The vehicles collided. The impact sending shock waves of sickening horror through it's victims. Sounds of twisting metal and breaking glass pounded across the country side like a massive explosion. Bones snapped and flesh ripped. Blood began to pour as life began to fade. The cause? A young girl's inexperience and carelessness. It would have taken her only a moment to pull off the road to answer the cell phone but the cost of those precious moments would cost me a lifetime. In an instant two strangers literally impacted one another's life. Had fate led to this day? Was this divine province? Was there purpose in the pain? The agonizing pain. It tore through me with waves of agony. My mind seared with the intense pain. It purged me of conscious thought. There was a intense stabbing pain in my side. It felt like a serrated blade being pushed deeper and deeper into me with each breath. I tried to shallow my breathing but the pain only increased. My legs were crushed I could barely recognize them broken and trapped beneath the mangled dashboard. They had been severed from most of my body. Little did I realize they hung to me by a few tendons and pieces of flesh. Every attempt at movement ground my broken bones together, causing more intense agony. My ribs tore my inner organs, one puncturing a lung, the other lacerating my liver. Blood poured from every inch of my body like a raging stream. I will never forget the scent of blood to this day. The harsh metallic scent permeated everything in my confined state. My life's fuel dripped into my eyes stinging them with even more agony. I felt weakness quickly overcome my conscious state as I rapidly lost blood. I felt the world fade and something else take it's place. Something beyond the comprehension of everything I had ever known. My life force faded quicker with each passing moment. "Please help me!" I screamed. "Someone please help me!' I bellowed with an exhausted breath. It would have been so easy to slip into the sleep of death. Death's pull felt so strong and intense. It welcomed me with open arms. I fought to hold on as I ripped the cross from my neck. I held it in my palm with what strength I still possessed. "God, save me!" That was all I could say, my strength was gone. It was at that moment it happened. Something beyond understanding was unleashed. It's presence enveloped me completely. It cradled me like a mother would hold an infant. "God?" I rasped. I could feel some inner part of me recognize the presence that now surrounded me. My soul knew it's creator. Though I could still feel the pain it became almost distant as I was held. Though I was dying, I was at peace. The presence intertwined itself to me. It gave me the life force I so desperately needed to survive. My veins were almost empty but still I lived, still I breathed.
"Hang on son! Hang on!" screamed the state trooper as he crawled through the twisted metal to support my body. "What happened?" I asked the officer. "You've been in an accident, just hold on, we need to get you out of here."The trooper replied "Was it my fault?" I asked wearily. "No son you're on your side of the road you're the victim here just hang on." the trooper said as he called for backup. I could feel myself beginning to fade. It would have been so easy to slip into the sleep that now welcomed me. "Stay with me! Do not go to sleep! If you sleep you die!" He screamed. I looked at the trooper through a blurry haze. I could hardly see due to the blood that poured into my eyes. "Am I going to die?" I asked not really understanding my own question. "Not on my highway, not today." The trooper stated with a certain amount of faith that helped encourage me to fight harder. "what's your name?" the trooper asked trying to lighten the situation. "Jason." I murmered. I faded in an out of the world as the valiant trooper worked to save me. The feeling of drowning in darkness was so strong. It would have been incredibly easy to pass into the darkness that seemed to suffocate me. Each time I almost gave in the trooper would awaken me with shouts of encouragement or light smacks. He became the anchor I needed to the world of the living. The trooper continued to pushed me back from the precipice of death. He battled with death himself that day and fought a most valiant fight. I can never thank him enough for his actions and honor.
Others soon arrived on the scene. The firemen, the medics, the first responders all began to appear as if summoned by some mystical force. My cousin and my brother appeared on the scene as well. My cousin Chad held my brother at bay as he looked on the wreckage. "Jeremy there is no way I'm letting you any closer!" Chad screamed. My brother had gone into shock at seeing the mangled wreckage of his brother's car. Fate had spared my brother this day. Minutes before I had asked Jeremy to accompany me on my trip to town. He was unavailable at the time to make the journey so he stayed back at our home. If he would have taken the fateful trip he would have died at the scene. My passenger seat had a huge piece of the engine rammed through it. Jeremy would have been in that seat. Chad knew this as he passed my brother off onto some neighbors for care. Chad then ran to my side. I remember looking over after hearing him and asking "What happened man?" Chad's face was pale as he saw my predicament. I knew things were bad by the way Chad held his demeanor. He prodded and encouraged me to fight harder. Chad never left me, even when the emergency crews tried to chase him off. He was always a stubborn kind of guy. I admire his heart and determination. Stubborness must run in my family as I refused to give in to death's pull. Even as I continued to fight I still felt the touch of my God. He was another person who never left me that day. His presence continued to hold me and cradle me. Some would later say I had asked where the "guy" went. When they asked "What guy?" I would simply reply the one who was in the crash with me. Was the "guy" the trooper, Chad or some unseen hand that held mine? I may never know but I know the spirit that intertwined itself to me was real and far beyond my understanding.
The emergency responders were gathering by the truck load as I became center of attention. I could feel my life was fading fast. Time was of the utmost importance. Each second that passed brought my death that much closer. The trooper whose name I would later be told was Pack, held me while they worked desperately to extricate me from the mangled wreckage. With each jolt, each movement I could feel my shattered bones grind harder against themselves. The pain seared my conscience as I drifted in and out. "It's going to get very noisy so just hang with me." Pack told me as they broke out the jaws of life. Suddenly the fading world came to a explosion of sound as the machine that worked to get me out shattered glass and cut through metal. It was as if a thrash metal concert was taking place inside my skull. Then complete silence replaced the former chaos. I felt the hands of the emergency crews immediately get to work at saving my life. Life was traded for something else, survival. I simply endured the pain. I embraced it, focusing on the presence that still intertwined itself to me. The spirit still held me, lifted me and gave me life. Life where there should have been none.
Eventually I was freed from the mangled disaster. Transported to the closest hospital where the doctors went to work. They repaired the damage to my arteries and stemmed the flow of blood. However, being a small town hospital there was little else they could do."We need to get him to a trauma center" Dr. Hollingsworth screamed. "Life flight is in route!' replied another doctor. "Hang on Jason." The doctor stated. "Hang on a bit longer" I remembered through the haze of twisted memories faces and voices, some familiar others strange as I was carried from the hospital to the flight pad. "Jason your family is here." stated a nurse. I couldn't see them but I could feel their presence as I passed them in the hallway. My grandfather yelled out "We're praying for you Jay." "Keep praying papa" I whispered back through fear and tears. As they rushed me from the hospital to the flight pad I could feel the prayers fall around me. I could also feel the crisp coolness of the early summer air in the night. It gave me some comfort. I welcomed any comfort.
My family followed me to the flight pad. There were cries and whispers and of course questions. "Is he going to make it?" My mother asked. I could just hear the polite response of doctor. "We don't know, we just don't know. You can only pray now.". I do not remember her but they tell me she just appeared. She walked up to me. She came out of nowhere dressed in flowing black clothes. She approached with an unearthly grace. "May I anoint Jason before you take him?" She asked politely. Seeing no objections she moved to my side and removed a small vial of oil. She traced the pattern of the cross on my forehead as she uttered the most beautiful prayer. "You have a destiny to fulfill young one." She whispered in my ear. My family moved around me as they loaded me into the life flight chopper. They watched as it disappeared into the night sky heading toward the trauma center that would hopefully save me. My father turned to thank the lady who anointed and prayed over his son. "Where did she go?" he asked. They looked all around but to no avail she was nowhere to be seen. "Who was she?" asked his mother. "I don't know, never seen her before." stated the nurses as they returned to clean up. The family was confused but had others matters to attend to as they now began the race to the next hospital. They also were afraid on how to explain these events to my wife and children.
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