Jill Taylor
Instructor Hamner
Dev. 092
Essay # 1
February 13, 2003
The Accident at Meijers

Erin and I were just sitting around playing with the mailboxes and talking with our friend James. All of a sudden Erin busted out, “Hey Jill, wanna go to Meijers?” It was only like 5:00pm, so I was thinking why not, I have nothing else to do. “Sure let’s go, but you’re driving!” I always drive when we go anywhere so I made her. Erin drives a 1993 red Honda. No air bags, but it gets around. I always make fun of her because it smells like mold in her car. Her car is like trashed with trashed, maybe that’s why it smells.

Erin and I have been friends and roommates since the third week of school. We can talk about almost anything. My obsession is bodily functions, hers is guys, but we get along just fine. Erin likes the same kind of music as I do, although sometimes she gets these urges to listen to country, which I can stand for a while, but not for a long time. We’re most likely up all night going to the vending machine getting Elfin Crackers or going to Meijers real late just to go. Or we stay up all night talking with the other hall mates of Hamilton Hall. Erin is an extremely talkative, outgoing and ‘let’s do something’ person. On Thursday evening of Halloween we actually weren’t doing anything, just watching all the people made up really nicely for their parties and leave in costumes. Our Community Advisor was supposed to have trick-or-treaters come in, but that didn’t happen for some reason.

When Erins’s Honda reached Meijers, we went in and we played around in the Toy section. Whenever I go with my friends to a Walmart, Meijers, or anywhere else with a toy department, we like to goof around in the toy section. How immature is that? But really, it can be fun. Erin and I were playing with the baby toys, pushing all the colorful buttons and listening to the music and loud noises they make. I saw this adorable Scooby-Doo stuffed animal, I wanted to get it but it was too expensive. We went over to the furniture section to sit in the chairs. We found this cool video chair, kind of like a car seat but rocks back and forth. Erin is addicted to those cheap romance novels, so she had to read one while we were there. After going through the entire food section so we could stock up our fridge, we decide it was time to leave.

I was eating the pizza I bought at the Student Union and she was driving. Instead of taking the shortcut back to Wright State, we left Meijers out an exit we weren’t very familiar with. As we were turning left onto Colonel Glenn Highway, a car came and hit the right side of the back seat of the car. I saw the car as it was hitting ours. I can still see and hear the cars made as they hit each other. Erin and I just sat there in a daze.

Erin started crying and kept saying, “what have I done, my parents are gonna kill me.” I was ok and she was ok, but mentally and emotionally we were not ok. I didn’t want to get out of the car and face what was going to happen next. Erin didn’t want to get out either. She ended up getting out and seeing if the other person in the car was okay. Than man was fine, he had a small scratch on his head. I finally got out; everything was blending together because I didn’t have my glasses. It was dark and the car had their lights on. The road was cover in glass and debris. “Erin, I have to find my glasses.” I told Erin, so I went back into the car. I saw my pizza on the dashboard, CD’s all over the places, drink spilled everywhere, and just everything was scattered around. My glasses were in the back seat on the floor, they were fine and were not broken or damaged. I got back out and Erin was still crying, she kept saying, “my parents are gonna kill me, I can’t call my parents.” I kept trying to convince her to call them. She finally called them. The other person involved in the accident was on his phone calling the police. The police came and kept asking us questions. The policewoman told all of us to sit by the curb out of the way, and then she continued to ask us what had happened. Erin and I didn’t really know what had happened. From what I knew we turned out of an exit I was unfamiliar with, turned left and then hit an oncoming car. We were told if the other driver hadn’t swerved, we would’ve been hit head-on.

The ambulances came and took the other guy first. Then another one came for Erin and me. We were then asked lots of other questions about ourselves and about the accident. Erin went to the Air Force Base Hospital, while I went to Miami Valley. I was checked for anything that was broken, got my X-rays, and saw a doctor; everything was fine. I was still hurting in my back and neck, but probably because of the accident. While at the accident site, Erin wouldn’t let me use her phone, so my parents were clueless as to what was going on. So the hospital had to call them. I live forty minutes away and they drove all the way up the MVH without knowing if the accident was serious or not. When they got there, I imagined they were relieved to see me laughing and being mean to them again, so I was definitely fine. Erin and I both had bruises on our bodies but no scars.

After the accident, I have now been very cautious when I’m driving, even though I wasn’t driving in the accident; I still was affected by it. About two months after the accident I became very scared to drive, so much that I avoid driving to simple places. I get these visions of every possible car accident in my mind, even while driving. Erin’s Honda was totaled from the accident. The car was taken to the dump, she had a choice to get a car to drive but she is also weary about driving again.