“You know if your going to be like this the whole ride I don’t think I can take it,” my cousin rasped over to me from her cramped drivers side car seat. “I shouldn’t even be doing this for you, but hey, it’s not like your parents care..”

Yea, they stopped caring about you. She shot me a sour look from the corner of her eye after waiting a few moments expecting me to respond to her comment. She turned her full attention back to the road after seeing I was going to stay mute. “Please, talk to me Mindy.” She said flatly as she took a long drag from the cigarette she had placed between her lips. “You could at least acknowledge that I’m doing this for you….you should be a bit more…. hey will you just listen to me damnit!” she barked finally losing her patience with my silence.

I slowly turned to face her. “Kimberly, I don’t want to talk right now. I’m tired of talking. Whenever you open your mouth you make me want to talk less. Please just take me to his house. We don’t need discussion,” I said cooly as I shot her a cold glare and slowly sat back in my seat.

“I don’t deserve to be treated like this! I don’t have to do anything for you, you ungrateful little brat. I’m turning this damn car around right now!” she snapped angrily. She slammed on the breaks to whip the car into a U turn causing me to jerk forward in my seat. She took her eyes off the road for a second to nervously ground out her cigarette in the cars ashtray. “I’m sick of your attitude, no wonder your parents decided to toss you out!”

I was going to retaliate with my own response to her comment but before I had a chance to even get the words out the Kimberly threw the breaks on a second time surprising me as the car twisted around the road. I felt my head make contact with the dashboard. It suddenly became hard for me to sit straight so I found myself slumping against the passenger side window. I caught a brief glimpse of a child standing in the middle of the road before everything around me started to spin. I felt warm fluid trickle down my face and run into my eyes, turning my vision crimson. I saw a wave of snow throw itself over the as it dove into the ditch and then I blacked out


It’s time to wake up…it’s time to wake up…its time to wake up it’s the morning…
I tried to open my eyes but I felt too weak to even lift the lids. Wake up sweetheart, how can you greet the day with your eyes closed! I started to feel a sharp pain on my forehead. I slowly raised my hand to the pain to assess the damage. My fingers traced along a semi-warm gash. That sure gave me the strength to open my eyes but what I opened them too wasn’t very inviting. What I had opened my eyes to was no different then the blackness of my own eyelids. It was pitch black. I began to panic.
I placed my hands on ether side of me to push myself up into a more comfortable position. I paused when my hand touching something polyester. A winter coat…I reached over a bit farther and realized there was a person inside of this coat! That’s right! My cousin Kimberly was taking me to my boyfriend’s house! I nudged her arm slightly. “Hey Kim,” no answer…”Kim!” A cold gale blew against the car. My heart was practically pounding out of my chest, Kim couldn’t be…
The car isn’t running… that’s what your supposed to do when you get in a wreck, turn your car off. But it was so dark; I could just turn the power on. I reached over Kimberly and turned the keys in the ignition enough to turn the power on in the cab. It was so cold my fingers almost stuck to the key. I turned on the dome light and then jumped away from Kim. The hood of her jacket shrouded her eyes but I could see that she had a number of burses on her face and the driver’s side door had been dented in after the car came to rest against a tree. Blood stained her white winter coat where the twisted metal of the car had come in contact with her side. I touched her hand, she felt so cold. “Kimberly! Wake up! Please!” I shouted. I felt cold tears begin to leak from the corners of my eyes. I felt my adrenalin begin to course through my veins. I started to sob uncontrollably not thinking about how I could better the situation. I pulled my hand away from hers and leaned against the passenger side door as firmly as I could as if I trying to get some distance from her. I didn’t know what to do, I didn’t know if she was dead or alive and I definitely didn’t know how to help her. Her skin was so pale and cold.
I tried to calm myself down; I had to figure something out. I had to get help, that’s what I had to do. I have to leave the car and get help. “Don’t leave, please, don’t get out of the car. Just wait someone will come,” came a quiet voice. I jumped at the sound of an unknown voice and quickly turned in the direction I had heard it. I froze when I realized Kimberly was now facing me, staring at me. Her hood had fallen from her face revealing a battered expression. Eyes that had been glazed over by death were staring back at me. I screamed and jumped into the back seat. I covered my face with my sleeves as if attempting to block the image out of my mind. I looked up only to see that Kim was back in the position she was in when I discovered her. She sat in the drivers side seat, broken and motionless.
I sat in the back seat for a few minutes trying to regain my composure until I was calm enough to think of a plan. I had to get out of here. Kim needed help. I can walk along the road; I might be able to find someone who can help. Before I could put my plan into action the dome light flickered like a flash bulb and burnt out. My pulse quickened as I looked out the dark windows trying to distinguish my surroundings. My sight couldn’t pierce through the black abyss of night. I crawled back into the front seat and flipped on the headlights. I almost fell over and I saw a little girl standing in front of the car. I watched in horror as the little girl raised her hands to her face and raked her fingernails down the skin drawing blood. I opened my mouth to scream but nothing came out so I closed my eyes tightly. I opened my eyes a few moments later seeing that she was gone. I was just staring out at the empty woods.
That was it; I decided I have to get out of here now to get help before I go completely insane. I was obviously hallucinating or something. I gripped the car handle of the passenger’s side door and attempted to shove it open but the door didn’t give. I then decided to resort to plan B; I would crawl out the window.
I struggled with the crank handle for a few moments but eventually got the window to roll down. The cold must have been making it stick. “You should wait…you’ll be in trouble if you go out there now.” Came the quiet voice again. I looked over my shoulder to see Kimberly’s glassy eyes staring at me yet again. In a panic I crawled out of the car window backwards. I frantically crawled away from the car trying to get some distance between Kim and I. I sat in the snow for a few moments trying to catch my breath. I examined the crash from where I was seated. “Wow, it’s a miracle I made just made it out of this with a gut on my forehead,” I muttered to myself as I looked at the battered vehicle. I got to my feet and brushed myself off and then I began to walk behind the car. I followed the tracks it had created during the crash. I figured they probably lead to the road. It was dark so I had to judge where I was going by how the snow felt under my feet. I started to think about turning around when I didn’t see any signs of the road, but I quickly changed my mind when I saw the high beams of another vehicle cut through the darkness. I must be close to the road! I broke into a run, which probably wasn’t very smart considering it’s probably pretty easy to trip in the woods in the dark. Surprisingly I managed to stay on my feet. I let out a sigh of relief when my feet touched the icy asphalt of the road. I think there’s a gas station a few miles back…I’ll walk there and get help.
And so I began my trek down the road. I felt a slight sting in my abdomen; I must have bruised something in the wreck. I guess I didn’t walk away unscathed after all. It was so quiet and so dark. It almost felt un-natural. Usually you can hear some sort of animal out in the woods. It was very strange but I did get some kind of peace out of it. I felt a bit more relieved when I saw the dim orange lights of the gas station pumps up ahead. I was close.
“No…you should go back, there’s still time,” cooed a quiet voice, it almost sounded like a child. I whipped around to see the shadowy figure of that girl again. “Wha…who are you?” I asked in a shaky voice. “Something bad is going to happen if you keep going…please…stop,” before I could ask any more questions the girl was gone.
“Something bad…” I repeated quietly as I looked around the blackness that surrounded me. I broke into a run towards the gas station. The little girls words made me want to get help even more. Kim, something bad might happen to Kim! I stumbled in the station parking lot scraping my knees as they made contact with the concrete. I quickly scrambled to my feet and threw the station door opened and ran over to the counter. “Please help me! Me and my cousin were in a wreck a few miles back. She’s hurt, she needs to go to a hospital!” I shouted as I gasped for air. “It’s a shame isn’t it?” The clerk said as he turned to me. “What do you mean a shame? I need help! Please! My cousin might already be dead!”
“Yea it sure is. Mindy was young, she was a troublemaker but even she didn’t deserve to die the way she did,” came a gruff voice from behind me. I turned in the direction of the voice after hearing my name. “It looks like Kimberly’s going to make it though, she just bumped her head…well thanks for letting me ask you a few questions Johnny.” The man said as he tipped his hat. I realized the man was a police officer. “I’m Mindy! I’m right here! I’m not dead!” I shouted as I tried to get the officers attention but he walked away like I wasn’t even there. “Night Johnny,” the officer said as he began to step out the door. “Night Sheriff,” the man I decided must have been Johnny replied as he turned back to his register.
“Why…can’t you hear me,” I said quietly to the clerk as I began to cry. The man muttered a comment about how cold it was and he shrugged on a thin jacket. I looked up when I felt a small hand slowly grasp mine. “You should have stayed in the car with your cousin, you would have been saved.” I looked down to see the small girl that I had been stalking me standing next to me. I started to cry again when I realized who this little girl was. “You asked me earlier who I was, I’m the you that died a long time ago, the “you that your threw away. You stopped listening to me a long time ago” she said quietly.
I looked up realizing the station was empty, the clerk had disappeared without me realizing it. I looked down at the girl again but she refused to look me in the eye. “I’m sorry.” She finally met my gaze but said nothing she simply smiled and faded away with the clerk and the officer leaving me alone in the small gas station convenient store.