June 16, 2009
The Highway
9:00 p.m.


I heard a loud crash, but felt absolutely nothing. I opened my eyes to find that I wasn't hurt. I turned to see that the car had swerved and crashed into another car that was heading the other way. I stood there in shock as I waited for someone to get out of their car and tell me that they were ok. But nothing happened.

I realized that the car that was coming towards me crashed into a gold Mercedes. "Ash's mom has a gold Mercedes," I said softly to myself. But there were tons of people with gold Mercedes', it could be anyone's car.

I urged my feet to step towards the car and see if the person inside was ok, but I couldn't move. I was frozen in place, my heart racing at full speed. I had just caused a car accident. And I most likely caused someone to get severely injured. I could get in huge trouble for this. Unless...

No, I couldn't. But what would happen to me if I didn't. I sighed and turned around, telling myself to just walk away. To just act like none of this ever happened. But I knew that I wasn't capable of doing something like that. I wasn't capable of committing a hit an run, if you could even call it that. I wouldn't do the same thing Ash's dad did.

So I took a deep breath and walked towards the driver's seat of the Mercedes. And when I peered inside the window, my heart all but stopped. Because inside of the car was Ash's mom. Her eyes were closed and her body looked limp, lifeless even. I tried to open the door, but it was jammed shut. The entire front half of her car was totaled.

The hood of the car looked crinkled and smashed. And all of the glass on the front window and two side windows of her car were shattered, shards of glass everywhere. Both of her side view mirrors were bent inwards at an odd angle. And the other car didn't look much better.

I reached through the broken window of Ms. Mongolia's car and tried to open the door from the inside. After much tugging, pulling, and yanking, I finally managed to get the door open. "Ms. Mongolia!" I cried, but no answer came. "Oh, please wake up! Please don't be dead!"

I barely even noticed the tears flowing rapidly down the sides of my face. I didn't know what to do. I felt the impact of the situation closing in on me and felt queasy. My head ached, my stomach felt nauseous, my heart was pounding so heavily I thought it might break through my chest. But I summed up all of my strength and courage and began sprinting back towards the park. I had to get my cell phone, had to call for help.

When I got there, I practically tore open my suitcase and yanked out my cell phone. Then I flipped it open and dialed in 9-1-1.

"Westchester Police Department, what's your emergency?" a drowsy, robotic voice answered.

"Hi, my friend's mom just got into a really bad car crash. I think she's hurt! Like very hurt!" Words poured out of my mouth in a rushed and hurried speed.

"Alright, where did this accident happen?" the woman asked, sounding a bit more alert.

"On the highway just off of Middlebury Road." I told her.

"Ok, there's no need to worry. Help is on the way." she assured me.

"Thank you so much," I cried.

"No problem, why don't you just wait there until we arrive?" she suggested.

"Ok, but I'm going to hang up now, I need to make another phone call." I said.

"Alright, but before you do, would you mind telling me your name?"

"Evalynne, Evalynne Carter," I told her.

"Ok, well I'm sure your friend's mother will be fine Ms. Carter, goodbye." She hung up and so did I. Then I took a deep breath as I dialed in this next phone number.

"Hello," he answered. I opened my mouth to speak, but I couldn't get any words out. My throat was swollen shut. "Hello?" he asked. "Evalynne, are you there?"

How did he know it was me calling? Was he secretly watching me? Did he see this whole thing happen? Did he know the crash was my fault?

"Evalynne, I know it's you. I have caller I.D. you know." he said. Oh, caller I.D., duh. Gosh, I was slow sometimes. "Well I'm hanging up now, bye." Then there was a click and the call was ended.

I sighed and flipped my phone shut, beginning to trudge back towards where the accident had taken place. I could never tell Ash. What would he think of me if I did? He would hate me. He would absolutely, positively despise me. He wouldn't even be able to look at me anymore. Oh no, I could definitely not tell him.

When I got back to the highway, I decided that I'd better check to see if the other driver was ok. So I walked over to his car and looked in through his shattered window. He was a thirty-something year-old man with a fresh cut straight across his forehead. It was probably from a shard of glass.

He seemed to be just waking up, his eyes fluttering open. He saw me and asked, "Did I just get into a car crash?"

"Um, yes, you did." I told him.

He looked around at his surroundings, "Wow, a pretty bad one I'm guessing."

I tried my best to smile at his mild joke, but the thought of what I'd done, stopped me. "Yeah, my friend's mom is actually the one who you crashed in to."

"Oh, well is she alright?" he asked.

"Um, I'm not sure yet. The police are on their way over here, probably with an ambulance." I informed him.

"Oh, ok. Um, my name's John by the way."

"I'm Evalynne," I took a step back as he tried to open his door, but like Mom's, it wouldn't budge. So he gave it a good kick, and it opened up with ease.

I heard sirens as he stepped out of his car. And within seconds, three police cars pulled up along with an ambulance. "Is there a Miss Evalynne Carter here?" a police man asked.

"Um, yeah, that's me." I said, raising my hand.

"Alright, is your friend's mother still in her car?" he asked.

"Yes, she's still passed out." I replied.

He nodded, motioned two other police men to come over and then walked over to Ms. Mongolia's car. I watched in horror as they pulled her out and placed her onto a stretcher. Another police man walked up to me.

"Um, sir, is this your car?" he asked John.

"Yes, it is." John replied.

"Alright..." I didn't pay attention to the rest of their conversation, loosing interest when they began talking about car insurance.

I pulled out my cell phone again and stepped away from them so that they couldn't hear me. Then I dialed in Kristy's phone number. It rang four times until a machine-operated voice finally picked up.

"I'm sorry, you're call cannot be connected. Please hang up and dial again."

I pulled the phone away from my ear and stared at the screen for a moment in disbelief. Kristy really had blocked me from her phone. I knew she was mad at me, but I didn't think she would actually block me from her phone. She really wanted nothing to do with me anymore.

I really had no one.

I finally ended the call and decided to call Mom. I would just be the bigger person and apologize. Then she might let me come back home. So I sucked in a deep breath of air and called her on speed dial.

She answered, but said nothing.

"Mom, it's me, Evalynne. Listen, I'm really sorry about what I said to you. I was just angry about what happened with Ash so I took my anger out on you. I know that I shouldn't have done that, believe me I do. But I want to come back home, Mom. I can't survive out here all alone. Please forgive me, please let me come back home."

I heard her sigh and knew that she had caved. "Oh honey, I'm the one who should be saying sorry. I was being completely immature. But I hope you know that I was going to come find you tomorrow and let you back in the house if you apologized. Oh, sweetie, I'm sorry."

"It's ok, Mom." I replied.

"Well you can come on back right now."

"Thanks, Mom, I'll see you soon, bye." I hung up the phone and slipped it back into my pocket. Then I walked up to a police man. "Um, hello sir, do you mind if I go home? My mom's worried about me."

He turned around, "Um, who are you exactly?"

"Evalynne Carter, I'm the one who called you guys and told you about the accident."

"Oh, well then do you mind if I just ask you one quick question before you go?" he asked me.

"Sure, go ahead," I replied impatiently. I just wanted to get out of there. I couldn't stand being around all of this. It was making me feel sick to my stomach.

"How exactly did this accident happen?"

"Well I was walking down the street, heading home, when I heard this loud screech and then a crash. I turned to see this car swerving into another car and then I saw a deer running off in the distance. I'm guessing you know the story." I lied.

"Ok, and which car swerved?"

"The red Honda." I said, referring to John's car.

"Alright, thank you for your time," he said.

"No problem," I turned on my heel and walked away, looking back over my shoulder as I did. Looked at the accident I had caused. Looked at Ash's mom's car destroyed car. Looked at the paramedics once again, wheeling her into the ambulance on a stretcher.

Except this time it wasn't because she fell down the stairs. It was because I had caused her to get into a terrible car accident. And I felt nothing. No guilt, no sadness, no regret. Nothing.