During the summer of 2013, I had a blast and grew many friendships that I had acquired over the previous school year. I grew really close to one friend especially and we stayed in contact all summer even though she was in Minnesota. All this talking with her led up to the one dreaded night that i remember to perfection.
It is the sunday night of August 31st. it is labor day weekend and i have been texting my good friend all night when i blatantly text her
“I'm bored” She then replies,




“What do you want me to do?”
“Do anything. Haha” I quickly reply. She then comes up with the bright idea to hang out even though it is very close to midnight and way past curfew. I agree without hesitation getting ready in 10 minutes. It is a tough task, getting my clothes together and going downstairs, due to my sisters unusual presence because she is at home visiting from college. I know that she would tell my parents if she sees me sneaking out, so I slyly get around and tell her that I am going to the bathrooms downstairs. I then exit my room and begin my journey downstairs. I see nothing but black as I flail my arms out in front of me so I can lead my self down stairs and not crash into anything. It seems as if every step I take, the sound gets magnified ten times. As I descend the stairs I remember flinching at the loud and very annoying creaking of the stairs. I’ve never noticed these small details before, making me realize that it seems like my senses have been heightened and all of a sudden i can see and hear a lot better. I tiptoe to the door and open it as quietly as possible. The next and last thing I notice is the clock on the greasy white microwave as I walk out of my house. The green numbers reading 11:55 stare at me back in the face. I quietly shut the door with no knowledge of the fact that things after tonight will all go to s***. I will always remember these last five seconds of looking at the clock as i left.
We meet up at the gas station half a block away from my home and I hop in her 1998 green Volvo Wagon. As we speed off, we talk and I let out a nervous and very shaky laugh in amazement of the stunt I have just pulled off, or at least I thought i pulled off. We decide the beach is a great idea so we drive down to Central Beach. We both walk down the stairs to the beach and take off our shoes because we do not want to get sandier than we need to be. As I placed my right foot on the sand, I immediately draw it back in shock because the sand was so cold. I then step down, allowing the freezing sand to seep in between my toes as my feet caress the softness of Coronado sand. We continue walking on to the rough moist stone bench next to the tower. The combination of my paranoia of getting caught and the unusual cold makes it a very sketchy night. Every sound, every person, every car that passes through Ocean Boulevard or through the beach look and sound like my parents and sisters. After about an hour of talking, we both agree that it is incredibly too cold to be out here any longer. For every step i take back to the car, my teeth probably chatter about 10 times. We then hop in the car, turn on the heater and continue the conversation. The intensity in the car is palpable and as soon as we are about to continue our spontaneous adventure, I see some headlights coming towards us on Ocean boulevard which perfectly resemble my dads 2002 Ford Focus.
My eyes immediately double in size and I start recognizing more features as the car gets closer. The headlights are the same, as is the model, the color, and the man inside even looks like my dad. My heart drops to my stomach and I want to die. My mind keeps telling me they are simply coincidences and it is not really my dad. My head turns slowly, following the car as it drives by at a pace that seemed eternal. Once the car had passed, my friend asks me what is wrong because she probably sees the color in my face vanish.
“Follow that car!” I blurt out sternly. Based on how I say this she does not even question me. She turns on the car and makes a sharp U-Turn out of her parking spot. She then drives slowly until the end of the road is visible and I can perfectly see my dad walking around in his blue shorts, with his Vans sandals and a tank top on with his phone in hand. This is the moment when I start shaking again--and this time it is not because it is cold-- it is because I realize what it is that I am doing and what’s about to happen. I quickly tell her to take a right to avoid the confrontation with my dad and ask her to take me home. On the way home I call my sisters and they both pick up immediately and telling me:
“You’re so fucked by my parents! Where are you? They have been looking for you for an hour and a half!!”
“I know,” I respond, “I’ll be home in 2 minutes. Don’t tell my parents. I will”. This phone call lasts 15 seconds and I go home as quickly as possible. I arrive to some very anxious and curious sisters waiting for me as soon as I step foot through the door. I call my parents and they arrive in minutes. My mom is puffy and red eyed, making it obvious that she has been crying and my dad is as serious as anyone has ever been.
“Where were you?! With who? Doing what?” I instantly begin to be questioned. “You have no idea what you've done and you have no idea what the consequences will be”. This llasts for likek 5 minutes and then they go to bed. I immediately get into bed feeling ashamed and fall asleep surprisingly fast.
The next morning I wake up to see my whole room rummaged, from my backpack, to my drawers, to my closet. There is not one corner of the room my parents have skipped. They looked for drugs or anything bad that i could have had. That morning I find out that my dad had accidentally woken up the night before and seen my room light on at one in the morning when he decided to see what that was all about. It happens that my sister was still doing homework because the next day she was leaving to return to college. It was then that he asked for me and searched the whole house only to find out I had snuck out. He had left the house at one and been searching the whole island with my mom for an hour and a half. Due to the fact that I had left my phone at home, they were unable to reach me.
I honestly feel so bad for causing them all that anxiety and fear but I can not do anything to fix it. My consequence was being grounding for 4 months and 8 days without going out and 5 months without a phone \and was also grounded from playing football for a couple days until I persuaded my parents to change their mind. I began to have some symptoms of minor depression and it took me a long time to be able to build my parents trust again but I managed to do so. I learned my lesson that I should think things over before going through with them no matter how amazing they might sound.