[Falstaff]

I remember an angry sky at sundown. from the rich dark red color, the sky was full of spitting lightening and rain..tonight, the spirits of the sky and earth would dance.
I was coming home this evening, after the sun went down..the wind picked up and tossed anything that wasn't tied down, across the road, the parking lot and the highway. I could barely see through the pitted and cracked windshield of the old white Plymouth, and I drove cautiously from block to block, past the old tiled houses along the street by the college.. Ancient elms shook and long limbs whippped about like a cat o nine tails. My pace was cautious and deliberate, I didn't need a dumpster colliding into the only means of transportation that I own!
Past the college I accelerated and turned on my lights, getting dark and small drops shined like jewels in the street lights, as I strained to see through the windshield..
bright headlights behind me seemed to signal for a moment, then burned brighter, as a group of teenagers rolled by on the right..I turned to look and nodded my acknowlegment..I noticed the tinted window, the shiny black Honda, spider wheels and low profile tires..I turned in disgust, another rich kid cruising with his bimbos of course. The driver honked loudly, I ignored it. he honked again. and rolled the window down, I could see his beer, in some sort of salute, a small angelic face next to his, with beer spilling down her smooth face. they were cheek to cheek, a little vignette of irresponsible teenage abandon. The car weaved for a moment and disappeared down the highway towards the over pass along the highway...The tail lights disappeared into darkness. I struggled to find the curb, maintaining my speed, I suddenly envied the kid with the noisy Honda..
The road was more obscured now, my headlights seemed useless, and I slowed down even more..
I ran over something and stopped...thump thump..again I moved a few feet, thump thump..
I stopped and opened the door and looked down...Traffic cones under the car, I didn't see them, more than one...I got out and extracted three under the bumber. and two more behind the wheel.
Lightening and rain began to harrass my efforts and I sat in the car during a burst of heavy rain...
I turned up the radio, the windshield wipers kept time with the music. I sat and sat for an eternity.
From my trance, I jumped...I could hear sirens, louder and louder the came...Bright lights burst into my rear view mirror when I looked, so I turned away...They passed one by one, with the steady doppler wail of sirens and velocity, until they were gone....
I put the old girl into drive and kept going, into the rain and blowing debris...
Near the overpass, barely lit by rotating emergency lights, I could see a flashing caution sign..
As I got closer, more lights, flares, and more rotating emergency lights. Bad accident I suppose, and I noticed the cones lyintg on their side, rolling back and forth in the rain and wind.
Near the overpass, yellow raincoats with arms signalled me to keep to right, around the lights, around the ambulance and police cars..the rain couldn't obscure that.
Like an insect, like a butterfly, a crumpled and twisted automobile seemed flattened against the vertical piling of the overpass..steam and smoke rose around it, men in reflective clothing pulled at opposite ends of the car while one cut away with a saw, showering the men with sparks.
I looked and couldn't feel anything. I just looked for a moment, blocking traffic perhaps. a slap on the fender of the car brought me around, and I drove past...
I could normally dismiss this, normally package this, forget about it. But I saw a pale hand dangling out of the wreckage, a delicate pale hand, with a lifeless appearance..the painted nails gave it away.
I drove home and struggled to get to the apartment in the rain and wind.
I have sat here for almost an hour trying to forget it, but the image lingers again. And I wonder, if the passenger or driver had enough time to realize what happened, or will their souls wander the earth, searching for the road back home.

[Judas]

When i saw the Subject...topic title..... i thought to myself (your lucky)....then i read the rest.....

[Vampyromaniac]

my word!

[Mac Daddy]

Thats quite an experience Jeff.
And very well expressed ........ As always

[toddsmack2k]

Wow jeff! It really goes to show that you should treasure every moment you have here and not take it for granted. As you never know when it may be your last.

[Falstaff]

I went back this morning, and drove over broken limbs and branches from trees, the city doesn't clean on a sunday, concerned nieghbors and groups of teenages gathered the mess up, and pushed it to the street, wood chippers everywhere, grinding along on a sober sunday morning.

I retraced my journey, from the moment by the college, I captured in my mind. I looked along the street and noticed nothing, save for a few beer bottles and wind blown debris.

Even as I approached the scene of the accident, I noticed a few orange cones and burnt out flares...A large steel plate in the street surrounded by piles of earth, a construction site
No skid marks, no evidence of evasive or desperate manuever. Nothing but the remains of the rescue effort, broken plastic, glass and yellow tape everywhere. On the concrete buttment for the overpass, the sillohuette of a car, and an abrasion that left its smokey mark. A large puddle of oil perhaps directly under my feet, shards of glass, chunks of metal, pieces of foam and insulation.

Two people dressed for a sunday bicycle ride stopped, "did you see it?" they asked me. I didn't reply at first, I could feel something I tried to bury last night, forcing its way up into my throat.
"Probably drunk driver again!" I exclaimed and looked away, choking on my last word, I couldn't look so I looked down and I heard them ride away.

There at my feet, in the pile of saw dust they scattered over the scene, lay the remains of a necklace of hematite and gold beads, I stretched it out and admired the simplicity then coiled it back up into my hand. I will return this one thing to the family of the hapless passenger or driver, then bury this memorie again. I ignored the gawking people walking by, and said a little prayer for these two, they were young, and perhaps their life ended here last night.

I believe, and truly accept the idea that souls linger till they accept their deaths, and perhaps the last few seconds of life were charged with emotion, before the engine forced them both into the back of the car, as the firewall crumpled and the windshield exploded. I paid my respects and walked away..It is the only decent thing to do, may they may find peace. The sun was shining, the water evaporating on the street created a mist that rose from the warming asphalt. How appropriate I thought, I pushed the necklace into my pocket, and left as quickly as I could.

[shortstuff]

Jeff I don't know what to say. I hope you are doing ok.

[Falstaff]

but I have a responsibility to take care of..
got to find the parents or loved ones and return the necklace...
then I can bury this.

postscript: I know this sounds wierd to many, but I believe in afterlife, and I want the journey for these two unfortunates to be unhindered, so they won't wander the earth.