Flick of a Switch

      The weekend is now over and the dreaded schedule starts once again. This particular

schedule starts with waking up around 6:30AM, gathering my clothes, taking a shower, drying

off, getting dressed, brushing teeth, flossing, etc. until finally I’m ready for the first day of the

second trimester. Since I don’t have a car yet, I have to depend on my sister’s “assistance” to

drive me to school, and since it’s 7:00AM, we’re not leaving for another 30-35 minutes.
         
         My sister seems to love getting to school right at the bell, the tardy bell no less. There’s

nothing I can do but wait on the soft cushions of our couch, watching the morning news, resting

amongst the gentle darkness. Today the couch was a little too soft, and the news a little too quiet,

the darkness a little too gentle; I had no choice in this matter but to rest my eyes and fall deep

into a familiar place in my imagination.
         
         The darkness left me with a hesitant flick of a switch that turned the overhanging lamp

on with a powerful, bright light. My sister was starting to yank on my arm, to bring me back to

my senses and realize we were going to be late for school! The time read 7:42AM, leaving us

only 8 minutes to arrive. We live close, but not that close! So we both hurried and snatched our

bags and coats right from the entrance and then shut the door behind us.
         
         Morning air now filling my lungs, chilling me from the inside out. A T-shirt was

probably not the best clothing to wear on my part, and putting on my coat would only hinder the

process of getting into the car. So I put all my belongings in the back of my sister’s crimson

Suzuki and helped her scrape off the snow with my bare hand. Frost was not an issue, but the

snow itself was a pain for my hand because bare hands were not meant for scraping off snow.

While I was finishing my side of the car with half frozen hands, my sister started the car and

shouted at me to get in, which was hard to hear with the blasting music from within.          
         
         The seat was messy with crinkled papers and binders, which I threw in the back seat in a

rude fashion, but she deserved it after all. The car was filled with a potent odor of sweaty socks

that was wafting among the chilly air. No matter how horrible the car conditions had been, I lost

myself, not in my imagination, but my thoughts. The car was filthy, smelly, loud, and had a

sister blaming everything on other matters but herself, and I still was able to drown all that out

and think about how much I wanted to be away from my sister, if she was just not a factor

anymore I would be fine. Right after that thought struck me, it happened.
         
         My sister lost control of the car, sliding along the road’s edge, weaving this way and that

uncontrollably. Right when I was in my right mind, we were headed right off the road into a

semi-cleared field about 12-15ft below where we were. The Suzuki flipped numerous times all

around the field, slamming both of us into the sides, fronts, backs, and at each other. We

surprisingly ended up on the wheels once again, but were headed down the steep end of the field,

toward the piled-up brush. I told my stunned sister to put on the breaks, and she did. We waited

there, in the beat-up car with it’s contents thrown around and with a couple of broken windows.
         
         I was stunned at that moment, not about what happened but of what I thought. In mid-air,

I was not worried about myself, but about my sister. I forgot completely about myself and just

hoped that my sister would make it through all of this. Although this wasn’t a horrific crash, it

made me realize that things may change in a flick of a switch; good or bad, right or wrong,

things happen, so it’s best to be prepared. I would have hated to leave my sister on a bad note,

thinking of all those dreaded things, and so I’m “nice” to my sister now, just in case.