Yellow Submarine Part II

I still remember tryouts. Singing Castle on a Cloud accompanied by so many nerves that the only thing holding completely still was the stage beneath my feet. Up in the stands sat that cute 8th grade school crush of mine, his wide-rimmed circular glasses often slid down the bridge of his nose. You notice silly things like that. And that laugh of his. Yeah, that was quite adorable too.

Crush or no crush, there were many fun times spent riding to play practice, carpooling out with my best friend who was an understudy for one of those Fiddle sisters. This happened to be the very first play I had ever been in and already I was hooked to theater. Musicals, mainly.

Finally, after several weeks of practicing, family night arrived. We were to have a final run through, and all eleven of us that hopped into the suburban felt a surge of excitement to show off our crazy theatrical skills that evening. Hillary and I ran in to the small convenience store while the other cast mates arrived at the carpool meeting grounds. The delicious Little Debbie snack caught my eyes and I set it atop the counter, paid the cashier and ran out to the car. There had been a lot of people arrive during the time of the little errand, so where I once sat - on the back bench - another body had filled the vacancy. Hillary and I climbed in the luggage area of the navy suburban and got settled across from one another. It was a chilly night, the gray hooded jacket locking in a small amount of warmth next to my body. 

We all chatted in our own conversations for a few miles, then those famous mop-top (as EVERYONE knows them) boys came through the speakers loud and clear. It was too irresistible not to warm up our voices, everyone singing without any care for the small enclosed space. I munched on my Little Debbie snack, adding my vocal skills when it seemed fitting. The air was chilly outside, just by looking out the windows it made me shiver. What I didn't understand though, was why everything moved so slowly.

What I can liken this to is that scene from The Vow as the truck barrels out of nowhere and then...WHAM! As Rachel McAdams character jerks forward the slow motion takes over and we see a horrific snapshot of this accident.

I would say that I experienced much the same feeling - that out of body observation.
First, my eyes widening as they peered out the windshield, my body lifting off the back floor.
Then the tiny flicker of an instant as the wheel shifted the car with a harsh jerk, sending my body crashing, more like crushing, into the side window. That third pause of time came much like the others, except in this moment my eyes blinked a few times, almost as if they could transform the horrible scene into a silly creation of the imagination. No such luck. It was in fact real. The blow of my head hitting the window sent the world into a blackened dream.

As eyes fluttered open with no knowledge or concept of time, the cloudy sky stared back. And then the screaming began.