It was nine o'clock in the morning on August 16. My friend, Hootie, and I were awakened by the powerful aroma of bacon, eggs, and biscuits, the same breakfast we made every Saturday at the ranch. While enjoying our home made meal, we looked outside to see my sister, Kristin, and her two friends Tiffany and Kendyl zooming past the house on the brand new four wheeler. It was the perfect beginning of a beautiful day. However, we were unaware that the perfect beginning and that beautiful day were going to quickly crumble.


After breakfast, Hootie and I hopped on the old four wheeler on a quest to find the other girls. After searching for what seemed like hours, we finally found them. Because of her life-long striving for competition, Kristin told Tiffany, who was driving, to race us. They slowly reached our speed and passed us, cutting us off, and literally making us eat their dust. The dirt road was extremely narrow so we passed them quickly to return to its safe pathway. I'm not sure if they couldn't stand the dust or what, but they began driving right next to us on the grass field. The next ten minutes passed by so quickly my memory can barely recollect them.


I knew there was a ditch somewhere ahead. I wasn't sure if Kristin did. I tried yelling to her, I really did. She couldn't hear me. I could sense something awful was about to take place. My instinct was one hundred percent correct. Going about forty miles per hour, the girls nose-dived into a three foot ditch. As Hootie drove past, my eyes stayed glued to the girls. They went flying. I couldn't fathom what would happen, when or where they would land. There was a bigger problem, though. The quarter-ton four wheeler was right on their tails as they flew through the air. Would it land on them, crush them, and kill them all? I could only think the worst in the few seconds before I reacted. They finally landed, fifty feet from the ditch. Thankfully, I watched as the four wheeler bounced over all three girls. I was awe-stricken.


Hootie couldn't turn around quickly enough. Kendyl and Kristin lay shoulder to shoulder ten feet away from Tiffany. I wanted to so badly, but I couldn't find time to cry. You could only see the whites of Kendyl's eyes as her eye lids covered half of it. All three girls lay completely unconscious. Luckily, I had my phone and I was quick to call 911. As I was giving them the address to our desolate ranch in Madison county, my step mom and dad drove up on the golf cart-like vehicle, which we called "the mule", carrying my two littlest sisters in the back. They threw it into park and got out before it even had time to stop. Tiffany began to moan and slowly tolled from her back to her side. The entire left side of her back looked like raw hamburger meat. As the dirt began to seep in she screamed. Kristin, thankfully, began to escape her comatose state of being and opened her eyes, as did Kendyl. However, they did not have the same reaction as Tiffany did, Kendyl was calm, but kept complaining that her neck was hurting. That was "bad sign number two," aside from the wreck itself.


Two ambulances, three police cars, and two pick-up trucks full of help arrived on the scene. They loaded Tiffany on a gurney first because she was the least of their worries. She could actually move. They began loading Kristin when she began crying and grabbing her left arm. I rushed quickly to her side. Right next to her were two paramedics fighting got put a neck brace on Kendyl, who is extremely claustrophobic. All three girls lay on the ground while the paramedics questioned them. "How old are you? When is your birthday?" they asked my sister, Kristin. "I'm fourteen," she responded. Tears created a river lined by my cheek bones. Kristin turned fifteen on July 26, just two months before. "Kristin, please, you're fifteen. You knew that you just had a birthday," I announced. "What? When was my birthday?" she questioned. I had to walk away. I couldn't let her see me break down like that, I couldn't. They repeated the same questions to Kendyl who remembered just as little.


Kristin and Kendyl had major concussions while Tiffany only suffered a minor one. Kristin had many scratches and bruises from the rough terrain which she landed on. Tiffany's back was unrecognizable. Kendyl's case was quite weird actually. She had stored her cell phone in the strap of her sports bra. When she hit the ground, it lodged into her shoulder, tearing the ligament, dislocating it, and breaking her rotator cuff. It was a day I will remember vividly for the rest of my life. Not a day goes by that I don't thank God for keeping my sister and her friends here with us.