Drama Drive
By Camilla
I check over my packing list one more time before we go. I slowly walk out the door checking the list over and over again.
This is going to be a long day… I think to myself, as I get my bag, and roll it to the car.
“When are we going to leave?” I ask my dad as we put the suitcases and bags in the trunk. “In a minute,” My dad replies, as he stuffs a big white suitcase into the now cramped trunk.
“I think this is the last one,” he says as he stuffs the last suitcase into the car.
The second I got in the car, I started burning.
It feels like an oven! I think as I sweat. Here is partly why: There were 5 people and about 6 suitcases, squished all in one hot car, on a hot summer morning.
A few hours passed and everyone was carsick. And when I say everyone, I mean EVERYONE, especially me.
I wish we could stop. Maybe I should try and sleep. The sounds of the car were getting louder, I could hear the wheels screening on turns.
Time passes. I lay uncomfortably on the car window, leaning on my arm. It felt like it had been days of long driving through the states, and no, I couldn’t fall asleep.
“Are we there yet?” I groaned, holding my hand on my stomach, I was so carsick.
“No,” my mom said, annoyed. It was quiet in the car for a few minutes, and then my mom finally spoke.
“How about you watch a movie?” My mom dug her hand in a bag on her lap and pulled out a few DVDs.
A movie!? Finally something interesting!
“Yes please!” Raiya and I jumped up in our seats.
“Let’s watch the Addams Family.” My mom said,
“Okay.” I beamed.
My mom pulled over and stopped at a gas station to get Dramamine and to go to the bathroom. I burst out of the car and took a deep breath of fresh air. We walked into the gross gas station, (which I knew was going to be gross anyway, we were in the middle of nowhere), and got Dramamine. Then we walked into the small bathroom.
The bathroom had 3 small stalls, smelled like a dumpster, the sinks were filled with gunk, and some of the sinks didn’t even work. The bathroom looked like someone TP-ed it. I held my nose, already irritated from feeling carsick.
“EWW!” I stared in disgust, “I am not going to the bathroom here!”
My mom turned to me. “Well we are not going to stop for a long time so it’s either now or never!” She snapped back.
I groaned again and walked over to a stall door.
When we got back into the car we all took the Dramamine, all but Raiya. Raiya hates things that taste bad, and I definitely made the wrong choice to tell her that it tasted gross.
After I took the Dramamine, I did not feel better.
“Why don’t I feel better?” I asked, fidgeting with my seat belt, which was pressed tightly to me.
“It does not work right away. Give it a minute.” My mom responded.
About 30 long minutes later I felt a little better, but I still felt car sick. Soon, I finally fell asleep for a little while.
About 8 hours later, we stopped at a hotel when we reached South Carolina. It was not the nicest hotel, but it was way nicer than the car.
I definitely do not want to sleep in the car. I thought.
It took something like 30 minutes to get checked in. Raiya and I had to wait on a couch doing nothing. It was so boring, and I was really nauseous.
Finally, we were all checked in and we went up to our room. Raiya and I were so excited to explore the room.
We were a little disappointed when we saw the room. With just one glance we were done with exploring. My parents were even more disappointed. There were only 2 beds, both queen-sized. That meant that my Au pair, Marei, did not have anywhere to sleep.
We had to get Marei a whole different room. I was jealous, because she got a bed all to herself, and the rest of us had to share. But at least we had a room.
My parents were so excited to go to bed after the long day, but Raiya and I did not want to go to bed yet. We had so much energy because we did not do anything all day besides sit in the car and watch movies. We had to get our energy out so we started running all over the room.
After a little bit of that, Raiya paused and said, “we need more space.”
Of Course, I agreed so we ran from Marei’s room to our room. Our parents did not want to deal with any more drama, so they let us run a little bit more.
It started getting late, so after a few more minutes of running, we stopped. We said goodnight to Marei, and then went back to our room. We got into bed, and the second our heads touched the pillows, we fell asleep.
In the morning we got out of bed, brushed our teeth, and got changed. After a little while, I got thirsty. We did not have any more bottled water, so my mom filled up a cup with the sink water.
“EWWWW!” I yelled as I spit out the gross liquid. “That’s not water. That tastes like chlorine!” That kind of worried me because there is a pool downstairs. Luckily we managed to get some nice clean water.
After a little while, we left the hotel. I tried to convince my mom and dad to stay a little longer so we could swim in the pool, but they said we had to leave now otherwise we would arrive in Miami very late.
Every hour felt like an eternity. What felt like 8 YEARS later was actually 8 hours. I was exhausted.
“Are we there yet?” I nagged, trying to sit up to see the map and how many minutes were left. After a while my mom and dad stopped answering me, I could tell they were getting annoyed. I dozed off, leaning on the window for many minutes, maybe an hour. I blinked, realizing the palm trees by the roads, and the tropical trees and birds in the sky. I think we are almost there! I shot up in my seat and looked at the minutes. 10 minutes away!?
“Can we open the windows!? We are almost there!” I squealed. I stuck my hand out the window, the warm breeze felt amazing.
When I first stepped into the car, I was so excited to start the long journey, but now I was so excited to leave the cramped car. I knew it was Miami because of the warm weather and the palm trees.
“Are we there yet?” I ask again as we pull into a big round driveway.
“For the first time ever, we are.” my mom says, smiling.
After 20 hours of waiting for the moment where I could finally step out of the car, feeling
the comforting warmth of the Miami heat against my skin, it was finally here.
I opened the car door and a burst of heat came into the car. Calmness filled my body, as I run to the door and ring the doorbell. A familiar face opened the door. I run in to hug my grandma as a big smile covers her face.
I am here, I think, I am finally where I am meant to be.
