The day started out like any other, hot and humid, with the sun shining bright. We had been planning this for the longest time, the way you would plan for a big test. We both had money and opportunity. Now all we had to do was put the plan into action.

We made a few calls and things seemed to be going our way. The sun went down and as midnight approached, I could not contain my excitement, though at the same time, I was overwhelmed with fear. Just once, I told myself. I just want to see what it’s like. That was the only excuse I could come up with to make it seem okay.

The house was pitch dark and her parents were asleep. Her shoes squeaked on the kitchen tiles so she took them off. Climbing up the stairs, we snuck into her room. I shut and locked the door, making certain that no one could enter. I took a towel and crammed it under the door so no smoke or odor would seep through the cracks.

As we went into her bathroom, she turned on the exhaust fan and I grabbed another towel to put under that door. Now there was no way we would get caught. We were guaranteed one night of fun and laughter. She sat on the toilet with the lid down, and I sat on the edge of the tub. She giggled and I said, “We really are going through with this, aren’t we?” She looked at me and laughed.

There it was, rolled and lit. I will never forget the smell. It smelled so fresh, as though we were in a field of it. She took the first, and I, the second. After getting past the burn in our throats, we began to pass it back and forth like kids playing a game of hot potato.

Finally, I began to feel it. We both did. All of a sudden it hit us like a tornado and out of the blue, we began to laugh uncontrollably. It was like a Charlie horse in my stomach but without the pain. We laughed so hard, our faces stuck as though they had been dipped in glue.

By the time we came down, the bathroom was completely smoked out. I looked around and then back at her. The walls began to appear as though they were closing in.

“I’m panicking,” I told her. My heart was racing as though it were going to jump out of my chest. My vision began to fade and I lost my hearing. I looked at her and then everything was gone. I woke up with blood on my shirt and a busted lip.

I was rushed to the emergency room for countless tests. The smoke I had been inhaling cut off the oxygen to my brain, causing me to collapse and have a seizure. I fell in the tub and hit my head on the faucet. My uncontrollable shaking forced me to hit my mouth on the side of the tub. I received 27 stitches in the back of my head and four on my lip. The day I came home from the hospital, I had to explain my one night of fun to my dad.

After that crash in the tub, I continued to have seizures and was diagnosed with epilepsy. My one night of fun has taken away my ability to drive, has put me on medication for years to come, and worst of all, broken my dad’s trust. It wasn’t that much fun after all.