It was nippy February day my father and I were driving cautiously down an unusually straight road in Haverhill. Snow was drifting down from the trees above, and there was a slight eeriness in the air. The radio station my father and I were listening to went to went to commercial, and he switched off the radio with an annoyed grunt. As we made our way up the cureless road I saw from a distance a gold SUV heading our way.

From a distance I noticed that the gold SUV was slipping around a little bit because of the icy texture of the road. I spoke in a soft voice and said “watch out” to alert my dad of the gold cars fumbles. But he said not to worry about it as they clearly regained full control and continued on a steady path towards us. Suddenly there was a skidding noise and the gold SUV veered uncontrollably toward us. I saw my father’s leg thrust towards the brake but it was too late the other car was on a path strait for us. Time seemed to slow tauntingly down, in the moments before the collision. I did not want to look at the horror to come so I looked at the clock flashing 10:31. I couldn’t deal with the not knowing of what was about to happen so I looked up just in time to see the gold SUV become parallel with our car. When we finally did collide with a sharp thud, and a cracking of glass I closed my eyes and waited for the car to stop moving. Surprisingly after we hit the other vehicle we kept moving until stopping hard after hitting a telephone pole.

When I opened my eyes, the rancid smell of the air bags filled the car, and my hands were shaking. My dad was getting his nerves back after hitting the airbag, and he asked me if I was okay. I said I was fine except when we hit the pole I had nicked my head on the car. After a minute a searing head ache set in, maybe from hitting my head or because of the smell. My dad who was still able to open his door got out and started walking around to see if the other people were okay. I began to look around the car, looking through the windshield was like trying to find someone in a deep fog. I was still very dazed so it took me a minute to realize my door was jammed shut, so I started to climb over the center console and out the driver door. I was so shell shocked I forgot to unbuckle so I was yanked back down as I tried to climb.

After I got out I took in a refreshing breath of clean cool air. I walked around the car and as I did, I considered myself lucky to be alive and walking. Our once modern looking, light blue Toyota was now twisted, bent and dirty. I saw why my door had become permanently sealed; it had become compressed and blended into the car. The windshield looked as if a feather dropped on it, it would fall to piece. The engine was visible smoking and as I stared at it, the aroma of burning rubber filled my nose. All but one tire were no longer round in any way. I stood standing there staring for what seemed like days when a woman whose voice I recognized came bounding down the road towards me.

The other SUV had landed quite some distance away from our car and also looked destroyed. The woman running towards me was Mrs. B, a family friend of ours. She asked if I was alright and I told her I thought I had hit my head. She checked me out and thought I seemed fine, which was relieving because she was a licensed nurse. By this time another car had stopped to offer assistance, and the resident of the street we were on came marching down their drive ways to see what was happening. Miraculously every one came out without a scratch, both cars were totaled though. So was the expensive office printer my dad was transporting in his trunk. It had taken us fifteen minutes to drive from our house to the spot where we crashed but my panicking mother got there less than ten minutes after we called her. I remember how glad I was when I saw her black car come racing down to us. We didn’t hang around for the tow truck to come, I was tired and cold and I wanted to leave this all behind. By the time we left it seemed the whole town of Boxford had appeared; the police where there, countless people who stopped to help, even though the police were there so they were probably being nosy, my Mom and Brodie’s family. So when the police officer told us all the paper work was done we hopped in my Moms car and zipped off on home.