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Death before Key West -- Invitation to Write #49

For Writers:

The Service Learning conference in Atlanta was over, and we decided to head south. At Jacksonville, I asked Linda if she wanted to go to New Orleans or Key West. She said Key West, and we drove through the night to get there.

Miami almost became our permanent destination. It was approaching 3 in the morning, and my eyes were blurring over. As we came over a hill on I-95, I immediately reacted to the car that was slamming on its brakes ahead of us. We ended up missing a multi-car pile up by literally inches.

We pulled over to the side of the road, and Linda crossed multiple lanes of traffic to see if she could offer any assistance. One person was sitting in the middle of the road, cradling his now dead passenger’s head in his arms – his eyes a blank stare. Linda expressed how sorry she was, and urged the person to go to a safer location.

Meanwhile, cars continued driving upon the accident, and I had lost sight of Linda. From my driver’s seat position on the shoulder, I kept checking the rear view mirror, just hoping I was far enough out of harm’s way to avoid any sleepy drivers, and hoping that Linda would re-join me quickly so that we could be on our way.

Have you ever been in an accident? If so, describe what happened; if not, would you be willing to help if you came upon an accident, or would you drive on and leave it to others to assist?

"There is no such thing as accident; it is fate misnamed." -- Napoleon

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