Broken Fall Break

The bright lights twinkled and glared at me. Perhaps they were even laughing. I forgot it was Friday night. It was the last day of fall break. All the rooms were booked in Mesquite, NV. My family and I had traveled 12 hours from Denver, CO, and I was tired. Distraught, I left the Holiday Inn Express parking lot headed for the 15 south freeway to Las Vegas. My mind was not focused. A car was coming my direction. I had turned into the oncoming lane. I had enough time to swerve into my lane. But another car was coming over the hill toward me. A white car swerved to miss me. It pulled over to the side of the road. The windows were rolled down. “Road rage! I’m going to get shot!” I quickly drove by and the car followed me. I prematurely turned left into an empty Wal-Mart parking lot. My heart was pounding. I made a quick U-turn. My back began to throb and my breathing was heavy. But the car was no longer behind me. I found my way to the freeway. Each time I saw headlights approaching, I feared it was the white car. I stopped at the gas station and book an over-priced room in Las Vegas. At 1 a.m., I was finally able to get some rest. At 5 a.m., I woke up to use the bathroom and change the thermostat. I took two steps and tripped over a suitcase lying on the floor. My fall was broken by the table. But my face immediately had an excruciating stinging sensation. I touched my cheek. In the dark, I felt the wetness on my fingers. “Aaaah! I’m bleeding!” I woke up everyone else. My face had hit the metal corner of the lampstand on the table. I rushed to the bathroom to see the reflection of white flesh on my cheek. I contacted the hotel desk and security arrived shortly thereafter. They were also trained EMT. It was a deep cut but thankfully it did not require stitches. They cleaned it up and I tried to rest before completing our journey. What a trip!-literally.