Our Scariest Moments

In the spirit of Halloween, we decided to include some stunning writing by some of VOX’s newest teen members. Here you will find what they considered the scariest moments of their lives so far. These personal experiences go the whole nine yards, from flying hair extensions and haunted rooms to suspicious police officers. We hope you’ll read them and enjoy.

— Machelle Tran/VOX Staff

Loose Parts
I am a member of my high school’s dance line, which performs during the football season at half time. During my junior year, my school, Mundy’s Mill, played our rival, Lovejoy High School, for the homecoming game. My extensions felt loose during the first and second quarters while I was dancing in the stands, but I didn’t bother to put in any hairpins. Once we began the half-time routine, facing Lovejoy’s crowd, I felt the extensions slowly slipping out of my hair. As I dropped to the ground for the split, my extensions came completely out and onto the field! My natural hair came down over my face, and I had no choice but to keep dancing. The squad members, band directors, the crowd and everyone in the vicinity laughed hysterically. I had no choice but to laugh it off and make an important memo to myself: always use hairpins!

— Yani Harper, 17, Mundy’s Mill High

The Stranger
When you are young, your parents always say, “Don’t talk to strangers.” When I was about 9 years old, I understood what that meant. I had to stay after school for a Spanish meeting. At that time, my mom, my baby sister and I stayed in some apartments across the street. As I was coming to the crosswalk, there was no crossing guard, so I decided to just run across when I saw no cars coming either way. Once across the street, this guy came out of nowhere, pulled out a stack of money, looked at me and said, “Come walk with me to the store.” In my mind, I thought about all the candy, chips and cookies I could buy. I started to walk away, and he grabbed my arm. I think my heart skipped a beat. I was scared. I couldn’t understand what this stranger wanted from me. I started to cry as he pulled my arm in the direction away from my house. I don’t remember how, but I managed to get away. I cried and ran all the way home. I was so terrified I never walked to school alone again.

—Tyana Jackson, 17, South Atlanta High

The Mistaken Mother
A few years ago, my mom, my brother and I visited Helen, Ga. We went to all the shops and looked at all the cool sites. It was 7 p.m. when we began to head toward the hiking mountain. The officer who was standing guard smiled at us and told us that the park closed at 9 p.m. My mom got a little worried and asked the officer if we had enough time to hike the mountain. He said that we had plenty of time. So we started our hike, and it was really fun at first since we saw beautiful waterfalls and a lot of great sights.

It started to get a little late. My brother and I suggested that we turn around and start walking back. My mom refused and said that we were supposed to hike until we reached the other side of the mountain. Her idea didn’t make any sense since our car was on the side where we started. All of a sudden, a huge bird flew in front of my brother and ran into him. I heard him scream. I thought that it was really funny since he looked really scared.

We hiked through the whole entire mountain, and by the time we reached the other side, it was past midnight. Once we were there, the only thing we saw was a road; there weren’t any buildings or anything. We had to hitchhike until a man finally stopped for us. I was really scared, but he turned out to be really nice and helped us a lot. He took us to a park ranger, who drove us to a hotel.

At the hotel, the park ranger told us that there was actually a team looking for us. The ranger asked my mom for ID, but she didn’t have it since she had left her purse in the car. We had to wait for the park ranger who had the keys to the parking lot, since it was closed. While we were waiting, a police officer ended up taking my brother and me away from my mom to question us. I was terrified, since the officer began to ask me if my mom was really my mom. I kept telling him she was, but he refused to believe me. Finally, the ranger with the keys arrived and took my mom to her car. I didn’t get to go with them, and the police officer made me extremely uncomfortable.

Finally my mom arrived and was able to show the police officer her ID He realized that she was my mother and let me go. By the time he left the hotel, it was around 2 a.m., and I was crying my eyes out. I never wanted to return to Helen again.

—Ariana Hoyos, 15, Roswell High

A Home Haunting
One of the scariest moments to me was a day when I was at home alone, upstairs in my room. My sister lives across the hall, and the door to her horribly messy room was open. I was looking into my mirror while putting on makeup. The house was silent. Then, out of nowhere, the door to my sister’s room slammed shut, almost angrily. I froze—terrified because I knew I was all alone. I stood there in my room for a moment before I ran down stairs, turned the TV on so the house was no longer silent and waited for my sister to get back.

I told my mom and my sister about the event that evening. My mother said, “Oh, it was probably wind.” But I don’t think so. The slamming of the door felt hostile. Now, I am forever convinced that my sister’s room is haunted.

— Gaby Myers, 16, Grady High

Thump
Looking ahead of the dashboard, I see it coming. One hundred feet in the air, a mile long, tall, dark and cold as concrete. Looking around, I try to see if there’s any way I can avoid it. I grip the wheel a little higher, my pulse raging in my ears, and I’m sweating like I’m cooking in an oven. “This is it,” I keep saying to myself. I’m trying hard to push away the thought of plunging what seems a million feet into the blank abyss. I start to slow down, my pulse still raging, “thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump.” I get on and start going higher, higher and higher until it seems like I’m in the clouds. I’m trying hard not to close my eyes and just stare at the road. I’m almost done, 50 feet, 40 feet, 30 feet, 20 feet, 10 feet … “Woo!” It’s over. I survived Spaghetti Junction.

—Hilary Essiy, 17, Chamblee High

The Party Turned Scary
So me and my girls heard about a party that was going down over by Willis Park and decided to go. We didn’t think anything of it—a typical party of a friend of a friend’s, you know? No one usually knows whose party it is. We just hear about it and go. It was a Friday night after we got finished watching the Centennial vs. South Cobb football game, so we were ready for our night to begin.
We decide to meet up at our friend Kenane’s house and leave from there. Mind you, I have six people in my car when only four fit comfortably. We follow another friend of ours to the party and when we get there, we’re immediately scared. No joke. We’re on some lonely back road that looks like something out of a horror movie.

In order to get to the party we had to drive up this massive driveway where it’s pitch black, and there lie four tiny little shotgun houses. So we get out of the car and this huge girl-looking dude approaches us and informs us that the party is really crowded, that it’s 112 degrees inside the tiny house and that people inside are beefing.

Being the optimist, I convinced my girls to go inside and party. We weren’t at the party for ten whole minutes when boys started arguing. Next thing I know, a sledge-hammer was involved, along with a gun and many, many people. It was scary. Me and my girls ran. We were okay, but most of all, we were ALIVE.

—Crystal Jordan, 18, Georgia Perimeter College