Later on that day I was at home, watching the news on television. They were talking about the crash on Evanston Bridge. At first I thought they were just talking about that one maniac, but soon realized that they were mentioning an entirely different crash. They said that a car crash full speed into the Evanston toll, instantly killing three people. The news said that their were traces of cocaine in their systems. They snorted the coke as soon as I left. Kayla must’ve had one of her attacks while driving because of it. leaving Jacob and Ellie helplessly locked in the car as her soulless body pressed full force on the gas pedal. They were only 17…

Written By Deon Williams

"People waste a lot of time. Then they wish for more. Want more hours in their days, more days in their years, more years in their lives. As if they had all that extra time, they could fix any mistake. But here’s the thing about time; if you can’t make the most out of any given moment, then you don’t deserve a single extra second." – Ekko