Cheated Death

Moving to fast
Not paying attention to details
Round a corner

Drifting over the double yellow lines
Oncoming traffic
Over corrects once

Hits the gravel on the side
Over corrects twice
Fishtailing into the other lane

The car rocks like a boat
Brakes screaming
Or was it me

The car lurches sideways
Hits the ditch
Tilting hard

A NASCAR special flits through my head
What to do when you know you’re going to crash
Relax, Relax, I repeat that mantra again and again

Dust is spit up
The car is on its hood
Sliding forward

Glass cracks
Spiderwebbing out before my eyes
The blue green colors of the sky turned to brown dust

I close my eyes and pray
Hoping to live another day
Hanging on for dear life

The car stops
Upside down
Me dangling in the seatbelt

I reach for the keys
Turning the engine off
So the chance of combustion is lowered

Taking a deep breath
I unclip the seat belt
Falling onto small shards of glass

Driver’s side door crushed in
Passenger door buried in gravel
Climbing into the back seat I push open a door

Stumbling out in to the bright white light
Five steps I collapse onto the edge of the road
Looking at the remains of my car

Some cars stop to help
Police are called
People drive by in wonder

I sit and stare
Shaken up quite a bit
But practically unharmed

A fire marshal happens by
Checks me out
Radios in no need for an ambulance

Parents are called
Racing to their child
Making sure she is okay

Three hours pass by and no police
Daddy calls in
Tells them that we are leaving for the hospital

Still in shock I try to answer questions
Stumbling over answers
Completely numb to pain

Poking and prodding
Looking for broken bones
I only feel stiffness and numbness

The doctor prescribes a muscle relaxant and some pain medication
Saying I am lucky to be alive
That the seat belt saved my life

Returning to the car
Tow trucks arrive
Turning the car over

I stare in wonder and amazement
The cars roof is completely caved in
The driver’s door is crushed in

The paint is scraped down to bare metal
Mirrors snapped off
Windshield shattered and yet somehow still held together

The tow truck driver shakes his head
‘It’s amazing you survived
The car is trashed and the air bags didn’t deploy yet you’re unharmed’

A miracle
Looking at the car
Realizing that I Cheated Death

This really did happen to me... Saturday August 18th at 3:50 in the afternoon. Poetry was the way for me to describe what happened to me that day so I could move on with out nightmares

Return to rien151's poems