[ TT ] You 're stopped at a rundown gas station in the middle of nowhere . You go into the bathroom , and look along the wall , seeing phone numbers . One catches your eye , your own ...

Every summer in my life that I can remember, my parents had dragged our family out to Crater Lake for our annual `` Danielson weekend of fun'' as my Mom called it. Except it was n't fun, it was bullshit. If you've ever been to Crater Lake, or any lake for that matter, you would know that lakes are incredibly boring. I'm sure there are some things you can do for fun on a lake, like intertubing or jetskiing; however our outings mostly revolved around `` soaking up the sun'', whatever that means. 
 
 One summer though, was certainly more interesting than the others. This summer was between my eight and ninth grade year, so as you could imagine, I was spanking the monkey A LOT that summer. The story begins on our drive up from the small town of Talent, Oregon, which was a cool 7 hours away from the lake. This drive mostly consisted of me and my siblings fighting and my mom playing Elton John CDs nobody liked. 
 
 Amidst the chaos that is a packed minivan, I managed to take a subtle glance at the gas meter, and realized it was almost empty, only about 4 hours into the drive. I decided to alert the driver, my father, 
 
 `` Um, Dad, we're running out of gas'' 
 
 My Dad turned around and gave me the evil eye glance, this kind of confused me because I was n't entirely sure what triggered him. 
 
 `` Aright, Steve, why do n't you pay for this next fillup, HUH TOUGH GUY? We'll make it, I'll just put it in Neutral when we are going downhill.'' 
 
 I said nothing but I was really thinking, `` Holy shit dad that's the dumbest fucking idea I've ever heard.'' Sure enough we pull into a trashy gas station one hour later because the engine was starting to cough like my dog does before it throws up. 
 
 As I mentioned earlier, this was a particularly `` high hormone'' time in my life, so my much ill trained 14 year old mind somehow convinced itself it would be good idea to go relieve some stress in the bathroom. I walked into the restroom and, holy shit, the smell. I seriously had no idea if I could even do the deed with such a smell, but eventually I resolved that I would just hold my breath and finish off before I needed to gasp for air. 
 
 Unfortunately, this was possible. 
 
 So I walk into the stall and pull down my pants, but before I can even get started, I glance up at the massive amounts of graffiti on the wall, mostly phone numbers written such as `` call xxx-xxxx for a good time!!!'' I initially shrugged it off and started my business. 
 
 Whilst I proceeded I decided to look up one last time, and look at the graffiti on the wall, because well, It was the better option to gaze at. That's when I saw it. A bit lower than where my eyes met the wall, was inscribed a phone number that seemed all too familiar. In fact, it was my phone number. 
 
 `` Holy Shit!'' I exclaimed, and I stopped my business right at that moment. A brigade of questions came into my mind. Was this one of my friends? Perhaps a family member from years past? I do n't think we had ever stopped at this gas station before. 
 
 I began to panic, and at that moment I gasped for air after not being able to hold my breath any longer. I began to hyperventilate, no doubt breathing in massive amounts of shit particles. 
 
 Then I became less concerned with discovering how the number had appeared there and more so with how to erase it, and so I frantically scrubbed it with my finger, with no success. I paused for a second and thought of how to solve this problem, how could I erase the number? At this moment I came up with what I will forever remember as the most paradoxical solution to a problem I have ever conceived. 
 
 The solution was simultaneously the greatest and worst idea I've ever had. 
 
 In a moment of desperation, I dipped my finger into the not-so-clean gas station toilet bowl, and used the wet finger to frantically scrub the number off the wall. After finishing my quest, I felt relieved. I pulled up my pants, left the stall, and began my journey back to the car. 
 
 However as I left one last thing caught my eye. As I walked out I glanced briefly at the sink, a tool made specifically for dispensing sanitary water onto the hands. 
 
 `` Fuck.'' I uttered under my breath.
