I was driving home from color guard practice. There had been a horrible storm brewing earlier that day and I had known that it would be a bad one; the sky had been slate grey and black clouds had been approaching from the east. Then, as I got into my Shelby Cobra and started the ignition, the sky opened up and rain drops the size of marbles pelted my precious car. I shut the door, turned on the heater and the radio, and started the ignition. I pulled out of the senior parking lot of my school (Hampshire High School), and drove down the cliff like hill to the main road. It was the only road that went in and out of town.
Lightning flashed behind me as I turned to the right heading home. I pulled out my cellphone and dialed my co-captain in color guard, Kalie. I pressed the small button on the device that was attached to my ear and the Bluetooth started up. Kalie answered right away because she was still at school practicing a little more of the routine.
"Hey Kal, I just wanted to know if you got the flags laid out. I know we felt a little drizzle, and I don't want the silks to mold," I said through the Bluetooth my eyes steady on the road, as my windshield wipers worked overtime trying to keep the windshield as free a view as they could.
"Yeah Captain, I did," her southern-belle accent carried over through the cell.
"Kal, I want you to call me Gabrielle, not Captain," I said to her in a slightly amused voice. Kalie was a transfer form Georgia and she insisted on calling me Captain. She was an amazing guard girl but she sometimes took it a little too seriously.
"Right, I'll see ya t'morrow," Kal said. I told her bye and hung up. We had only been friends for about two weeks now but if felt like longer.
The storm that was only just beginning was a late one, and it was quite odd to have such ferocity in the cool, late august day. To be quite honest, I had never really liked lightning or thunder.
I'd always liked water though. I loved running through the rain as it soaked me to the bone and I chased after my dog. Nothing could beat that sort of experience.
It seemed that just thinking of the rain made it increase. I could barely look out of my window now, and I couldn't see except for four feet in front of me. I was starting to get nervous at this point, because honestly I could not afford a wreck. It was the beginning of marching season and I still had newbies to train. So I let off the gas a little, going only as fast as I dared, which was only about thirty-five miles per hour.
Lightning flashed again and I counted the seconds until the next flash. I had just finished mentally saying one, when lightning flashed again, this time it lit the entire area, bathing everything in a bluish white light. It was very close and I didn't know what to do. Should I pull off the road and sit in a ditch somewhere and wait for the storm to pass? Should I go faster and try to make it home? I didn't know.
All I knew was that my mom would worry terribly if I didn't call. So I stomped on the gas, flying down the twisting curves of the road. I tried to make it home. I really did. But suddenly lightning flashed in front of me and I slammed on my breaks. Slamming on my breaks had not been the best idea because the next thing I knew, I was hydroplaning straight into a tree.
I had heard that the reason the drunk drivers survived crashes, was because they were very relaxed. But the time that it took to skid, flip, and fall into the ditch, my muscles were very tense and I never had time to relax, how could I? Suddenly an agonizing pain went up my left forearm and I screamed in pain. It felt like a thousand tiny knives were stabbing me and I couldn't move it without it hurting so very badly.
I knew that the rubber in my tiers would protect me, but I wasn't really thinking at that point. I didn't think about the lighting that if it struck me it would fry me like crispy bacon. I barely realized that my car had landed by a telephone pole. All I knew was that I had to get out of the car, and the fact that my poor car was flipped upside down, didn't help my thinking skills. The blood was rushing to my head and my entire body hurt. I unhooked my seat belt with my good hand and was suddenly slammed onto the roof of my Shelby, as gravity pulled me down. I groaned, and opened my door as my body tumbled out, slamming against the telephone pole.
My head was slammed against the hard dirt and a root that stuck out of a nearby tree. Stars danced behind my eyelids. I laid there with the rain soaking me to the bone; freezing in the breeze that decided to blow. It felt like my lungs could barely take in air. I couldn't even muster enough energy to move my fingers let alone crawl to my cell phone and call 9-1-1. When the lightning hit my body I felt a sting, but the pain must have been too much for me to handle because I blacked out.