Scary story

Snow swirled down relentlessly, blanketing everything in white and drastically decreasing visibility. We watched, and waited. After an hour passed, the storm seemed to let up, and we quickly gathered ourselves into the car and headed up to the hospital. A recently-acquired friend and her daughter had to stay up there, and they were in need of some friendship and good company. We promised to visit this night.

Despite the snow which continued to fall, the roads were fairly clear and traffic was light. I texted our friend to let her know we were on our way.

Suddenly brake lights appeared among the group of cars immediately ahead of us. An SUV in the far left lane veered right through three lanes, over the edge of the road, onto the exit ramp we just passed, back into the ditch between the two, and over the rail to stop on the side of the freeway, crumpled and badly damaged. Its right front wheel lay where it had popped off a few meters back. Airbags effectively covered the scene inside the car.

My husband quickly pulled over, along with a few other witnesses, and ran out to help where he could. I sat in shock, a prayer in my heart, and waited until I could talk to someone after dialing 911.

While talking to the operator on the line, a text came in. "I'm so sorry I forgot! I'm visiting with bishop!" So she wasn't at the hospital tonight after all. Too bad we were already 40 minutes to our destination.

Emergency vehicles arrived quickly, my husband came back to the car, and we drove off, not heading any particular place now. Everyone back at the accident scene was ok, he reported, though one woman injured her back and neck. We drove in silence for a few minutes, both too shocked and relieved and thankful to say anything.

The evening turned up at this point - the snow stopped falling, and we drove slowly around town, finally stopping at an icecream parlor. There's nothing like a hot fudge banana sunday and a milkshake to calm your nerves and let you smile again. We toured the west side of the valley on our way back home, finally arriving safe and somewhat emotionally stable.

Next time, I think I'll contact our friend first.