Lying Alone

The water seeped into the car through the cracked windows and pressed against the still intact ones, threatening at any moment to bust it open.  The car slammed onto the bottom of the lake with a thunderous pound.  Olive felt the water pouring into her lap and slowly lifted her head, noticing the hot, wet liquid that ran down the side of her face.  She reached up to her forehead to where the piercing pain was coming from and felt a huge gash with bits of glass embedded into it.  Slowly thoughts came back, memory.  She remembered suddenly driving with her parents and her little brother.  They had been driving to a family reunion that no one was excited to be going to.  They were driving along Sleepy Hallow Lake when something… a branch? Flew up into the windshield.  Her father had been driving and had tried to swerve the car away… then her head had slammed into the car window… Suddenly she was filled with dread and worry.  Her family! She snapped her head around to see her little brother’s body crumpled under shattered glass.  He was bleeding everywhere!

            “Danny!” She shrieked.  She struggled to unbuckle herself against the slowly rising water.  She couldn’t get it!  She pulled and pulled and as it finally flew loose she caught a glimpse of the gruesome scene that lay in front of her.  Her mother was gone, her father too.  There was no way they could be alive looking like that.  She thrust herself over to her brother battling the rushing water. 

            “Danny! No, no, no, Danny! Get up! Danny!”  Tears swam down her face. “Danny!”  He didn’t move.  She screamed louder than she had ever screamed in her life.  They were blood curdling screams.  Through the endless tears she could see the water would drown her soon. She had to get out of this car.  She took a huge breath and looked under the water searching for something to bust out the severely cracked window next to her. The water she looked through was streaked with blood.  She found the large cookie jar they had wrapped and had planned to give to her grandmother.  She picked it up and put her head above the water. It was already considerably higher.  She hurled the jar at the window and it plowed right through.  Water poured into the car through it now.  Olive took a huge gulp of air and pushed through the raging water into the lake. She looked back at the car that held her dead family, now consumed by the water, and said goodbye.  She swam fast to the surface.  She gasped for air and because she was sobbing.  She finally got the strength to swim to the land and pulled herself onto the grass.  There was a car stopped on the road with people standing in front of it gaping at her.  She lay on her back in the grass sobbing, shivering, and feeling all over pain.  One of the people, a woman, ran from by the car ripping her jacket off in the process and screaming at the people to call 911.  When she reached me she knelt down and put her hand on Olive’s forehead, brushing her hair, and various things stuck to her, off her face.

            “Its ok baby, they’ve got the police on the phone.  Shhh, you’re ok honey.” She said as she laid her jacket on Olive and rubbed her shoulder.  The ladies eyes were filled with tears but she smiled at Olive.  Olive had never been so thankful for comfort before.  She heaved huge gasps and cried, harder and harder.  The lady just knelt next to her comforting her, holding her hand and smiling at her.  Olive’s right leg felt like someone had whaled on it with a crowbar and her right hand felt simply smashed.  Her head pounded.  That’s when she blacked out again.