There we were, young and in love, walking hand in hand to Charles’s car after the dance had ended. It was a cold, December night but despite the temperature it was absolutely beautiful outside. A delicate layer of snow from the previous night covered the ground, Christmas decorations were everywhere, and lights shimmered and glistened against the dark of the night.
“Let’s go for a drive!” Charles said as he smiled brightly.
“Oh, I suppose,” I replied with a grin.
And so that’s what we did, we drove. With childlike wonder we looked at the lights, watched folks stroll down the sidewalk and just enjoyed the company of one another.
“Charles you know what I never realized before?”
“What’s that?” he asked.
“I never realized how, how beautiful it this time of year, especially at night. How the snow covers the trees, the way the lights hit the snow, the way it sparkles, everything. It’s all so perfect.”
I watched Charles as he looked out the window, staying quiet as he thought and looked around the scenery that surrounded us.
“Wow,” he responded in amazement, “it is.”
We continued to drive, soaking in our surroundings, and before we knew it and hour had passed since we had left the dance.
“Well we best head on our way home,” Charles said with a sigh.
And just as we started on our way home it happened, and happened fast. While even to this day I cannot remember all of it, there are parts I will never forget. I remember being pulled from the automobile, screaming Charles’s name over and over again. I remember looking into the flames, confused and disorientated.
Before I knew it I awoke, lying in a hospital bed, surrounded by doctors and nurses.
“Doctor Michaels, she’s awake.”
“Okay thank you for telling me,” a man whom I assumed was Dr. Michaels replied. “Ma’am can you hear me?”
“Yes,” I murmured.
“Ma’am you do you have any recollection of what happened tonight?”
“I do not have much of one at all. We were just driving and then before I knew it there were flames everywhere, and now here I am.
By this time I had stood up from the hospital bed and was walking around.
“I don’t really know how else to say this, but you and the driver of the car you were riding in tonight got into a car accident.”
I’ll never forget the flood of emotions that came over me at that exact moment.
We were speeding down a two-lane highway, a narrow trail of asphalt that sailed off a ridge and down into a long, sweeping right-hand turn and then rushed past a white stucco house with a tile roof, a house that crowned the hill beyond a quaint covered bridge over a dry creek bed running parallel to the road. We were descending toward a little town named Crane, and we were flying.
My car barely started it was so cold out and I could see my breathe come of my mouth clear as the smoke leaving the heat of the fire. As I started to leave my mom ran out and told me that I had forgot my football stuff, so I rushed back in and grabbed the bag off the floor. I was now completely
It was an average weeknight in December. A light snow fell as my family and I drove through the brisk evening air. We were motoring
The time went by slowly as my family and I waited for the fire to get put out. Eventually, the questions came at me in a wave "are you okay?" "What happened?" How do you answer if you are okay when you watched everything you owned disappear at once? How do you answer what happened when you were the one who turned on the stove? I felt defeated. I should never have turned on the stove. I should never have filled that stupid black kettle with water. It was my fault that people lost what they worked for. I had lost something that I cherished and caused other people the same pain I was feeling. I was
Standing on the balcony, I gazed at the darkened and starry sky above. Silence surrounded me as I took a glimpse at the deserted park before me. Memories bombarded my mind. As a young girl, the park was my favourite place to go. One cold winter’s night just like tonight as I looked upon the dark sky, I had decided to go for a walk. Wrapped up in my elegant scarlet red winter coat with gleaming black buttons descending down the front keeping away the winter chill. Wearing thick leggings as black as coal, leather boots lined with fur which kept my feet cozy.
Who brought me here? Out of impulse, my hand travels to my face, pressing the throbbing area on my right temple. I felt a scar and flinched at the pain. I tried to get up. Once I stepped on the cold, white tiles, I instantly fell back on to the bed. My body, engulfed in pain as if objecting my decision to stand up. I lay there pathetically, waiting for the pain to wash away. Staring at the ceiling, illuminated with a white fluorescent light. Perhaps waiting for some help by the hospital staff. I still didn't know how I got here, who took me here, how long I've been here.
...ture poetry. I could picture a winter scene: "As the breeze rises" and the effect of "the sun's warmth" on the sheaths of ice covering the tree branches. But this is where I ended the scene. I did not picture the shattering of ice "on the snow crust" like "heaps of broken glass to sweep away." Initially, I did not get the
The snow that was predicted to be several inches by the end of the weekend quickly piled up to around eight inches by that evening. At times, the snow was falling so heavily you could hardly see the streetlights that glistened like beacons in a sea of snow. With the landscape draped in white, the trees hangi...
I swam through the sea illuminated by the flames to find Tom."You okay buddy?""Yeah the flames were everywhere and I wasn't sure what to do.""Well you did the right thing Tom."Finally he was beside me riding over the waves. We found a large board that supported our weight and we began to circle the destroyed vessel. I began to feel weary from inhaling so much smoke. Everything was going dark and before long I couldn't hold on. I don't know when I woke up.
After a quick breakfast, I pulled some of my gear together and headed out. The car ride of two hours seemed only a few moments as I struggled to reinstate order in my chaotic consciousness and focus my mind on the day before me. My thoughts drifted to the indistinct shadows of my memory.
The Doctor injects me with a serum and said, “Don’t worry Matt, once you wake up, you will feel all better again and you will remember everything once again.”
I drove home as fast as I could just to watch everything I had worked for turn to ash. I remember feeling like my stomach was twisted in knots as I ran out of the office door, jumped into my car and drove home, I’m sure I was breaking some speed limits, but I didn’t care. All I could think about was getting to my children and my home. As I turned onto my street I saw fire trucks with their lights flashing and hoses running everywhere, there was even a news crew taking video and pictures. As I got closer I could see f...
We both unbuckled. Thomas climbed into the back. Joe released his foot from the gas pedal and his hand from the steering wheel. As the car slowed down it drifted left. Joe positioned himself in the seat and I throw myself to the steering wheel. The car scraped on the side wall ripping the paint. He positioned myself into to the set and as he did that he saw something in the distance. Cars, lots of cars coming their way.
put me a little at ease. We proceeded to the car and embarked on our
Cracking my eyes open, I noticed that I was lying in a bed in a hospital room with an IV in each arm. It was about 2:00 in the afternoon and I saw the sunlight streaming through the window in my room. I had just gotten out of almost three hours of surgery. My mom was leaning over me, asking me if I was all right, but my mouth was so swollen and numb that I couldn’t talk. Dr. Keller came in to talk to us and explained that my surgery went very well. After that, I stayed at the hospital for about a week before finally going home.