Imagine riding your bike down a quiet street when all of the sudden you hear the piercing sound of screeching tires, feel the shock of a deafening bang, and have to pedal as fast as you can to get away from a speeding truck. Scary, right? What would you do in that situation?
It happened during the summer between 6th and 7th grade. This was a terrifying experience in my life that taught me a valuable lesson I will never forget. I was riding down the street on my dad’s old mountain bike with a few of my friends at around 11pm. The bike had a squeaky, rusty chain and was missing the plastic covering on one of the pedals, but you could still ride it if you had to.

A truck full of people around 18 years old drove by us with their window open, turned around, tires screeching, and started coming up the street directly behind us. As they came closer, they slowed down and drove at our side. “Oh no,” I said to myself. Then, we saw a scarlet item the size of a flashlight soar out of the truck and land on the sidewalk in front of us. My ears rang as the object detonated with a sudden burst like thunder - A firework. Lucky for us, neither I nor my friends were injured in the explosion.
Just when we thought that our night couldn’t get any worse, the truck started to chase us. We tried to lose it in the labyrinth of streets, but every time we turned our heads to see if it was still there, we saw the truck plowing down the street straight at us. My friends and I were getting tired from the truck’s relentless pursuit, so we made a plan to lose it for good. We let the truck catch up to us a little bit and it drove up onto the curb about 10 feet behind us. My not-so-good bike didn’t hold up very well at the speed we were going and the chain fell off with a loud snap. Although my bike was no longer functioning, I still had enough momentum to get me to my destination. Just after we rounded the corner, we swerved off the sidewalk into some bushes and, faster than a pack of baboons, scaled the fence into a random person’s yard. As we huddled behind a tree, waiting for the truck to pass us by, the feeling of fear overcame me so much that I was shaking like a leaf. Once we were sure that they were gone, we tentatively climbed back over the fence to get our bikes and rode home (or ran in my case) as fast as we possibly could.

I’ll never forget the fear I felt that night. Looking back on this experience, you can see that there are lots of crazy people in the world and that you shouldn’t ride your bike on busy roads late at night. I learned about the importance of a curfew and that no matter how stupid a rule seems it will most likely benefit you to obey it.