The Part Where I Get In A Car Crash

It was sunny, warm...the perfect summer day. I was sitting in the back seat of my mom’s van, listening to the radio and feeling excited. As soon as we got home, we’d drop off groceries and go pick up a friend! We were very close to our house when...WHAM!

The car jerked violently, and I had no idea what had happened. One of my shoes had shoved itself under the driver’s seat, but the other one was on my foot. The car wouldn’t start. The three of us sat in the empty, silent car before my mother yelled to get out. We climbed out of the car, looking back to see its disfigured frame. Making our way over to a little parking lot across from the road, I was shaken, badly so. It was very long ago, but I've been told that I was crying and shivering, a real basket case.

Seeing parents and their young, shaken child staring at a mangled car, a woman pulled over and got out of her own perfectly fine vehicle. She helped me calm down while my parents called an ambulance. The other driver, who had hit us, was also in the parking lot. He had been speeding, and pulled out of a shopping center without looking for any oncoming vehicle.

The ambulance and a fire truck soon arrived, and everyone was checked for injuries. No one had any serious wounds, but emotionally, we were pretty scratched up. To this day, as I drive down that road, despite how different it seems, despite the years that have passed...I’m still apprehensive and terrified of any car trying to leave the shopping center, because who knows? Maybe I won't be so lucky next time.