The Crash

Time flashed past. Cars and lorries zoomed away from us to beyond
the horizon. The next thing I knew the car was spinning, spinning like
never before. My friend's mum's red Fiesta was never a car ever again
and never would be. It turned out to be more of a heap of metal with
three bodies trapped inside.
As the car kept spinning, I prayed what I thought would be my last
prayer. Both my friend and I were holding on to each other really tight
waiting, waiting. The spinning never seemed to stop.

We were 16, only 16 year olds trying to enjoy their teenage years. We
felt like every bone in our body was breaking. The car came to a stop
with a deafening thud.

I heard sirens, sirens as loud as could be. I felt myself being moved
away from Claire. I managed to open my eyes and all I could see was
that she wasn't moving. I prayed, prayed as hard as I could. He
couldn't take her away, could He? I was wrapped in a very thick blanket
and put straight into the ambulance.

I never saw Claire again, until, one night I received a phone call. I
could hear her voice. I was fighting back the tears, she was crying and
I knew. Her mum hadn't survived. I saw her again two days later in
hospital.

"Claire? Claire!" I cried as I went over to her hospital bed in my
wheelchair.
I wouldn't have been back in hospital but my last appointment had
caused concern. The doctors were worried about my legs as both of them
had been broken. They were getting worse instead of better, even though
they were completely covered in all sorts of bandages. I was due to
stay in hospital for two weeks. It was morning and I had just woken up.
Claire had also only been awake for about five minutes. Her face was
red and tearstained.
"Don't cry. It wasn't your fault." I said.
As I finished saying this she switched on the television. It was on the
news. They kept saying how it was the worst crash for the last two
years. They were surprised that Claire and I got away alive.

We didn't actually know what had happened to cause the crash but others
did. It was said that a lorry containing Sainsbury's goods had lost two
wheels and toppled over. The front of it crashed into the back of
Claire's car that then made us crash into a lamp post at 50 mph. The
car then span round and kept spinning until it hit another lamp post
and was still. The whole of three miles of the M25 stood still.
Ambulances and police cars seemed to pour in from every nook and cranny
there was in between the hundreds of cars. Obviously a load of other
cars had been badly damaged but not as bad as ours had.

It was hard to carry on with life as normal. There was even a
documentary made about the crash. It was horrible, sitting in that
hospital bed, thinking about what had happened. It was three weeks
after the crash and my legs were getting no better. Claire wasn't
getting any better either. Her father came to visit her every night and
we had a great load of get well cards to open. The only thing that made
me feel better was reading a book or writing a story or anything like
that. Anything that would get my mind off the subject of what happened.
People coming to see us wasn't enjoyable. They all kept asking how we
were feeling and what it was like. One night the hospital had to ring
the police when a great crowd of journalists sneaked in to our ward.
Claire, lucky for her, was fast asleep and didn't have the faintest
idea that she was being crowded round by cameras, cameras and more
cameras. The nurses ended up locking our door over night.

It was two weeks until Christmas and we were still due for another two
and a half weeks at the hospital or even more. Unfortunately, the fact
that we were deteriorating and not improving meant that every day they
were deciding to keep us in for more time. That night it snowed. The
one time it snowed heavily in London, we would have to be stuck in
hospital with only one window to look out of.

Claire switched on the television. At last, the channels were free of
news. We could finally watch something interesting. She switched onto a
channel made especially for teens. The nurse came in with our medicine
and dinner. We were completely oblivious of what she was about to
say.
"Um, girls, don't be sad when I say this." she said.
"What is it nurse?" Claire asked
"Well, you will be in hospital for another two months not weeks. The
doctors made a mistake."

"What??? Two months!" I shouted.
"Yes, I am very sorry Chloe. These things happen although they
shouldn't. We try our best. Now for some good news. As you will be in
for a long time, your parents have asked us to give you lots to do. So,
we will be getting you loads of books and also a wide screen TV with a
VCR and DVD player. Unfortunately, it is not free so your parents have
had to pay a certain amount of money. The doctors have also told me
that it will be two months and no more and that you can have as many
visitors as you want."
"Thank you," said Claire who was very tired.

I didn't mind the fact that we had lots to do but it just wasn't the
same as being at home. We would be in the hospital for Christmas and
Mum had promised to get me a puppy. I would have to wait longer now.
With time I got used to occasional journalist sneaking in acting as if
they were a visitor. I don't actually see what was so interesting about
the crash. It was ages since it happened at it wasn't as if it killed
loads of people.

One thing that worried me was the fact that Claire was getting quieter
and quieter. She used to be a chatterbox. But soon after the crash her
quiet side took over. Two weeks before, it had been her mum's funeral.
She had fainted and had to be taken back to the hospital immediately.
It was as if she was suffering the same pain as everyone else but all
of their's put together.

One night, she had a dream about the crash. She told me about it the
next morning. She kept breaking off as if fighting back tears. After a
while she stopped and fainted again. I leaned over as hard as I could
to reach the buzzer for the nurse but I couldn't. I kept trying, it
didn't work. To make it worse I fell of my bed and really hurt my legs.
It was extremely painful. I was really relieved when one of my old
friends from school came for a visit. I wasn't happy about the fact
that she ran around the room screaming.
"Stop that! Get me on the bed!" I shouted.
Hearing all the noise, a nurse came in. The moment she saw Claire she
ran out and came back in with a doctor who went over to Claire
immediately. The nurse helped me back onto my bed and checked that I
was okay. It turned out that Claire hadn't fainted, she was unconcious.
The nurse went out and came back with another doctor who made Claire
come back round. He then came over to me and with the help of the nurse
he wheeled me out to have an x-ray.
Luckily, I hadn't broken anything. I was just badly bruised.
Claire was fine. She had to be looked after a bit more though. This
meant that she had to have the nurse by her side for two hours a day to
make sure that her medicine went down properly and that she didn't fall
unconcious again. They put the buzzer a bit nearer me so that I could
actually reach it. What is the point of a buzzer if the patient can't
reach it?

The weeks went past and we had become quite happy with the fact that we
had a lot of attention. The time sped past and it was soon the day that
we were to leave and go home. Saying goodbye to our nurse was the
hardest thing. She had become a very good friend and seeing how upset
we were she said that she would invite us round to her house some
time.

When I got home, my puppy was waiting for me. She was beautiful. I
called her Dora.

Claire went home with her father and as soon as she saw her surprise
she burst into tears. It turned out that her dad had been doing a bit
of inviting. Almost the whole school was there. She really enjoyed
it.

I will never forget that crash. Neither me nor Claire will ever be the
same again. We didn't know whether we were better or worse. One thing
we will never ever forget is the last words that Claire's mum said,
"Good luck! I hope you do well..." She never finished that sentence. We
will never know what she meant to say.