Why I Became a Hermit

1: Accident

It was a quarter past noon, the sun beat down on my faded teal Volkswagen as it rolled down the Oklahoma interstate. My little beetle had been a real champ for making it this far, rolling at 60 miles an hour with no trouble for about 30 miles. I was on my way back home from the art museum after dropping off some paintings for the next show and feeling good. The wind howled in through the slight opening of my passenger window blowing pollen specks into the air all around me.

I shifted in my seat and peeled my pants away from my crotch as it stuck to my chain, and all of a sudden there was a clunk. My head immediately lifted and my heart beat rapidly as I heard a loud hissing noise. I broke out in a sweat; in my back mirror, I caught a glimpse of something in the middle of the road. In a flash, one of my tires had completely blown out and a hideous scraping sound was accompanied by the car swerving to the opposite side of the interstate. My heart dropped and I screamed as oncoming traffic approached. Brakes squealed ahead of me and I gripped the steering wheel like it was my dear life. I narrowly steered back to the right side of the road, missing head-on collision and slammed my foot on the brakes.

The car spun around once, faster than a bullet before drifting off the shoulder. It came to a concussion creating collision as the bumper of my car rammed directly into the metal guide rail. I couldn't move. My body was glued to the driver's seat, hands nailed to the steering wheel, my knuckles white. I began to hyperventilate and realized all I could hear was a high pitched ringing. My lungs couldn't seem to catch up with the breath knocked out of me.

It's a miracle that my car hadn't caught fire or hit a gas line, otherwise, I would've sat in the car and burned to death. It took a few minutes for the shock to wear down a bit and I did my best to slow down my breathing. I shakily drew in long deep breaths and let it out through my mouth controlling it best as I could. My chest and neck were in pain, and as I began to regain my composure I realized I had blown the airbag. No wonder my boobs hurt. Fuck. And my neck hurting wasn't a good sign either, likely to be whiplash after coming to a halt from 60 to nothin. The ringing in my ears was beginning to die out and I could hear cars whipping past me on the interstate, eyeing me with curiosity. The car shook a little bit every time one whizzed by.

Slowly I opened my door and crawled out of the driver's side, gripping the inside handle for stability as my shaky feet found their way down on the gravel. I put pressure down and stood up cautiously, my heart rate still shooting through the roof. Another car flew by and I winced at the thought of being over.