The Long Drive Home

I opened the sunroof and I let out a sigh of relief when the cool night air hit my sunburned skin as I cruised down I-95 South from Vero Beach. It was 11pm and I was the only car on the highway. I put Stone Sour in the CD player and blasted it as high as I could without breaking my speakers. As the music played in the background, I reminisced about the awesome weekend at the beach with my best friend, Andrea.

About an hour into my drive, I saw a car coming onto the highway. I moved over so it could merge into the right lane. As soon as I was passed the car, I went back into the right lane and continued driving. I looked in my rearview mirror and noticed the car started picking up speed and getting closer. The driver put their left blinker on and switched lanes, picked up more speed, passed me, and got back into the right lane. I didn’t really pay any attention because this is a common move on the road but I did notice the car looked kind of old, like an old model of a silver Ford Taurus from the late 90’s. It only stood out in my mind because my parents had owned a car that looked just like that, except it was blue, and I had taken my driving lessons in it.

It was still in front me, at some distance, when suddenly the Taurus started sliding all over the road. It went off the right side of the road, plummeted into a ditch and crashed into a wooded area where it disappeared. I slammed on my brakes and pulled off to the side of the road. I frantically searched in my purse for my cell phone and called 911. I told the dispatcher what I had seen and what mile marker I was by. She told me to stay on the phone with her and help was already on the way.

I ran down the steep hill and realized there was water at the edge of the ditch. I couldn’t see the car from where I was standing. I screamed, “HELLO?!! ARE YOU OKAY?” No one responded. Again I screamed, “HELP IS ON THE WAY!!!! WHERE ARE YOU?” No response.

I heard the dispatcher say, “Did you get any response?”

“No I’m not getting any response. Should I try to get closer? What if the person is really hurt or trapped? What if there are children in the car?”

“Do not get any closer to that area. Actually, I want you to get out of there and go wait by your car. There may be alligators in that water.”

As I was scrambling up the hill as fast as I could, I saw police lights flashing. I told the dispatcher there was a state trooper approaching. She said the officer would take over from there and hung up. The officer pulled up behind my car and walked over to me. I told him what happened and how I had screamed out into the woods but had gotten no response. He shined the spotlight into the woods but we could see nothing. More police cars arrived along with two ambulances and two fire trucks, shutting down the highway. All the vehicles were shining their bright lights into the woods.

After being asked repeatedly by fire and police personnel if I needed any medical attention, I was told to stay by my car and not move from there. From where I was standing, I could see the Police Sergeant leading firefighters and police men through the water which was up to their knees. At that moment, I was grateful for the 911 dispatcher convincing me not to go into the water. It was deep enough where I could have easily encountered alligators, huge snakes, or other predators. I shuddered at the thought.

The Sergeant waded out of the woods and he spoke into his radio. Immediately, more police officers and firefighters went into the woods. He walked over to the officer who arrived first on the scene and they spoke briefly. The officer pointed at me and the Sergeant walked in my direction.

Before he could reach me, I ran towards him. “Did you find the car? Is the driver okay?” I blurted out.

“Miss, my name is Sergeant Barnett. What is your name?”

“Christina Drake.”

“Miss Drake, when did you see that car go off the road?”

“I don’t know the exact time but it had to be around midnight. I left Vero Beach at 11 and I had been on the road for about an hour when the accident happened. Please tell me no one was hurt.”

“And it was just you and that other car on the road?”

“Yes it was in front of me the whole time.”

“Did you notice where it entered the highway?”

“I think it was in the Jupiter area but I’m not exactly sure. Why won’t you answer my questions?” I asked impatiently.

Sergeant Barnett opened the door to my car and said, “Please have a seat, Miss Drake.”

I sat down in the passenger seat of my car and braced myself to hear that the driver was dead, or even worse, there were children in the car that were dead. All kinds of scenarios ran through my head but what the Sergeant said next chilled me down to my core.

“Miss, we found a 1998 silver Ford Taurus like you described with bones inside. Based on the condition of the car and the body, we estimate that it’s been there for maybe 2 years or more. We believe it may be Erika Pearson, a girl from Jupiter, who went missing in 2010. We are ruling it an accident but we’ll know more information once we conduct a full investigation. I’m telling you this because there is no possible way that was the car you saw go off the road tonight.”