That's My Story - Episode 3

A blog from Overflo Student, Marissa

This past Friday, the 18th of April, I was involved in a car accident with my friend and her mother. We were on our way to the grocery store, driving down Palm Coast Parkway. At the intersection for Pine Lakes, a black Mazda made a turn without a green arrow. It was too late for my friend’s mother to hit her brakes and we basically T- Boned the other car. At first I thought we hit the brakes really hard, but when I looked up, I saw smoke and the airbags deployed. I was scared mostly for my friend and her mom because they were in the front seat. At first when I looked up my friends mom wasn’t moving, and then my friend panicked and jumped out of the car. Both of us were having a little trouble breathing due to the seat belt tightening. When her mom woke up, I guess, she got out of the car and immediately started calling the police. I was scared and what made it worst was that my friends’ lips were stuck to her braces. Luckily, we were all wearing our seatbelts and nothing worse happened to her. I started crying when she told me she thought she was going to die. I thought to myself, “What if that really happened?”

When the firemen and ambulance arrived, I calmed down a bit, but my friend was still in panic mode. She now had a bruised knee and a swollen hand. Her mother was short of breath because of the airbag and the pain from my chest moved to my left shoulder. The firemen started filling out their report and taking our blood pressure, I don’t know if everyone’s blood pressure was normal or not, they didn’t tell us. I finally called my step- dad and started crying over the phone, I handed the phone to my friend’s mom and she told him what happened. He told us he was coming right away and that I wasn’t to go anywhere or sign anything. While waiting we witnessed the firemen pulling the door of the Mazda open, when they did that I heard this ugly creak. The sound it made was the sound that I usually hear on TV when they’re at the sight of horrible accidents. I just now knew how serious this accident was. The driver of the Mazda came over to see how we were, he had tears in his eyes and he was bleeding. Later on I knew the reason he was crying was because the passenger of his car was pinned into the car. When I looked over, the firemen finally got her out, she was on a stretcher and had a neck brace on. I later found out she was air- lifted to Halifax Hospital.

We knew God was with us was when my youth pastor from my old church popped up out of nowhere. He immediately started praying with us and he didn’t leave until one of my parents came. I called my step- dad, and he told me that the roads were blocked off and they wouldn’t let him through, until he told them that his daughter was involved in the accident. One of the policemen escorted him to the sight and he said he wanted me to go to the hospital because of my shoulder. I went to the car to get my bag and I noticed a large piece of very hard plastic in the back seat. We still don’t know what it is from, but it might be from the dashboard. If I would’ve moved any other way, it might’ve hit me. We were really blessed that we did not bring my friend’s cousin with us, because the plastic was right on his car seat. my friend, her mother and I climbed into the ambulance and headed for the hospital. When we finally arrived at the hospital, the doctor was going to send my friend and I off to the waiting room, but her mother told them that we were minors and we weren’t going anywhere. The car accident happened around 10:00pm and we got to the hospital around 10:30 or 11:00pm. The doctor came in and took our vitals and an assessment of everyone. He ordered an X-Ray of my shoulder, my friend’s hand and her knee, and her mother’s chest. At around 12:45 he came back into the room and told us that I would need a sling, my friend would need a muscle immobilizer, and her mother would just need pills for the compression in her chest.

My friend’s pastor came to the hospital to see us because earlier we were at his church doing wonderful and enjoying an event called David’s Dance. He thanked the Lord that everyone was okay and nobody was seriously injured. When my step- dad and I were finally able to leave, my friend’s mother was feeling absolutely horrible. We assured her it was okay and that it was an accident. I finally got home around 1:45 in the morning and tried to go to sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, the whole accident and the sounds and the guy’s face and the smell and… EVERYTHING kept replaying in my head. I’m crying right now writing this because I can’t believe something like this happened to me. I already made the decision of waiting to drive. I still would like to get my permit, but I don’t think I’m going to use it. I just thank the Lord for watching over me and keeping everyone safe. Everything happens for a reason.

I want to try to end my blog with a question for you guys:
Have you ever been in a situation where you thought, “That would never happen to me”?

-Marissa