Aniyah’s Story

August 23rd, 2021 was the day I met my college room mate Aniyah, although small in stature, Aniyah had a very big and outgoing personality. I would come to find out that she enjoyed meeting new people and doing thrill seeking activities. She frequently asked me to do things such as go to parties at 3 am or ride fair attractions that did not seem up to date on any safety inspections, but seeing it to be unlikely that we’d get hurt I’d usually comply, until one evening in October. I was studying for an upcoming Chemistry exam when she burst through the door exclaiming, “SKYY!!!!”. Usually when she would enter the room like this I knew she was going to introduce some over the top, perhaps questionable, antic that she would request I participate in. “Get dressed, we have to go”, she yelled. “For what?”, I replied as one does. “We HAVE to go, they’re waiting for us!”, she said. I didn’t recall making any plans with anyone that evening, so I asked her who is waiting for us. Her reply would result in me giving her the most concerned look of my life. “Well, I met this rapper at the gas station and he says we can go with him to his studio, but we gotta leave RIGHT NOW”, she explained. How tempting it was to abandon my studies for my most difficult class to go hang out with a self-proclaimed rapper whom she met just minutes ago, but alas I had to decline. I blamed it on my need to study, but truthfully the idea just sounded like a bad idea. I explained to her why I wasn’t going and even tried to convince her not to go, but nothing could stop Aniyah once she put her mind to something. The last words she would every say to me were, “Fine I’ll go have fun without you” as she quickly closed the door. Many hours would ellipse and I hadn’t become worrisome of her absence until the clock read 1 a.m. Although, I know she’s grown we had made a deal that if one of us was spending the night somewhere we’d at least let the other know, but I hadn’t received such information. I texted her a quick “Hey, Where are you text?”, but checking my phone closer to 2 I saw that she never responded. I then called her hoping she’d answer a call over a text, but the phone rang until the automated lady told me she wasn’t available to talk. I then consulted our group of friends if they had heard anything from her, but the last anyone had heard from her was at 11 p.m when she sent a snap of her in the passenger seat of a car. I told the RA on-call about my concerns and she said,”She’s an adult who can make her own decisions, I’m sure she’s fine”. With that I went to sleep around 4 a.m hoping she’d return in the morning. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t be waking up to Aniyah’s cheering face in the morning, instead it would be 3 sets of knocks each being louder than the one prior. I opened the door to an officer. After a brief look of confusion the man asked me “Does a girl by the name of Aniyah live here?”. I responded with an immediate yes, and the officer followed with an invitation to enter my room, I accepted. “I’m sorry to relay this information to you, but Aniyah was in a car accident last night” he would share. My jaw hit the floor with shock and seeing this the officer patted my shoulder. “Unfortunately, she was in the passenger seat of a car going a little over 90 mph and it collided with a semi truck around 12:30 a.m.”. Tears began to cloud my vision , but before they could reach my face the officer began asking about who the driver might be, because he fled the scene before authorities arrived. All I could offer was that she said he was a rapper and they were going to his studio, then I asked what her condition was. “She’s in the ICU, in and out of consciousness, it could go either way”. After hearing that the tears began to flow like a dam had just broken whilst holding back millions of gallons of water. He apologized for the inconvenience soon after and left the room leaving me with my own thoughts. As I stared at her empty bed, I began to blame myself. Maybe, I should’ve put more effort into trying to stop her or maybe I should’ve went with her at least. I wish i could have done anything more than I had done to have her be able to come back to our dorm last night safely. After a few hours of crying, I mustered the strength to go to the hospital. After getting her location from the help desk, the only thing that stood between me and her was a door. I felt my face turn warm and my tears start to develop, but I halted them to put on a good face for her. I opened the door to her unconscious body being supported by a dozen machine’s. That halting of tears was given the green light so quickly as I held her hand and weeped. In the room I stayed for a few hours until I needed to report back to campus. I couple weeks would go by until I heard a knock at the door. It was Aniyah and her father. The once spunky and energetic girl I had roomed with appeared to be drained and soulless at the door. Her father would chime in that Aniyah was going to take the semester off to heal and they were there to pack up her things. I granted them entrance and within an hour she was packed up, I gave her a gentle hug and I haven’t seen her since. A half barren dorm room I resided in for the rest of the semester. Every time I entered its walls, I wish to myself that she hadn’t had been in that car. I know she liked the thrill of going fast down the highway, but I wish she would have seen the danger behind it. I know she liked meeting new people, but I wish she wouldn’t have accepted a stranger to be a competent driver. These things that I wished my friend would have consider, are the same things I wish every passenger or driver would consider before they embark on their road journey. No one is saying you can’t have fun, but it is strongly encouraged that you have fun safely. Heed my warning and consider the actions of Aniyah, before you decide to do something dangerous on the roads and I’m sure your fate will result much greater than my unfortunate roommate’s.