Questions

Part One: The Crash

I was on my way home from my friend's house, late on a Monday night, early October. I had school the next day, and a test I needed to cram for once I got home. There would be no studying tonight.

My friend, Liliana and I were 16 at the time. She would be 17 in a little over a month. We were at her house until around 9:30 pm editing pictures until I told her I needed to be home by 10. 

"Alright," she told me. "Text me when you get home."

"Will do." I  told her and walked out of her small, cabin-like house.

She lived maybe 20 minutes from my house, and the drive was super easy. We lived in a rural area just outside of the city, so there weren't even stoplights. Just a few long, winding roads and a couple stop signs here and there and I would be home.

About halfway through my drive, something went wrong. The next 30 seconds were the fastest and slowest of my life. A car swerved into my lane ahead, coming directly at me. I had a forest on one side and a guard rail on the other, so I got as close to the forest as I could, and blared my horn as hard as possible. The car clipped mine, and sent me into a tree, completely totaling my vehicle.

I sat there for a minute, and very shakily got out of the car. Nothing was hurting, my vision was fine, I could remember my birthday. I walked over to the car that had hit me to check on them and ask what they had been doing in my lane.

There were two other cars that had stopped already, and I could hear sirens in the distance. An older lady whom I thought was running to me ran to my car.

"I was alone in the car," I called after her, but she didn't seem to hear me.

Walking over to the other wrecked vehicle, I found a man in getting out of the front seat, obviously hammered. He had a few scrapes on his face from his shattered windshield, but otherwise seemed unscathed. I was glad that in the midst of this that no one got hurt. I wanted to give him a piece of my mind. Why were you drunk driving? Why did you risk my life and yours? Is driving yourself really that important? 

I didn't need to. There were plenty of people around him saying the same as I was thinking. I stood there for a moment, and not too long after, I heard sirens. I walked over to my car and started to feel sick. My back began to hurt.  I sat down on the pavement. I heard people saying, "I feel a pulse," and "she's bleeding a lot," but the words didn't register to me. All I could do was replay the crash in my head. I looked around and saw a group of people by my car.

"What are you doing?" I called. No one even flinched. "I said I was alone. Why are you at my car?"

Walking over to my poor vehicle, I felt worse. My head felt fuzzy, my back hurt, I was maybe even a bit nauseous. I looked in through where my windshield was and saw myself sitting in the front seat, unconscious.  I physically jumped back for a moment, until I got the courage to move forward again. 

There I was, in the same coat I was wearing, my blonde hair braided back to a bun the way Liliana had done it before I left. I glanced to my left and saw an ambulance and a cop car pull through. I watched in shock as people got a stretcher out of the ambulance, took me out of the car, and brought me back to the ambulance. One of the paramedics asked the older lady from before if she knew my name.

"I found her wallet and her licence," she said, handing it to him. "Her name is Autumn."

I walked over as the ambulance began closing the doors. I walked in and sat on the bench, trying not to look at the other me on the stretcher. It seemed that being near it made me feel worse, and looking directly at it made me see stars. A couple paramedics were working on me, putting tubes in my mouth, giving me different injections, ect. I just tried to block it all out. There were two paramedics working on me and another outside. Once he came in and closed the doors, we were on the way to the hospital. The third paramedic sat very close next to me and said nothing. He studied my licence. I watched him, trying to get him to feel me staring and get him to look at me. No one had looked at me or said anything to me since the crash. Maybe because there were suddenly two of me. Maybe I'm a ghost. I thought. No, that wouldn't make sense, my body is still alive. I think. 

I reached out to touch the paramedic. I touched the sleeve of his uniform. He didn't flinch, but my hand didn't pass through him. I could feel the fabric. His skin raised and he got chills. I'm not a ghost, I thought. Well at least I've got that going for me.

We reached the hospital and the ER brought me in. They were running. I tried to keep up, but man, I was tired. I got into the ER with no questions, though. The further away my body got, the less sick I felt and the less my back hurt. At least that was good. In whatever state I was in, at least I was comfortable.

I finally found my room and kept my distance as I watched them work on me. I didn't understand everything they were doing, but I did see them put an IV into my arm. One of the doctors left the room, so I followed him to see what was happening. He led me to an office that I assumed was his and he picked up his phone. He called my parents and said,

"Autumn has been in a car crash. She is stable, but in a coma. Please come in as soon as you can."

I waited in the lobby for a bit to see my parents. My little brother came, too. He was 13 years old. My mom chose the seat right next to me. I leaned over and gave her and my dad a kiss of the cheek. As I did, they got chills.

The doctor soon came out and let them know what happened. He made sure to let them know I wasn't being careless, and that I had been hit by a drunk driver. He explained the injury in my back and that there's a chance I could be paralyzed when I wake up. He also explained the injury to my head that caused my coma. They were trying everything they could to pull me out, but I was in a stable condition. He offered to set up a cot in the hospital room they were going to transfer me to or to call them a cab. My father accepted the cab offer as he comforted my mom and my brother.

I couldn't watch them being so upset while I knew I was okay. I went to go find my room. I found it by following the sick feeling and the pain in my back. I walked further down the hall until the feeling went away and found an empty room with a few recliners in it. Man I was tired. So I took a recliner, found a sheet and went to sleep in the empty hospital room.