Crash

It was a cold winter day in January. Snow had covered the ground, and with it ice from the rain from the night before. My alarm went off at 6AM; I opened my eyes and felt the crust from my eyelid rip open. Every inch of my body felt heavy. I dragged my feet down to the icy cold floor. I sat on my bed for a second and re-evaluating my decision. Did I really want to go to school? But at last I stood up and walked to the bathroom. After my daily morning routine, I walked outside and to no surprise my dad had parked behind me again. Again a thought had came to mind- do you really want to go to school? But then I told myself “I’m already dressed” so I walked back up the stairs to wake up my brother.
As he moved the van out my way, I started to chip away at the ice on my windshield. When I was done with the “important” side I looked over at the passenger side. It only took me one minute to convince myself that that side didn't matter as much. As a result I flung the snow broom into the back of my car and placed my purse on the passenger seat. As I backed up my car out of the driveway, a black jeep had appeared.
I expected the car to continue on but they waited until I came out. I thought nothing of it at first but as I continued down the street I assumed this car regretted letting me out first, so I started to go a little faster.

I reached a street in my neighborhood that has a very big slope and I was going down hill. I started off fast then ease down towards mid way and let gravity do the rest. When I pressed down on the brake the car had not stopped. I looked puzzled and pressed it again, but still the car continued. So I pressed down even harder but still not a budge. Time began to slow down as I looked for more options. I looked at my emergency brake but just before I pulled it up I thought of all the action movies I had ever seen.The impact of me pushing that would make the car go in circles. I looked at the end of the street. I already knew that there was an intersection. To take the chance of going straight could make me get into a collision. I didn’t want to put two cars into an unnecessary car accident.

Then I thought make a crazy U turn but then I thought of the car behind me. How I wished they weren’t behind me. With all these thoughts lingering my car had hit lawn grass. I began to panic again. With the speed the car was going there was no doubt that it was going to crash into a house. But then I thought wait, I’m no longer on icy ground. That’s when I yanked the emergency brake as hard as I possible could. I felt like a genius, that’s it I thought no accident. But to my surprise the car continued down.
Out of options I said, “Jesus take the wheel”. The first thing that hit my car was a mailbox. That cracked the windshield whole. Then my car crashed into a giant wooden fence, making a cracking gunshot noise. At that moment gravity had pushed my body forward. My knees slammed right into the bottom dashboard. My face flew to the steering wheel, but I fought gravity; as I pushed back the airbag popped out. Finally the car had made a complete stop.

I sat there traumatized looking at the cracked windshield. Fumes from the car leaked into the air and the smoke crowded what was left of fresh air. Yet I still sat there in shock I stood there. I heard a voice yell, “are you okay?” with sarcasm I told myself “yeah I just nearly died, but I’m good”. I realized that the same black jeep that was behind me was pulled over next to me and the woman had been yelling to see of I was “okay”. I wondered how long she had been there. The voice screeched again “Are you okay?” I looked down at my legs and questioned if I could walk. In tears I took a step out. My legs could barely hold the weight of my body. I started to swing back and forth. I took one glace at the car and dropped to my knees. As though I was on a dramatic television show and was about to yell “WHYYY”. But I began to ball. The hood of the car looked like a squished soda can. The woman in jeep began to worry and got out of her car. She asked me things like “is your bag in your car?” and “do you have a phone to call your mother?” every answer was yes, but nothing seemed to be coming out of my mouth so I nodded.

People started to come out their house to see what happened. Before I realized it I had a whole crowd asking if I was okay. I looked at them like they were crazy. Where they blind? Couldn’t they see that my beautiful car was damaged? All that was in my head was my car. As far as I knew my injuries were minor. The cops came quicker than I had expected. They started to ask me questions as though I got pulled over. Do you have your licenses with you miss?” “Yes” I replied. He took a look and chuckled a bit “wow your birthday is four days away”. That’s when it all hit me. I gad gone through a near death experience just before I had hit eighteen.