30 Days of Fiction: 13

There are times in one's life where one decision creates a multiplicity of potential outcomes. Some outcomes are good and some are bad.

I pulled into the parking lot of the skating rink to pick up my sister, Sharon, around 10 o'clock at night and waited for her to finish her sock hop dance. When it was over she got in the car and we talked for a bit about the event and drove out of town. At the time we both lived about 5 miles out of town in a rural part of North Bend, Oregon. We traveled across the large green bridge that marks the small town and pulled onto the old highway road now covered in darkness. Ahead of me was a huge black truck that was so new that any light coming off it shone brightly.

I was driving a 1985 Honda Accord hatchback with a couple hundred thousand miles on it but I had driven that road so many times that I knew I could take the truck so I decided to pass it. I pulled into the oncoming traffic's lane and stomped on the gas but so did the truck. I stayed on the side of the truck for nearly a mile along a straight stretch where I could at least see the lights of any oncoming traffic but soon the road would turn into a winding snake of darkness and danger. As the visibility of the oncoming road began to dwindle I had to decide whether or not I would continue in the lane or admit defeat and slow down to get back into the right lane.

I decided to keep going. Staying in the oncoming lane we both rounded corner after corner. This was where my knowledge and commitment began to come in handy. I knew how fast I could take each turn and the truck began to slow. My little car could handle the turns better and my commitment to the endeavor was unwavering and eventually the truck allowed me to pass and in the rear view mirror I saw it turn off down a dark side road. My heart was racing and I looked over to see my terrified sister holding on for dear life. She looked over and immediately I realized what I had put her through and I was ashamed but part of me was happy. The part that only cared about my ego and pride and I felt as if I had accomplished something. I showed that brand new truck that I was better than it.

*I decided to keep going. I stayed in the oncoming lane around the first corner going near 60 miles an hour when it was hardly safe going 30 miles an hour. Tight turn after tight turn I continued until out of the left side of my vision a bright light appeared and grew brighter than the sun. I slammed on the brakes but it was too late. The truck to my right had also slammed on their brakes and I had no where to go. With a crash the oncoming lights collided with the front end of my small car as metal, glass and flesh were ripped apart at the seems.

I woke up with blood pouring out of my head and looked over to see nothing in the passenger seat. I looked up to see the windshield in shreds and a body lay on the street a few yards up. The sun had dimmed as the other car had fell into the ditch to the left. My seat belt was pressing into my chest but I struggled and broke it loose. I exited the car out of the mangled door and walked up toward the body lying lifeless on the road. Seeing the long dark hair and small stature I knew what I was seeing. My sister lay there bleeding and as the adrenaline began to subside my body began to shake. I ran to the nearest house to call an ambulance but it was too late. My ego and pride had done it's duty and my sister had paid the price.

*I decided to keep going. Still in the left lane as the first turn came I could see the truck slow down. My car was better at the sharp turns and I knew them so well I could push my speed to the max. Just as I thought that I would overtake the truck a bright light appeared from ahead. Without thinking I stomped on the brakes and jerked the wheel to the left launching the car into the forested ravine that lined the dark road. The car flipped onto it's back and tumbled over and over until it was stopped by a large fir tree with a crash. When the ambulance finally came they were unable to save the driver but the passenger wasn't so lucky. My sister was taken to the hospital where, after a brief coma, she was left with severe brain damage and would never speak again.

*I decided to slow down. I slowed to the consternation of my pride and pulled back into the right lane. I turned to my sister, who was relieved at my decision, and said, "I could've taken it." We talked and laughed about how my car was such a piece of shit and arrived home safely. I was never haunted by my decision that night.