Abigail hurried out the door muttering obscenities to herself as she threw her hair up in a ponytail and unlocked her car with her car keys. She had overslept again and was about to be late to work as a bartender. Abigail threw herself into the car, started it, put it into reverse, and put her foot to the gas pedal. She rushed through the stop sign at the end of her street, turned right, and accelerated through the yellow light that directed traffic through the intersection. Abigail then turned onto the entrance ramp and got on to the freeway. Going 85mph, she switched lanes until she was in the lane furthest left. Not long after Abigail began messing with the radio: switching stations and trying to find something she thought was worth listening to. Once content, she looked up to realize she was about to miss her exit. Abigail began switching lanes, neglecting her blinker, hoping to make her exit. It looked as though she was going to make her exit when she felt an impact from behind throw her body into the steering wheel. Abigail’s vehicle began to spin, and she tried to gain control of the steering wheel, but she felt another impact accompanied by sudden darkness.
Engulfed by darkness, Abigail heard voices but couldn’t make out the words being said.
They were too quiet, and everything else was too loud. The pounding in her head, the pulsating pain throughout her body, the thoughts racing through her mind: it was all too loud. She tried to remember what happened, where she was, and what was going on, but she couldn’t recollect a thing. Abigail let the darkness consume her and her thoughts.
Then, all at once, it hit her. She began reliving the events: running late to work, getting on the freeway, flipping through radio stations, almost missing her exit, and then feeling an impact from behind. It all came together. “I was in a car accident,” she thought. Abigail began reconnecting with her body and slowly opened her eyes. She was blinded by overwhelmingly bright lights, foreign equipment, and unfamiliar faces. The faces belonged to a man and a woman wearing matching uniforms and standing over Abigail. The woman was saying something, and Abigail strained to understand what the woman was saying. She said, “Abigail, you’re okay. You are in an ambulance, and we are taking you to the hospital. You were in a car accident.” Abigail tried to respond but couldn’t. The woman continued, “Abigail, don’t talk. Everything is going to be okay.” Abigail tried to nod her head in response, but the pain was too much. Instead she closed her eyes and slipped back into the blissfully overwhelming darkness.
When Abigail regained consciousness, she opened her eyes once again to an unfamiliar environment. She stared up at the white ceiling, and when she tried to move her head to look around the room, she found that her neck was in a brace. Abigail contemplated slipping back into the painless, dark, bliss she had just emerged from but instead decided to wait. She hoped someone would come and check on her soon because she needed answers. Abigail waited what felt like hours when she heard footsteps coming towards her. It was a woman wearing scrubs. The woman looked down at Abigail and seemed startled when she found that Abigail was staring back up at her. The woman said, “Oh, you’re awake. That’s amazing Abigail. I am your doctor, Julia Dalton. How do you feel?” Abigail managed to respond with a quiet “okay” that burned in her throat. The doctor continued asking Abigail questions:
“Are you in any pain?”
“Yes.”
“Can you tell me where you are experiencing pain?”
“Everywhere. What happened to me?”
“You were in a car accident. You fractured your neck, broke three ribs, broke your right leg, and were in a coma for the past two weeks. You are showing remarkable improvement already and are going to be okay. Your parents are here. Would you like to see them?”
“My parents?”
“Yes. They’ve been here since the car accident. They’ll be happy to see that you’re awake. I’ll send them in so they can see you before we start running some tests.”
Abigail heard the doctor’s footsteps leaving the room, and not long after Abigail’s mother and father entered the room. Tears welled up in her mother’s eyes as she tightly held Abigail’s hand. Her father stood beside her mother and said, “We were worried you were never going to wake up. You don’t know what a relief it is to see you awake.” Abigail’s mother began to cry. Abigail observed her and asked, “Why are you crying?” Abigail’s mother could only shake her head as another wave of tears came over her. Her father spoke up: “Abigail, there is something we need to tell you.” Abigail could tell from her father’s tone that whatever they needed to tell her was going to be bad news.  “How could this get any worse?” She thought. Abigail stared at her father and waited for him to continue. Her father said, “In the car accident, you hit another vehicle.” Abigail’s heart dropped. Her father continued, “Abigail, the person in the other vehicle didn’t make it.” Abigail was speechless. She took a moment to recover from what she had just heard and asked, “Was it my fault?”
“It’s possible.”
“So I killed someone? I’m a murderer?”
“Don’t say that. They’re called accidents for a reason.”
“ I don’t even remember what happened. What happened?”
“You were switching lanes and cut someone off. They slammed into your rear end, and they were ejected through the windshield. But it’s okay. We’re going to get you the best lawyer we can find.”
“It’s not okay! I killed someone! Who was it? Who did I kill?”
“Her name was Leslie. She was 45 years old.”
“Was she married? Did she have kids?”
“She was divorced and had two sons.”
Abigail began to sob with her mother. Soon after, the doctor came into the room and asked Abigail’s parents to leave. Abigail tried her best to quiet her sobs and calm her breathing as the doctor explained the tests that they would be running. The tests were ran, and Abigail was given some medication to calm her down and help with her pain. Abigail felt exhausted and slipped into a dreamless sleep.
Two months later, Abigail had fully recovered from the car accident. She had to deal with the guilt she felt from killing Leslie on a daily basis, but she was determined to not let it ruin her. The car accident made Abigail realize how valuable her life truly is. She started taking college more seriously, got a new job, visited her parents more often, and most importantly improved her driving. Although the car accident felt like the worst thing that could have happened to Abigail, she was determined to find a way for it to have a positive impact on her life because that’s what Leslie would have wanted.