Chapter 1: Time's Up

“Well, fuck!” I said to myself as my truck came around the blind corner. In an instant time stopped and I could clearly see my fate hurtling at me with a combined speed of over 80 miles per hour. Some asshole in an SUV was overtaking a minivan in a no-passing zone. In a grand show of how the universe gives absolutely no shits about our existence, my three options all ended with me as a multi-hued red stain on the inside of my windshield. In a fraction of a second I understood that to go left was to take the minivan, and it’s family of passengers, with me; a fate the did not deserve. To go right, and everyone but me lives as I careen off a 450-foot sheer cliff. Maintain my course, and me and the asshole would spend our last moments looking into each other’s eyes.

Fuck it; there was a small chance that I would survive the head-on collision, and no chance I would survive the drop, so I was going to make sure Mr. Rav4 got some comeuppance, even if it was limited to the patrol cop’s report. After the decision had been made I found myself in an eerie calm. I could see the surprise and fear creeping over the minivan driver’s face and the blissful ignorance on the face of the SUV driver who still hadn’t comprehended his mistake. I did a mental inventory of my life; it wasn’t perfect–far from it–but I wouldn’t be leaving anyone out to dry by traipsing off into neverland. Well, except the bank; I smiled at the last thought.

It was over quickly, I felt the pressure of the impact, the airbag in my face, the seatbelt across my torso. I knew I had lost teeth, and my right leg was no longer working correctly, but there hadn’t been enough time to feel pain before I slipped into blissful unconsciousness. My last sight on earth was the minivan escaping to safety; at least that much had gone right.