In the Blink of an Eye

In the Blink of an Eye.

The worst part was how wonderfully the day had started and how great the rest of the day was supposed to be. The whole day had been planned out. It was a beautiful, sunny Wednesday during winter break, and I had plans with my boyfriend, best friend and her boyfriend. Austin, Krissy, Bert and I wanted to have a “couples day.” We went swimming in the morning, then planned to go eat lunch at Taco John's before we went ice skating.

I was driving in my little Ford Focus with Austin. Krissy was with Bert, and they were traveling a different way to Taco John's. I remember I was pretty hungry, but only agreed to Taco John's because the rest of the group wanted it, as I hadn’t been in the mood.

I had turned left, and then was trying to go straight across the one-way street. Traffic on that road was going 45 MPH. A semi was trying to turn right from that road, and get on the road I was on. Because of the wide turn he was about to make, he wanted me to cross over first.

“I don’t know who this guy thinks he is, can’t even see around his-,” I muttered to Austin as I crept forward, trying to see past the Semi.

Then, BAM. It was more like a loud pop than a crash. The glass on Austin’s window shattered instantly as did the front windshield. This loud pinging from the car was in my ears, as if crying out in distress. The air bags had deployed, but I hadn’t even felt it. The air was clouded, and I found it hard to breathe from the dust inside the bags.

I glanced over at Austin, who had the same look mirrored in his eyes; Shock and disbelief, wondering if this had really just happened.

“Are you okay?” was the first thing I asked, and he said yes. I looked him over checking to see if he was bleeding or anything out of the unusual. Once I determined he was not, I checked myself, and started crying when I realized there was a sharp pain stretching down my back. I soon forgot it when the shock set in, and I realized that I had to see if the other party was okay.

My door opened easy, and I got out and looked around me. My car had somehow ended up on the left side of the road, luckily, out of the way of more traffic. The front end of my car was the part that ate it.

I saw track marks in the snow from the other car leading down to the ditch, where a tan Malibu had stopped. From one glance, I could tell that the car was totaled, It’s front end looked like it had been decimated. I was praying to God that there weren’t any kids in that car. I would never be able to forgive myself if a child had been hurt.

I ran down the ditch and discovered there was only one middle-aged woman in the car. She looked shaken up, but conscious and not visibly bleeding.

“Are you okay?” I asked tensely, she nodded, but didn’t make eye contact with me. I was torn between staying with her, trying to figure out what happened and checking on Austin. I climbed up the ditch back to my car. People were starting to run toward the scene, and I was bombarded with, “Are you okay? Is she okay? Did you call 911?”

I hadn’t even thought to call 911, it had all happened so fast. I didn’t even know where my phone was or if my hands would be able to type the numbers.

Walking up, I was finally able to see the side of my car that had been hit. The front left tire had been pushed completely in, and the front was totaled. All the juices and oils inside it were leaking out, leaving a puddle on the side of the road. I was crying harder now, sobbing, taking in the damage that had been done.

Austin was still seated in the car. I came up to get a good look at him.

“Austin you’re bleeding!” I screamed, as I saw blood trailing from his temple to just above his eye. He looked confused as he reached up and felt it. He shrugged as if it was nothing, but I was certain it was not nothing.

I tried to wrench open his door. It was so hard, as it had been damaged upon impact. But I was determined to get Austin out. I didn’t know any better, and I wasn’t thinking at all. I just wanted to see him walking, and be alright. I was sobbing, and I probably looked like a lunatic.

I don’t know how many people had approached, but I know someone had grabbed me and pulled me away from the door.

“You can’t move him, sweetheart. If he’s hurt, you need to wait until the ambulance comes.” The blonde woman who had grabbed me said.

I continued to cry, and I was calling for Austin. Although the accident had passed, I felt afraid. Fear was the most prevalent emotion at that moment.

By now police had arrived, and so had an ambulance. An officer started asking me questions, but I could only give him hysterical replies.

“I just couldn’t see! I couldn’t see around the semi!” I blubbered. He wanted me to go sit back in his cruiser, but I didn’t want to leave Austin. The officer explained that Austin needed to go in the ambulance now. I said I’d only go if he promised he’d take me to the hospital with the ambulance. He agreed, and I went back to his car.

It was there I tried to call my mom, Austin’s mom, and Krissy to explain. Meanwhile, paramedics were loading my boyfriend onto a stretcher and putting him in the ambulance. He was still awake, and his eyes were focused on me the whole time the paramedics were pushing him around. I was screaming and crying, my hands over my mouth in despair. I was praying to God he was okay. I could see he was crying too.

Later he told me he was only crying because he saw me crying, and that he had winked at me when they were putting him in the ambulance. I knew he was acting strong and brave, but deep down he was just as scared as I was.

The officer was kind to me on the ride to the hospital. He told me stories to calm me down. He told me about how his daughter, when she had gotten her first car, had totaled it in the driveway her first day using it. He told me that all in all, I had gotten extremely lucky. Nobody had gotten badly hurt. So what if my car was lost? He stayed with me the entire time I was in the waiting room, checking in, and then led me in where Austin was.

“Now before I let you in there, you have to promise me one thing. You can’t be crying or sobbing in there, it will only make it worse. Promise?” He said. I agreed quickly, my mind focused only on seeing Austin. He led me back to where Austin was still on a stretcher. His shirt had been removed and replaced with a hospital gown. His mother and stepfather were sitting in chairs on one side of the room. As soon as Austin saw me, He lit up and smiled, which is not the easiest thing to do with your head and neck in a brace. He reached his hand out for me, and I didn’t leave his side for the rest of the day.

I had never been more afraid in my entire life. The day had started out beautifully, and it could have ended so good as well. But in one split second, it had all changed. Not even enough time could have passed for me to blink an eye. That’s how fast it can take to change your path, and change your life. After it all, you can’t help but wonder if there was something; anything that could have been done to prevent what happened. In that one moment, six thousand dollars plus a year of hard work went down the drain.

My life changed from that two second experience. I still have my life and I have Austin, but it’s been a bumpy road since then. My back aches all of the time. Austin has become a backstreet driver; yelling at me when I do the tiniest thing out of line while driving. I started working full-time to recover from my losses. I didn’t join track in the spring because I couldn’t afford to lose hours at work. I can’t stress enough how hard it’s been. However, all I can do is try my best to avoid it happening again.