I was cold. I remember that first. My eyes open to bright sunlight shining through shattered glass. Where was I? I tried to move but I seem to be stuck. The fogginess in my brain was lifting and my situation was much more apparent. I am upside down in my car…
I start breathing faster. I can feel the panic building in my gut. The shock of my situation and the realization that I was in an accident was making me sick to my stomach. I needed to calm down. I needed to think. I closed my eyes. What happened? How did I get here? Did anyone see me? Will help arrive? I remembered the deep breathing exercises I learned in my Intro to Stage Acting class at UWM. I closed my eyes and started the exercises. I could feel myself calm down. I accepted the situation I was in…
Ok I am upside down in my car. I can’t change that. But I can’t stay here. I look around to check out the inside of the car. I next check to see if I could move. Was I injured? Did I break my legs or my arms? Am I bleeding? I could move my legs and arms. But my head was throbbing. I touched my forehead and looked at my fingers. Blood. I adjusted the rear view mirror to see how bad it was. It wasn’t all that bad but my head was throbbing. I needed to get out and I needed to get out now…
I tried to open the driver’s side door. The angle my car was leaning made that impossible. I would have to climb out by the passenger door. I moved along the top of my car and got into the passenger seat. I tried opening the passenger door. The door was bent and jammed. I tried to roll down the window but that was stuck too. I needed to think. I was beginning to panic…
The sun came out from behind the clouds and streamed through the bare tree branches and into the shattered window. It blinded me and I blocked the sun from my eyes. I thought I saw someone or something but the glass was so shattered. Out of frustration I gave the door one last shove. It opened…
I crawled out and staggered around. I was down in some ravine and deep enough that no one would or could have seen me from the road. I looked around and found my backpack and violin about twenty feet from the car. I trudged through the snow to retrieve them. I start walking up the ravine to get back to the road. Maybe I can flag a car down. It is so quiet. No wind. Just the stark contrast between the snow and the empty trees. The sun was in my face and from what I could tell it was getting higher in the sky. I figured I was going in an eastward direction. From the lack of tire tracks in the snow this road was rarely traveled on. I could see some buildings on the horizon. I picked up my pace. I imagined sitting in a warm diner drinking a nice hot cup of coffee. I figured that was all I could afford…
I was approaching a road sign. I really could not make out what it read since the sun was in my eyes. I could tell it was weathered and worn. It made me sad to think of the neglect. I felt a sadness in me like I have never felt before. Suddenly I felt something touch my shoulder. Something warm. I turned to look but all I saw were some crows flying off in the distance. I turned back and looked up at the sign…
Welcome To Royal
To be continued…
