Undergraduate / AIRPLANES AND I - Common Application Prompt 5 [6]

Hi everyone. I am writing the essay for Common Application, the fifth prompt:
Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, which marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family.

Please read for its content, cohesion and the flow. I will proofread for grammar mistakes, so you don't need to concern about it.
Thank you. I will appreciate your help

My first time

"Are you traveling alone?", said the woman with utter surprise and curiosity. "Y...e...", I could not finish when, suddenly, everything immersed in darkness, and rain splattered. Such a bizarre feeling was that: I was pushed ahead, then fiercely accelerated in the total darkness, and an unexpected thud... much like years ago, the day my father and I were on that roller coaster. But now, beside me sat a strange woman whom I had just got to know, together leaving the small city for something big. "Flight VN-024 has successfully taken off". The rain stopped. - "Yes, I am"

It was the first time I traveled by airplane, the first time I traveled out of my hometown, and the first time I traveled 500 miles away from home: I took the SAT. Looking through windows, still I could see nothing but the grumbling engine. Vagueness rushed into the cabin: how were I supposed to do upon landing? Could I navigate in a complete-alien airport I have never visited? Should I wait for a cab to approach or should I go find one? What if I were kidnapped by the taxi driver?... All those thoughts hung in suspense.

Never have I been baffled by such uncertainty. One year ago, I was still a teenager sitting at the back enjoying my trip to the campsite. I had no such idea as what to bring for lunch, whether to bring an extra sleeping bag, or even how to deal with a surprise bear. Perhaps cry and pray god? My parents had covered them all. At best, the most I could do was sitting in position and causing no problem. It was a lighthearted mission.

Back to reality, time had passed. There came my flight. Fortunately, everything went smoothly as opposed to previous uncertainty. Despite almost being dominated by anxiety, throbbing heart, and trembling voice, I managed to ask as many people as possible. The fact that I am voluble unexpectedly helped me. It was not until I were exposed to such situation that I learned how to ask for help without feeling embarrassed.

Having found a hostel after a long journey, my exhausted body insisted on falling into a lifetime slumber, but his master was piled up with too many perplexing thoughts. He had bumped into so much new majestic things that day to notice his slave's desperate beg. And no, "You must get up early for the examination", I reminded myself, sounded like that feminine high-pitch voice at home.

The next morning, instead of reluctantly getting up by mom's calling as usual, I unconsciously hit the alarm clock till its plangent sound vanished into thin air. I certainly knew what to do: instead of savoring the omelet prepared by mom, I had to cook, all by myself, before 7 o'clock. "How can mom even get up that early to prepare breakfast for the whole family, every single day?", I wondered not in astonishment but in shame.

Logically speaking, with fully-developed dexterity and intellectual capability, I was beyond able to cook for myself long ago, so why did not I do it then, let alone other household chores? Why was I such a dependent and futile guy? Only by being in this situation did I realize what I had taken for granted. Unless I comprehend and change, I will never grow out of myself and forever be a big child.

500 miles was not a long distance, but no one would drive and wish me the best. Only I and myself: "You are going to make it" - "I will". With a confident smile, I betook myself to the test room, having realized that I had to become more mature from then on.

After exploring HCM City and myself, I took the flight home. Turns after turns, the airplane made its landing. However, there is an airplane spreading its wings, ready for its next flight: where would it go now?

Undergraduate / WHY US? - the unimaginable bewilderment after an scary accident [3]

Prompt #5: Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, which marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family.

Please help me with my essay. Thank you for paying interest in my essay. I will appreciate it.
There's no need to check for grammar errors, I just want comments on my coherence, cohesion, flow and ideas. I'm willing to receive any kind of criticism. Thank you.

WHY US?

Five. My mother was driving me home on her antique scooter. Four. Breeze filled in the air as I could ever clearly remember. Three. Faintly, a roaring engine approached from behind. Two. On the left, the roaring magnified and tore air into pieces fiercely stabbing onto every inch of flesh. One. Unstoppable oscillation: the scooter did not seem to hold on. Zero... Metallic clashing, tire squealing and utter silence.

Before I understood what had happened, before I could see the license plate of that hit-and-run motorcycle, and before gravity could seize my opportunity, my body unconsciously embraced mom, tightly as it possibly could. However, gravity won the tug-of-war against me. We fell onto the street, harshly. Everything immersed in echoes and blurs. I was left in unimaginable bewilderment: "Why us?" - "Why did this happen to us?" - "No!" - indignation popped up in my mind before the smell of asphalt woke me up.

Hardly had I been taken back to reality that adrenaline began to fuel me with throbbing heart, shaking hands, and trembling voice. Immediately, I turned to mom. I was speechless. Wounds bleeding on her face, on her nose, on her knee... A huge cut ran across her left foot. Her face turned pale with fear: she was dumbfounded. I looked vainly and repeatedly asked if she was okay, forgetting that my knee also flooded with blood and pain. I was never frightened by blood except for this time. I thought I could lose mom in any moments. Without luck and god's protection, mom could have... No, I must not thought about it.

Years bought up by mom, never have I care for her. When she struggled with osteoarthritis while cleaning the floor, I did notice but did not offer a helping hand. When she told me to wash my clothes, I did listen but did tell her it was her business. Never have I appreciate the moments we were together. Only when my mother lay under fatal shears did I realize how much she meant to me and how ungratefully I treat her as her only child.

The day after the accident, I watched her intently as if I would not have had another chance to see her in real life. I offered to share the household chores. I would clean the dishes, wash my dirty clothes and sometimes prepare breakfast for the family. My duty at home had never been that much in my 18 years. And I am happy about that. I was ready to take the responsibility, to lift the pressure away from my mother, to be the breadwinner, and to grow into maturity while my parents would reach old-age and oblivion.

Days after the accident, I was still nervous whenever my mother rode her scooter out. Insisting on driving her, I assured myself not to let that accident happen again: I must not let her suffer from injuries and traumas for just one more time. I felt the great obligation to ensure her safety. On the way to grocery store, I felt as if her hero when she held my belly and said: "Thank you, my dear. You have finally become my gentleman.". Simple as it might seem, her gratitude meant so much to me: it marked my transition from an apathetic child to a caring and reliable man.

Why did that accident happen to us instead of somebody else? Nobody knows. Thus, I am now more beware of everyday events as everything can happen for no reason. Through my accident, I am not scared of new problems and difficulties in life. Although I have not completely transformed into adulthood, I am ready to learn lessons from adversities to become more well-rounded and mature.