The year is 1996, and 16yo me is growing up in Casablanca, Morocco.
The age for having a driver's license in Morocco was 18, but some friends and me would sneak out of home at night and take our parent's cars to go clubbing.
That night, I'm at my then best friend's house, having a couple of beers.
His brother has a friend over, and he wants weed. Neither my friend nor I ever smoked, but they ask us to get them some. So the (drunk and stoned) friend comes with us, my friend gets his dad's car, and there we go.
For the sake of clarity :
We drive to a bad part of town. BrosF gets out of the car and rings at a building (remember kids, there were no cell phones at the time). After a little while, he comes back and tells us to come with him, we're going to the dealers appartment.
We're 16. BrosF was in his 20's. We're kinda scared, but don't want to look like we are, so we follow.
We get there, there are 4 males in their 30's in there. They're all smiling and laughing with us, Dealer pours us a glass of cheap wine, we try to refuse, and that's when we realize it wasn't really a choice. It's all well hidden behind smiles and laughs, but we are trapped.
A few bottles of cheap wine later, they bring out a bottle of "Ma Hya", an artisanal Eau de vie. I had never tasted this before or after, but this was made in heaven, it tasted amazing, but damn did it get you drunk.
Anyway, after all this, we're really badly drunk. That's when Dealer says that he doesn't have anymore weed, and that we need to go to his own supplier. Just to be clear, that wasn't said as a choice, but as a fact.
We get down, and he says that we are not able to drive in our condition, and requests the car keys.
He sits at the wheel, BrosF in the passenger side, MyF and me in the back. He aims for the Old Medina.
Now, daytime, the old medina (old city) is a slum, with a maze of tiny streets. A portion of it is kinda nice during the day, there's a public market where you can buy cheap clothes etc, there even are some touristy "shops".
But nightime is completely different, and I discovered it that day. This is the scariest view I have ever seen.
Now here starts the scariest part, but forgive me, I usually have no memory, but add to it the fact that we were dead drunk and I only remember bribes of that night. What comes after are just some memories, between them, I have no idea what happened.
Memory : We're parked in one of the tiny streets in there, the Dealer and brosF are not in their seats. We're in a Mercedes in a slum. People are walking around and staring at us, many of them have machette like swords, and have badly scarred face. I remember clearly thinking that my parents would not find me in my bed in the morning and be called later to identify my corpse. I wish I could convey the feeling of terror we were going through.
Blackout
Memory : Dealer and BrosF are back. They are driving like crazy in the tiny streets of the medina, wheels hitting the sidewalk all the time. A police van is in pursuit!!!!
Blackout
Memory : We're back at the door of the dealer's building. He has the car keys, and don't want to give them back to us. I remember, in my drunk state and hysterical state, going to him, crying for the keys, and coming back to MyF and BrosF, laughing my ass off and saying check out how I'm gonna make him pity me until he gives me the keys! Well, turns out it worked and I got the keys back!!!
That's it folks. I realize that this doesn't sound as scary as it really was, but believe me, I was sure I was gonna die that night...
Note : English isn't my native language, sorry :)
