Victoria Nguyen

And in that moment, they got into their car and they left.

And I panicked.

I asked her, hello, is anybody coming?

And there was just silence, faint typing.

And she finally goes, what direction are they headed?

And in that moment, I had no sense of direction.

I had no idea where I was.

My first instinct was to tell her, it's okay, I'll follow them.

which I know probably wasn't the best idea, especially because she was like, please don't do that.

But I didn't know what else to do in that moment.

In some ways, that woman trusted me to get her help, and so I felt like I needed to trust that I could.

And so I followed them at a distance, a reasonable distance, until I was able to tell that they hopped on the I-40 West,

And I followed them for a few miles until I got word from state troopers that help was on the way and to turn around now.

And I was like, heard, say less.

I'm turning around now.

And I'm driving down the opposite highway.

And I see these flashing lights zooming past me.

And I take the deepest breath I've taken all day.

And I look in the mirror, and I'm watching these lights just fade off into the distance, and I catch a glimpse of myself.

And I envisioned the me a year ago, driving on the same road with Herschel in the backseat, never imagining where this road could have taken me.