When I was 16, I wrecked my car. I hit a loose pile of dirt on a gravel road and violently fishtailed back and forth until my top heavy explorer veered right on two wheels and came to rest in a ditch, narrowly missing solid standing trees on all sides. I escaped with no injuries, my car fully intact minus a $300 window. My parents even let me continue on to the friend's house, surprisingly understanding and glad for the lesson [safely] learned. It was nothing short of petrifying as time slowed down and I realized I had lost control. In those 8-10 seconds, I thought about a lot of things - pissed off parents, upset fiancé, losing my precious car, missing work, death. The branches on the sides of the road were so loud when they would hit me (or I them, I suppose) and all of the miscellaneous junk in my car all flew at me at one time it seemed. I remember pleading, "JESUS TAKE THE WHEEL!!" Yah was DEFINITELY with me that day.
I used to torture myself, replaying what I believed their last moments might have been like, mentally willing myself into the car, praying I could have been in their place but at the very least WITH them. I can see the backs of their heads. Hers was probably on his shoulder. They were probably holding hands. He was probably going to fast, Taylor Swift's "Fearless" album providing the soundtrack. "I don't know how it gets better than this, take my hand, drag me head first, fearless." Our anthem that summer - the summer that nothing else could go right except that the FOUR of us had each other and our music and the Lord...and that's all we'd ever need. I can hear her angelic voice, soft and sweet tinged with a thread of fear, "Randall!!"
But it's too late. By the time we see the deer in the headlights (was there fog I wonder?), we're too close. Did he even have time to think before he chose to swerve?
I wonder if time slowed for them? If they had that, "Oh, shit" moment of terror when it started to roll? (How loud is the destruction of metal?) If they cried out to Jesus (YAHSHUA) the same way I did in anguish so many nights after that one?
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