It was a typical Saturday night out, only this was one of the happiest of my life because I was driving for the first time without my mom. My younger sister and I had been to the movies and were on our way home. I was so excited about driving, and thought nothing could bring me down. Five minutes from my house, I stopped at a stop sign, looked both ways, and prepared to make a right turn. All of a sudden, the unthinkable happened. The lights of an oncoming car were headed straight at me. I closed my eyes and heard the worst sound ever.

When I finally opened my eyes, my car was turned completely around, and totaled. The other car had slammed into my side and destroyed it. The bumper fell off, the hood was pushed back, and the right side was almost ripped off. The lady in the other car jumped out and said things to me I never expected to hear. Her husband, the driver, was much nicer, but it was too late. I began to bawl and could not stop.

After calling my mom and the police, I was terrified. I was so sure my mom would think it was my fault and hate me forever. Actually, she was extremely understanding and reassured me that she was not mad about the car, and was happy we were both fine.

The paramedics assessed my sister and me and said we could go home but I was still hysterical. It took over an hour and a half for me to stop crying.

The next week my sister and I did pretty well, except for a little stiffness. It was hard to get around for a while, but everything turned out okay.

I thought things would return to normal, but I was wrong. When my mom went to the sheriff’s office and read the police report, she became very upset. The couple in the other car lied to the police and said I had made a wide right turn and, therefore, the crash was my fault. We could not believe it! Now we had to deal with an investigation to find the truth.

My sister and I tried to explain what happened at least six times. My mom fought to convince the insurance company and the other couple that if it were really my fault, we of course would pay for the damages, but she believed the wreck was not my fault.

The investigators went to the scene and looked at all the pictures and police report. They finally concluded that the accident could not have been my fault because most of the debris from the cars was on my side of the road. This meant that the impact had happened on my side. The man in the other car was in the wrong. Then we discovered that he had fallen asleep at the wheel and was travelling over the speed limit. He and his wife had been on the road for 10 hours, trying to get home to their daughter.

The couple paid, and I again thought this would be the end of it. Well, it wasn’t. To this day, I can still hear the sound of the cars slamming into each other. I still get a tingling pain in my head when I make a right turn from McDaniels Street onto Pine Hill Road. But most of all, I am just happy to be alive.