Steadying the wheel, she turned to the backseat in attempt to quiet her screaming son. She picked up a drool- covered rattle off the floor and shook it in front of his eyes. When he didn’t respond, she simply laid it on top of his blanket and turned back to check the road.
She became aware of the speeding truck before her as her eyes darted up from the button she had just pushed to change the radio to a more desirable song. The truck had crushed the median, flipped over twice, and was now stumbling onto the incoming vehicles on the interstate. It rolled over a minivan, onto an SUV, and proceeded to flatten the Mercedes that had just sped passed her own car. Her heart stopped as if she had instantly become cold-blooded and stepped out onto an iceberg. Even the smallest of hairs on her body seemed to stand motionless. Her car continued to race toward the monster, while the message of stomping on the brake was frozen so cold in her mind that there was no way she could relay the information to her foot in time to save herself. As the vehicle plummeted into the windshield of the truck, her body flew straight through it.
She felt a pinging in her temple and a force from above tugging at each ventricle in her heart. She threw her arms back in vigor as if her strength would be able to split the force pulling her up to the clouds. The clouds had become a mirror, reflecting the disastrous scene below. Her green Jeep had been completely dismantled, crushed and lifeless. Now looking up into the mirror, she saw her baby, lying safely in what could barely be called a back seat. He lay there crying amidst the surrounding burning cars. She knew he’d be fine; someone would save him and raise him to be the man she always hoped he would be. In the reflection of her child, she reached for his delicate body and placed his lips to his head. Then she placed him back into his car seat and let the force from clouds take her away.