A car crash

He got into his car, after a few moments of struggling to unlock the door; he’d always have to wrench the keys; turning them this way and that. After opening the door, he sat in the car with the key in the ignition for quite a moment, then he started the car and pulled out of the staff parking lot and merged onto a somewhat busy highway.

The man sat in silence as he made his daily journey home; he’d usually open the driver side window, but he kept it down tonight; it was a bit chilly. He enjoyed the view of the sky at this time of the night. The brilliant stars filled the sky like grains of sand on a beach. Then he saw nothing anymore. Like falling into a dark abyss, he felt as though he were sucked into a bottomless pit. Just as quickly and suddenly as he had been thrown into oblivion; he had been sucked right back out. He opened his eyes, and he could see again.

Everything wasn’t the way it should be; the world seemed to contradict itself, as though it had just became the opposite of what it should have been. Confusion filled his head before he could realize that he was upside down in his car. Trying to budge was useless; he was pinned and couldn’t move. His windshield had been completely shattered, and he could feel slashes going across his face and torso from where the bits of glass and metal had pierced him. A sharp pain emitted from his nose; it was broken. With as much strength as he could muster, he pulled his right arm from between the passenger side door, and his seat. He let out a high pitched bellow as he pulled with all his strength until he was free. This gave him a sudden burst of adrenaline that propelled him further; he quickly unbuckled his seat belt. He had to quickly put his arm out in front of him so that his upper body wouldn’t fall forward.

Up ahead, he saw two dark silhouettes running towards him, and that’s when he saw flashing lights of red, white, and blue; these were police officers. It was now that he could see the other car, or what was left of it. The dark figures came running closer to him. He screamed out loud, and then everything became blurry and he fainted; falling back into nothingness. For what seemed like an eternity he could just feel as though he were speeding down a dark tunnel, heading downwards into an even deeper darkness. Distant voices called upon him, but they seemed so far away; if only he could reach his hand out, and fly upwards, he would then be able to hear the voices more clearly.

Like a plummet, he rocketed upwards. The whispers became clearer, and he could hear a little girl speaking to him. He was getting closer now; only a little longer, and he’d be there; he would be able to answer his daughter as she called him, desperate for an answer. The darkness began to fade to gray as he felt himself being pulled upwards; gray turned to white, and from white he could see shapes forming and bending right in front of his eyes. Then he saw her eyes, staring into his, with tears accumulating in the corners and rolling down her cheeks, dripping onto his hospital blanket.

He had a piercing headache; he looked down at his body as his daughter embraced him; he was wrapped in bandages, though thankfully there were no missing body parts. His nose still hurt, and he still felt as though he could only partially recall the events that happened prior to him sitting in the hospital bed. His wife was sitting in a chair in the corner of the room fast asleep. He had suddenly felt as though he hadn’t seen his family in a long time.

         His daughter woke her mother and ran out to get the doctor. His wife ran to his side and hugged him as she cried silent tears.

         “Mr. Torrance,” the doctor said to him. “Do you recollect anything that happened last night?”

         “No,” Torrance said. It hurt his throat a little to speak. “Not really, I just remember being in my car driving home on the highway, and then I just remember darkness.” He had suddenly remembered being pinned inside of his upside down car. “Oh, and I remember being in my car; it was flipped over and I was pinned; I could barely move.”

         “I see,” the doctor said, staring intently and interestingly at his clipboard, as though it were a complex maze. “Well it seems that you were in a somewhat tragic car accident four days ago.”

         “Four days?” Torrance asked.

         “Four days,” the doctor said. “You were crossing an intersection at night, when an intoxicated driver sped past the red light going at about ninety miles an hour, hitting the passenger side of your car. Your car flipped over numerous times, and landed upside down. The cops were called immediately by witnesses of the accident. Mr. Torrance, you were lucky to have survived that accident. You should’ve been killed, and the odds of your survival rate from a collision such as that are astronomical, do you understand?”

         “What happened to the other driver?”

         “The other driver was killed instantly,” the doctor said. “Which makes your survival extraordinary, you’re very lucky. I’d say it was divine intervention.” He beamed and pointed up past the ceiling towards the sky with his pen. “We’ll have to run some concussion tests, and after that, you’ll be free to go home tomorrow morning. Enjoy your time with your family; life’s short, Mr. Torrance.”

         “Astronomical?” he thought to himself. He suddenly remembered staring up at the stars right before he descended into the black abyss. How could he have survived such a thing with only a few cuts and a broken arm and nose? His wife and daughter had been in the hall calling family members that were concerned on the whereabouts of his safety. “Astronomical.” He said to himself, and fell into a deep and peaceful sleep, only to be woken up a bit later by his doctor; he had to do some concussion tests.

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