“Mom, I’m going to a party with Morgan at Josh's house.”
“Are there going to be adults at the party, Taylor?”



“Well, of course Mom, I don’t drink or do drugs and you already know that,” she said as seriously as possible.



“Well, just drive safe, honey. I love you, Tay Tay.”



“Love you too.”
“Hey Morgan, pick me up at six o'clock.”
“Sounds good to me, I’ll be driving my mom’s red van. Be ready when I get there.”

I get in the car and we start to drive. Morgan gradually hands me a bottle of Jakob’s dark whiskey and says to me,“Take a drink.”
“No, I don’t drink,” I say nervously.
“Come on, one drink. Everyone’s going to be doing it.”
“Just a little, because I don’t want to make it obvious I drank.”
As I take my first swig ever, it trickles through my throat. There's this burning sensation that stays there for only a few seconds.
As we pull up to Josh’s house, I hear the music blaring.
There are groups of people walking up to the door with bottles of alcohol in hand, alcohol that they probably got from their parents’ liquor cabinets.
We walk through the door to find people everywhere. I look to my right to find two beefy guys yelling, “Punch me see what happens, because she never even liked you.” It was all over a girl they had slept with and who she loves more.

But as we head to the backyard, there’s was a swarm of people off to my left by the eight-shaped pool, and the loners are by the garage to my right. I follow Morgan to a group of guys, all fairly attractive, but they have cups of alcohol in hand.

As the night passes, I force myself to drink all the alcohol the guys use to try and start a conversation with me because I don't want them to feel bad.

Around three in the morning, Morgan is walking towards me, almost collapsing on everyone in her way.
“Do you want to go,”Morgan says struggling to finish her sentence.
I’m out of it as I stumble to make my way back through the house full of people passed out.
As I reach the car, I struggle to open it. At last I get it open and it feels as if I have won a reward for doing so. Morgan starts to drive and struggles to stay on the on the right side of the road.
A red light approaches and then out of nowhere, our car is sent flying into the air. Suddenly, it hits the pavement with so much force it rolls numerous times before stopping in a ditch.

I wake in the hospital screaming, “WHERE’S MORGAN?” I say. The doctors rush in, trying to calm me down and my dad helps as best he can by saying, “it will be okay” and holding me in an attempt to console me.

I relax because I feel a sense a reassurance being in my dad’s arms.

Then my dad tells me, “it’s okay, you got in car accident but you were lucky. You survived because you ran a red light and got hit on the driver’s side and rolled a few times, then landed a ditch.”
“Well, is Morgan okay?”
“Sorry, sweetie, but she wasn't so lucky,” my dad says.
“Just tell me you love me and that you're never going to leave me,” I say, feeling a sense of regret.
“Well, of course I love you and you know that, and you know I would never leave you pumpkin,” he says as he gets teary-eyed.
Those were the last words I ever wanted to hear.
My vision goes blurry...
Beeeeeeeep. “We got a flatliner! We need defibrillators NOW!” The doctor says with scared tone.