Easter had come, and I was thrilled for the annual party that my family would throw. I had thrown on my best dress for the occasion. My brother Jacob and I had been at our grandparents’ house for the past week, and we were excited to see our parents again. Jacob had already packed his belongings into our grandpa’s truck. The truck wasn’t big enough to hold four people, so we had to take two cars. As I stuffed my bag into the backseat, I overheard the conversation my grandparents were having.“Let her sit in the front seat, I’m sure nothing will happen,” my grandpa said. I had just turned eight at the time, and I wasn’t nearly tall enough to sit in the front seat. And yet, there I was, sitting down next to my grandma. I decided it was a good idea to take a short nap during the drive to the party. About an hour had passed before the texture of the ground suddenly changed. I thought nothing of it, until the ground disappeared under the wheels of the car. My eyes were open in time to see the impact of the car crashing into the ground. My teeth bit down hard into my tongue. I couldn’t hear my own screams over the ringing in my ears. Everything spun around me.

“Help, please!” I cried. I wasn’t sure if anyone could hear me, but yet I tried anyway. A voice cut through my screams.

“The door,” It told me, “you have to unlock the door,” I reached for the lock, but everything was spinning too fast. I couldn’t find it. I had just began to give up when hands began to pull me out of the car. They pulled me out through the back window, which they had shattered to get me out. The voices around me told me not to go to sleep, but I was so tired. When the ambulance arrived, I was told it was okay to close my eyes. The last thing I remember before losing consciousness was the inside of the ambulance as I was driven to the hospital.

When I woke up, I was in a small room, with an IV in my wrist and a tube in my nose. My leg had been wrapped in a white fabric. I heard the doctors talking about how I had to stay for multiple days. I realized then just how bad the situation was. I had never had to stay in the hospital overnight. I wanted to cry. Where where my parents? Was my grandma okay? I was put in a cramped room to stay in. I had nothing to do but stare at the small television as it advertised the hospital. My head throbbed, but I was only allowed to take pain relievers every four hours. I couldn’t eat or talk efficiently due to the injury on my tongue, so I was hungry all the time. I was only fed through the tube in my nose. When my parents did arrive, my dad bought me a stuffed leopard; it was the only thing that made me happy during my time in the hospital, and I always kept it close to me.

Soon I was carted to a different room that was meant for patients that weren’t in need of urgent medical care, which meant I was getting better. The doctors took CT scans of my head. They figured out I had brain damage from the impact, which explained the migraines I suffered. Aside from that, I had a fractured leg and a damaged tongue. It was a different story for my grandma, though. My dad told me a few of her ribs were broken, as well as her legs. She couldn’t talk whatsoever, but at least she was alive.

Many people came to visit me in the hospital while I was recovering, and soon I had a small pile of gifts piled up at the corner of the room I was being held in. Among them was get well cards from my classmates from school. I was grateful, but reading them only made my head hurt more.

Soon,  I was well enough to get out of my bed and into a wheelchair. I had to go to a room where they focused on physical therapy. There the nurses helped me walk, stretch, and other things like that.  I was well enough to drink things now, so I had to drink syrupy grape medicine instead on getting painkillers through the IV in my arm. By the end of the first week, I was almost able to eat again.

I recovered quickly as the second week went by, and by Friday, I was finally able to go home. I still remember the cool feeling of the air on my skin, and the layout of the garage that my mom’s car was parked in. When we got to the car, I knew this time to choose the backseat.