I was screaming as I reached for my arm, expecting blood. I was on my side, as was everyone else. “Is everyone okay?!” My mom was breathing so hard. “We have to get out.” My aunt said as she tried to lift the door, but she was not strong enough. Like an act of God, a man opened the door from outside. He helped my aunt out and I realized it was my turn. I started shaking my head, “No, no I can’t do it, I can’t.” My uncle pushed me up and said, “Well you have no choice!” I kept my hand on my arm as I lifted out of the SUV. I dropped to the ground, ran to the curb, and shook with fear as hot tears ran down my face. I timidly lifted my hand from my arm; no blood, there wasn’t even a wound. I turned to the sky to thank God it was all going to be alright.


I looked back at our Tahoe, and saw my uncle, step dad, and mom get helped out of the car. My aunt rushed to my side to make sure I was okay. “Yeah I’m fine,” I said between breaths, “I’m gong to be okay. I thought I sliced my arm, but I guess I didn’t.” “Okay honey, I’m glad you’re okay.” She said as she rubbed my back. I saw my mom walking around in circles with shock on her face, wondering why she hasn’t asked if I was okay yet. Wouldn’t that be a classic motherly instinct? Maybe fear is the over taker of what you usually would do in a scary situation. “Lea…” My aunt brought me back to reality. I turned to see the police urging me towards them. “Hi, I’m Officer Jerry.” I shook his hand silently. “Ma’am, can you tell us what happened?” I looked to the sky hoping God would tell them. “Yeah, I can. Well, I was in a car with my family…” I said as every memory came rushing back.


The first thought that hit me was I could have prevented this. I wanted to change into jeans out of my shorts. I wasted at least three minutes in which we could have avoided the whole accident. After all, a car crash only takes about three- fourths of a second. But, fate happens for a reason, as does everything. As I came back into the Tahoe after changing into my jeans, I was so excited because we were going golfing and it was my first time. We pulled into the golf place, somewhere in Helotes, and my uncle started unpacking the beer first thing. My mom and I were the only ones not drinking. My mom was getting over a cold, and I of course, was underage.


Golfing was fantastic, although I lost since I didn’t have the lowest score, which still makes no sense to me. By the end game, we were all starved, so WhataBurger became a fan favorite. We piled into the Tahoe, and being as hungry as I was, I wasn’t concerned about my seatbelt, just about when we were going to get to the food. I was in the middle seat in the back, between my aunt and my uncle, who just so happened to be visiting from out of town. We were on the highway, just leaving the golf place, when I saw the truck with the trailer pulling out right in front of us. Looking back, I guess they were in a hurry to get into the neighborhood before we drove by, but at the time I was clueless as to why they couldn’t wait.


“OH MY GOD! WERE GOING TO HIT THAT CAR!” was all I heard as we smashed into the trailer on the truck head on. My mom turned the wheel to the right, which made us turn onto our side. We would have rolled, but luckily there was a median on which our Tahoe fell on. I heard the windows breaking into a thousand pieces, and I held on tightly to my aunt and uncle. We came to a stop, as I realized; I wasn’t wearing my seatbelt, I could have went crashing through the window. And that’s when I felt pain in my arm.


“…And that’s what happened.” I said as I started to tear up again. “Thank you for your cooperation ma’am. I’m glad that everyone is okay.” “Thanks,” I tried to smile.


We left the scene since there was nothing we could do. That was the first time in my life in which I felt scared, truly scared for my life. God was watching over us that day, and for that I am truly thankful.