I moved towards my bedroom window, staring at the outside world. My hand lay across the clear glass pane and a smile developed from the corners of my mouth, their happiness made me smile. I was filled with tears of joy as I admired the long purple velvet slit dress. It looked beautiful on her, just as I would have pictured it on myself, paired with silver platform heels. I would have curled my blonde hair in perfect ringlets, and then placed a silver clip on the right side. I closed my eyes and pictured my Cinderella moment. It would have been a day I’d never forget, but it now remained as only a pure dream of what could have been. The wet sockets of my eyes kept me close to the emotions of humanity.

That day changed everything, the day of August 27th, 2007. It was one of the hottest days of August, my bare legs stuck to the black leather seats of John’s green Camaro. The back of my neck perspired with water droplets, as I rested my head back looking into the deep blue sky listening to the sweet melodies of ever so popular band, U2. We sat in silence, only taking in the rush of the summer heat and allowed our lips to linger upon every lyric. There were four of us in the car that day, driving around town with the cool breeze blowing through our hair, exploring the wonders of our small town getaway.
We drove around without a worry of what time of day it was, or when we we’re going to go back home. Summer vacation was soon to end, and by this time next year we all knew that we would be on our separate pathways into the real world. With this in mind, the stereo’s volume was turned up and John stepped on the gas pedal, making us fly through the streets. We then passed by the town’s park, by the parish church, the famous corner store and the small town café. Everything moved by so quickly, as if I was watching a freight train pass in front of me. My entire childhood life up to this point was passing directly by me and all I could do was stand by and watch.
“Look at the ravine up ahead!” John pointed out to us. I looked to where he was pointing and squinted my eyes in between the rays of the sun, admiring the true beauty of nature in front of us. John pulled his Camaro off to the side of the road near a ditch so we could all take a walk along the ravine. As I stepped out of the car, and passed in front of the hood I heard a rumbling screech echo in the distance. Frightened by the noise, I was frozen in place. From this point on it was a blur. A painful, surreal blur.
Slowly opening my eyes, I felt a huge rush of pure agony throughout my entire body. I was unaware of the situation completely, until I looked down in front of me at the painful image before my eyes. Somehow my favourite green Camaro had managed to nudge my legs completely into a silver sports car. At that moment I thought this was it. My life was soon to be over and my dreams of graduating high school next year were soon to be vanished as well.
The scene consisted of the sounds of sirens. Sirens and cries of pain. Pains of agony from the victims and cries of fear from the bystanders. I didn’t panic. Usually this would be a time to panic, but for some unknown reason I stayed calm shoved between the two cars. And within two hours, I was removed from the scene of the accident and brought directly to the hospital where I was immediately put into surgery.
After I was brought into the waiting room to greet my family, there were two significant occurrences. One was the loving cries and hugs from my family members, while the other was the huge gasp of shocks as they looked down at the remaining state of my body.

My name is Alissa Browne and four years ago I was hit by a drunk driver. Four years ago I had dreams and goals, four years ago I was considered human.