Hanging upside down and trying to control her breathing as panic floored her, Lisa tried to think about something else. Shutting her eyes which was easy enough to do because she suddenly felt sleepy, she began listing off everything she had had been heading to the shops to buy.
Tea bags, milk, sugar, bread, cheese, fruit and veg….chocolate biscuits, Lisa thought.
A fire engine siren whipped through the air, causing Lisa to open her eyes and stop the list. From her upside view she couldn’t see the red truck but she knew it was there now. Blending on with the other emergency vehicle at the scene.
Her hair felt wet and she hoped it was only sweat. Wiggling, she tried to see if she could get out, but her hand didn’t want to reach down and undo the seat belt. Dragging in a deep breath, she watched the blur of people standing outside her car. Lisa tried to count them, but the figures seemed to become one.
‘Help,’ she cried weakly. Not sure what else to do.
‘It’s okay, Miss,’ a too young looking ambulance man said.
Lisa turned her head to look at him.
‘Please don’t move,’ he added.
‘Ok,’ she mumbled.
Lisa shut her eyes again. The ambulance man was saying something else but she didn’t hear him.
How had this happened? she wondered.
One moment she had been driving along the motorway the next another car had ploughed into her side and she had spun and flipped. At least that’s how it had seemed to her. Perhaps, that was just her mind thinking of it like a movie.
She wished she could rewind this back like a movie. At least then she might try to do something differently. Maybe more lanes or slow down, just something that might have made a difference.
‘We are going to cut you out now. Please stay still,’ the ambulance man said.
Lisa took a few deep breaths and focused her mind winding back time. However, nothing she could do would change what had happened.
The Story Files 