RANDOM SCENE 9
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I wrote this scene (not a complete story) as part of a writing exercise in response to a survey. The goal was to show a character's emotions after getting broadsided in traffic. Yeesh. This actually happened to ME once, and it wasn't pleasant. Thankfully it was nowhere near as bad as what happens to poor Dr. Lynn Leja (from my D Is For Damien fiction) here!
Leja glanced into the rearview mirror, then forward again and tapped the steering wheel with her fingertips. Cheboygan never exactly had anything as big as "traffic jams," though once in a while she swore they came close. She still needed to reach her office at the clinic, but she never would if this kept up. The car ahead of her moved several inches but she herself waited until it finally pulled ahead and away before putting her foot to the gas herself. Her vehicle slowly lurched forward and began to pick up a little speed. It was about time. She let out her breath--she hadn't even known she'd been holding it--and craned her neck to see if the line of traffic went on very far. Maybe it would be better to just take the back way. Longer, but with how slow the traffic on Main Street was today-- She heard a squealing sound and her first thought was to wonder about her own speed. Her foot hadn't pressed down on the brakes or the gas, so what was causing that? She caught sight of a large dark shape out of the corner of her right eye and started to turn her head when a jarring shock passed through her, throwing her against the door. She felt the road grinding beneath her and lurched back to the right, her seatbelt digging into her neck. She grimaced and tried not to choke. Her pulse had started up a hyperactive staccato beat on the first jolt, and now her heart pounded so hard her chest ached. She grabbed onto the steering wheel and it moved of its own accord beneath her hands. Then there was another jolt, and she slammed into the door again. A few faint squealing sounds and honks came from outside the car, and then all fell silent. For a few moments she simply sat where she was, her breath coming hard and fast. She kept her eyes shut; she didn't think she wanted to see what it looked like around her, or what she looked like. It took her a short while to even start to consider what might have happened; for some reason she forgot she had been driving, and now sat in a car. Where was she? What could have caused that, an earthquake? It was the seatbelt that finally reminded her where she was; she could still feel it digging insistently into her neck, and lifted one shaking hand to pull on it a bit, loosening it. She realized she was biting her lip and stopped before she could hurt herself. Hurt. What had happened? She'd seen something dark out the side window...somebody must have run the light and slammed into the passenger-side door. The second shock...she'd been driving over the bridge...and the railing must have caught her just in time. She let out a breath and shuddered. She could hear doors slamming and feet running but still didn't want to open her eyes. Her chest hurt; what if something was broken? She hadn't heard any glass shattering, but then again, she hadn't really been listening for it either. How badly was she hurt? She had to look and see sometime... She forced one eye open just a slit, teeth still clenched, just as someone ran up to the passenger-side door and peered in. She saw first her own hand on the steering wheel, and a small trickle of blood running across her knuckles. Bits and pieces of glass littered the seat and her lap. She opened both eyes and looked down at herself--there wasn't any blood on her chest, or anywhere else that she could see--and then looked up into the rearview mirror. The crash had jarred it a bit so she had to reach up and tilt it toward her, but when she saw her own eyes--clear and wide and free of cuts or blood--she took a deep breath and let it out once more, this time with a slight relieved noise. There was a small nick on her right cheek; that was all. Her hair had been mussed and she'd never seen her pupils so large before, or her face so white, but that was better than what other color it could have been. "Lady! Are you all right? Oh my God, are you okay?" Whoever had approached the other window now came around to her own, peering in. She glanced up with a start--for a moment she'd forgotten anybody else was even around, but now, looking, she saw all the other cars within sight stopped along the street, other people getting out and peering back at her, shielding their eyes from the sun. She briefly thought of how she must be blocking traffic, and resented that. "Oh Jeez, I didn't even see it change, I swear I didn't," a voice babbled. "I wasn't even paying any attention...please, are you all right? Can you talk? Do you know where you are--?" "I--yeah, I'm...I'm all right." Her voice came out sounding strange and far away; she wasn't certain at first if she had spoken, or if someone else had spoken for her. For the briefest moment it was as if she were looking herself over; she shut her eyes and shook her head. Dissociation. That was only to be expected after a trauma. The clinical part of her brain threatened to take over until she forced it to quiet down as well, and opened her eyes again. She was back where she belonged, and a man was leaning down to look in at her, his own eyes as wide and panicked as her own had been. Another glance in the mirror showed, however, that her expression at least was pretty calm by now. What...? "Lady! Are you okay? God, you look awful! I'm so sorry! Please, come on, I'll drive you to the hospital, it's right over there..." "I'm--I'm all right," Leja said again. Her voice sounded more normal now, closer, louder. She put her hand on the door and lifted the handle, pushing it open. The man backed away and as she put one foot on the ground she finally thought to look over toward the passenger side. She rather wished she hadn't looked. The door was completely buckled in, caved in the middle so it gouged into the seat. The window had been shattered; just as she'd thought, she hadn't even heard it. If she'd been seated there, her right arm and all the ribs on the right side of her body probably would have been broken, not to mention what would have happened to her internal organs. Part of the windshield also, closer to that side, had cracked and spiderwebbed under the impact. Another sigh--how long had she been holding it in?--and she stepped out of the car, grabbing onto the metal to keep herself from falling when a sudden dizziness came over her, forcing her to take a step or two forward to sit down on an undamaged section of the railing. Already a siren was drawing closer. She didn't care about the door or the window or whoever was at fault for what right now. She was grateful, however, that somebody took her arm to make sure she didn't keel over into the river. For some reason that thought made her want to laugh, and as she dropped her head into her hands, neck starting to ache, and did so, the clinical part of her mind piped up again, letting her know in no uncertain terms that this was perfectly normal behavior also, considering. END |
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