Up until last Monday, my boss was in Germany for a week. While he was gone, I looked after his '96 Town Car. He doesn't mind since I'm pretty much the one that washes, cleans, and maintains all of his cars. One night, my neighbor and I were on our way home from a friend's house at around 9. We were coming up to a long stretch slightly downhill coming up to a sharp right, on a 2-lane road. On the opposite shoulder, I saw one car with its hazard lights on. Then another, and another. I thought maybe someone broke down and people stopped to help. But right as I passed the last car on the shoulder, I took a split second glance to the side and saw another set of tail lights - only they were upside down.
I slammed on the brakes without thinking and jammed the boat into reverse. That Town Car burned out backwards the whole fifty feet I had my foot down to park across from what I managed to make out was an overturned Wrangler. I got out and ran across to the guy kneeling at the passenger door. He said it wouldn't open and that there was a woman inside. The plastic top had shattered and I was able to stick my head around the door and talk to her. I asked if she was okay and she said yes, and I asked if she knew she'd broken anything or was bleeding, to which she said "no, I don't think so." I told her I was going to get her out and she told me to hurry - which, in the moment, I didn't understand why.
I got down on my back and kicked at the passenger window. I didn't have anything pointed to break the glass with. It wasn't working.. I ran back to the Lincoln and grabbed the keys, told my friend to hang them by the lanyard in front of the glass, and with one hard kick, the glass shattered. In a few moments, I got the woman out of the wreck. While trying to get her to sit down and not move, I realized - amidst my amazement that she had not a scratch on her and was walking and talking fine - that the Jeep was still running. I could smell fuel and fire.. and with the weird way the thing was dug into the ground, a quick glance was all it took for me to realize a line was leaking onto the exhaust and small flames were forming, going out, forming, going out. But growing..
I probably should have just run away with everybody else, but my impulse was to crawl back through the small opening of the window and reach for the key. It was pitch black, loud as fuck, and the fumes were nauseating. I reached in blindness for the key and found it on the side of the column, jammed in the run position by the caved in dashboard. I couldn't for the life of me turn that key back, I'm like super lefty and using my wimpy right hand was all I had. I twisted and turned and pushed as hard as I could but just couldn't shut the engine off. I started feeling sick. But I felt someone pulling at my ankles. My hearing was getting weird and I started to get dizzy, but all I could think of was trying as hard as I possibly could to turn the key back. Someone was yelling and trying to drag me out of the truck. The harder he pulled at my legs, the harder I gripped the key. We were both holding on so tight that when I finally let go, my head slammed down on to the ground (er, roof). Knocked silly but still awake, I immediately looked up, only to be knocked unconscious when the back of my head smashed into the door.
And when I woke up, I was in the hospital and my friend, the guy that had stopped to help, and my parents were there. Apparently I had been bleeding from my right ear and was unconscious for an hour. I had a massive headache. When I asked where the driver of the Jeep was, they said she was ok and unharmed, despite not having worn a seat belt. My friend told me that seconds after he pulled me out and he and the other guy carried me to the other side of the road, the engine caught fire. But according to the police and firefighters that arrived soon after, the fire was quickly controlled because the engine had stopped.
I was discharged a few hours later. I never saw the woman but supposedly she was unscathed. Glad to have heard she was alright.. what a blessing.
That was some night.. now I'll go turn this whole post into my term paper for comp II. Just wanted to share. It was way too fucking creepy and ironic - I'd watched the movie Crash the day before.
I slammed on the brakes without thinking and jammed the boat into reverse. That Town Car burned out backwards the whole fifty feet I had my foot down to park across from what I managed to make out was an overturned Wrangler. I got out and ran across to the guy kneeling at the passenger door. He said it wouldn't open and that there was a woman inside. The plastic top had shattered and I was able to stick my head around the door and talk to her. I asked if she was okay and she said yes, and I asked if she knew she'd broken anything or was bleeding, to which she said "no, I don't think so." I told her I was going to get her out and she told me to hurry - which, in the moment, I didn't understand why.
I got down on my back and kicked at the passenger window. I didn't have anything pointed to break the glass with. It wasn't working.. I ran back to the Lincoln and grabbed the keys, told my friend to hang them by the lanyard in front of the glass, and with one hard kick, the glass shattered. In a few moments, I got the woman out of the wreck. While trying to get her to sit down and not move, I realized - amidst my amazement that she had not a scratch on her and was walking and talking fine - that the Jeep was still running. I could smell fuel and fire.. and with the weird way the thing was dug into the ground, a quick glance was all it took for me to realize a line was leaking onto the exhaust and small flames were forming, going out, forming, going out. But growing..
I probably should have just run away with everybody else, but my impulse was to crawl back through the small opening of the window and reach for the key. It was pitch black, loud as fuck, and the fumes were nauseating. I reached in blindness for the key and found it on the side of the column, jammed in the run position by the caved in dashboard. I couldn't for the life of me turn that key back, I'm like super lefty and using my wimpy right hand was all I had. I twisted and turned and pushed as hard as I could but just couldn't shut the engine off. I started feeling sick. But I felt someone pulling at my ankles. My hearing was getting weird and I started to get dizzy, but all I could think of was trying as hard as I possibly could to turn the key back. Someone was yelling and trying to drag me out of the truck. The harder he pulled at my legs, the harder I gripped the key. We were both holding on so tight that when I finally let go, my head slammed down on to the ground (er, roof). Knocked silly but still awake, I immediately looked up, only to be knocked unconscious when the back of my head smashed into the door.
And when I woke up, I was in the hospital and my friend, the guy that had stopped to help, and my parents were there. Apparently I had been bleeding from my right ear and was unconscious for an hour. I had a massive headache. When I asked where the driver of the Jeep was, they said she was ok and unharmed, despite not having worn a seat belt. My friend told me that seconds after he pulled me out and he and the other guy carried me to the other side of the road, the engine caught fire. But according to the police and firefighters that arrived soon after, the fire was quickly controlled because the engine had stopped.
I was discharged a few hours later. I never saw the woman but supposedly she was unscathed. Glad to have heard she was alright.. what a blessing.
That was some night.. now I'll go turn this whole post into my term paper for comp II. Just wanted to share. It was way too fucking creepy and ironic - I'd watched the movie Crash the day before.
Glad everyone was ok!
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