After the Crash

This is my telling of an accident that happened involving some of my friends, I changed the names of the people who died, I just wrote what I was told. Three girls died after drinking then getting behind the wheel, only Steph survived to tell the story. She is okay physically, but mentally I don't think she will ever be the same. I did my best here to tell the story from what she described.





The only sound in to the break the silence was the steady rasping of her own breath in her ears. Her vision swam, her mind spun, as if trying to catch up with her body, trying to come to terms with what had happened. She pressed her hand against her head feeling the sharp pain, and the sticky wetness there. Stephanie focused on her palm before her face, her heart speeding a little more at the sight of blood staining her long, slim fingers. She turned, stiffly, aware of the piercing pain in her hip, before her Emily’s chair sat eerily vacant, leaning to one side. The torn seatbelt swayed like an abandoned flag in the breeze that made its way into the small space. Overhead the street lamp cast its sickly yellow glow over the scene, spilling the ugly piss colored light over everything. Her breathing grew louder. What was this?


Stephanie closed her eyes, slowly, so slowly, her lids like weights, dragging her further down into that place she didn’t want to go. Not two minutes ago her friend had been sitting that seat, they’d been laughing, joking. To her right that girl they’d picked up had been talking endlessly, drinking heavily. What her name was, she could not remember, who ever she was she was gone. In the distance the blare of sirens intruded on the silence, breaking though the haze that had begun to take her over, bringing her back to reality. She glanced down at her feet, at the dark glass bottles littering the floor. Had they had that many?


“Kate?” Her voice was a rasp of breath and nothing more, her eyes now struggling to focus on the limp figure in the driver’s seat. Kate was there, her head resting on the steering wheel that seemed to close to her thin body. Her arm hung limp at her side, and thick shards of glass glistened in her tawny locks. She did not respond. Stephanie let her head fall back against her seat, her dark eyes rolling in her sockets. It hurt to stay awake, hurt to continue to feel. Her arm was pinned against her side, stuck between the twisted metal of the door and the remains of her shattered leg. She turned her head, focusing on the small compact vehicle crushed against Kate’s SUV. It had come out of nowhere, a show of lights and silver metal, and then the pain, the driver’s body lay across the folded hood of the car, her dark hair lay over the wreckage, matted and caked with blood, and who knew what else. The screech of tires announced the arrival of the ambulance. Stephanie stared in the distance, at the cars driving by, drivers, and passengers craning their necks to get a better look. Some drove past her window, trying hard to look away, their attention focused too hard on anything but the obvious to be genuine. Stephanie tried to take a deep breath. No one had stopped, no one had cared. Where was Emily? She frowned to herself, wincing as a whirring roar filled the new world she’d entered; one of shattered bones and broken glass, twisted metal and broken dreams. Bright lights filled the car, and heat caressed her face like the gentlest of kisses. The metallic whine of the car being dissected reigned supreme for what seemed like hours before she was lifted from the car, prodded and poked. Her lashes fluttered under the glaring lights, flashing red, blue, white, and that sick, ever-present yellow hue. The soft surface of the gurney was welcome. A blanket was wrapped around her shoulders, shielding her from the freezing air of the early winter chill. She’d made it. Stephanie felt her body relax, her eyes seeing the wreckage for the first time from the outside. The Truck was trapped, wedged between the stubborn, unyielding electric post, and the intruding car that had come out of nowhere. Stephanie groaned against the pain on her right side, her eyes settling on a dark heap amongst the debris.


Surrounded by uniformed police, and photographers, she peered past the man handling her with care, her sight fading in and out. That jacket, bright yellow, with little green flowers. Her jacket, that hair that had once been a thing to envy now lay in a tangled mess. Emily, Stephanie felt the scream rising in her throat with the realization that the bleeding pile on the pavement was the girl who was her best friend. Emily lay motionless, her arms pinned beneath her unmoving body, legs twisted in ways they should never have been able to move, and her green eyes stared blindly, and slightly askew. She’d only had a few drinks, Emily was a good driver.
Stephanie felt her heart begin to beat uncontrollably, as the paramedic threw a sheet over her lifeless body. The covering was stark white against the night that had become so deep, so quickly. The night that was closing in faster as her eyes found the other covered heap lying on the sidewalk. Now they came. Now the cars stopped and the people watched. Captivated by the tragedy. Numbness spread across her chest, and she began to struggle against the restraints, against the men loading her in the back of the flashing ambulance. As the doors closed her vision began to fail, her mind closing in on itself, her body, her mind in denial…..