Author's Note

Now, be warned. I haven't written in a long time and I wasn't good at it to begin with. Any improvements that you think could be made please put them in the comments or send it via pm. I don't mind negative feedback (since I know the story isn't that great) so please send some my way so I can fix it and learn a thing or two. For the feedback, try to be as specific as possible because comments like "this story sucks" are not helpful in building the story or myself. Additionally, it may be helpful to send examples of what you think would be a better way to word things. Feel free to add links or suggest better stories that are good examples of how to solve the issue that you have with my story. Also, this story is low on my priority list so expect updates to be few and far between. With that being said, I also accept positive feedback because by you telling me what I'm doing right, I can turn my attention away from that and focus on my weak points instead.

Chapter 1

It was a cold Fall day. I had just gotten orders to move up to New York for another phase of Naval Training. After saying goodbye to some of my friends, I had to start the long drive from South Carolina up to New York. Of course, I couldn't make the trip all in one go. No, Navy regulations wouldn't allow that distance to be driven alone. My plan was to stop at the halfway point and grab a hotel wherever that was. Next was food. While I could go t fancy restaurants on the way up there, the navy wouldn't cover the cost fully. So, to save money, I planned on eating fast food...yummy. That was pretty much my trip all planned out. Nothing overly complicated and it could be changed last minute if needed.

As for entertainment...well, since all of my possessions were packed in the trunk or stuffed into the backseat, I wouldn't have much. I did have my laptop out and in the passenger seat thought so I wasn't completely out of options.

while I was still in South Carolina, I was living in the barracks so I didn't have furniture (since the navy provided that). I had a medium sized flat screen tv that was all I needed to play games on or watch movies. Other than that, a couple books and some clothes was all that was packed in my car, which was a white Toyota Corolla.

One thing I really don't like about taking the interstate is it gets boring after a few hours of driving and if you're driving alone it's really hard to stay attentive. Listening to the radio only does so much too. I would've called my girlfriend but she was on a plane flying home. She came to my graduation from one of my Naval Training Schools. My mom would be a good option to call too if she wasn't busy at the time. So that just left me and a very long drive.

It could've been worse thought because I did end up at the halfway point, albeit exhausted. I decided that a cheap motel would be fine since I was only staying one night there. The area that the motel was in wasn't that bad so I wasn't worried about getting robbed and when I checked the beds for bugs I didn't find any. I got lucky, I guess, because I've heard some horror stories about what you could find under the covers or the beds.

I got undressed to my boxers and a t-shirt and climbed into bed. Just then my phone vibrated and I picked it up to see what it had to display. My girlfriend had made it home safely...good. I texted her that I was going to bed and the I loved her. After she replied in kind, I put my phone down and pulled the covers up to my chin. It was only a few minutes later that I was fast asleep.

The next day started just as I had planned it to. I was to wake up, get ready, and get back on the road. Checking out presented no new problems and I was able to leave in a good mood. I paused only to think how I turned out to be more of a morning person the older I got. I remembered not so long ago that I would despise having to get up and go to the bus stop. But now I have no problem getting up and getting straight into the day.

As I walked through the front doors, the chilly Fall air hit me like a brick wall. I had forgotten that it was supposed to be ten degrees colder that morning. The wind had shown no forgiveness in my lapse of memory. Despite this, I did manage to put on a pair of jeans instead of shorts so that was a plus.

Getting in the car only helped with the wind since, you know, wind doesn't matter while you're inside a car. The problem came with the fact that a car is like a tin can. Although it can block the wind, it will not keep heat in well. Over the night, of course, the temperature inside the car dropped to what it was in the middle of the night and the morning sun hadn't been up long enough to put some heat back into the car. Long story short...I was freezing.

After a few minutes of sitting in the car wishing it would warm up faster I decided it was time to head out. It took me only a few minutes to make my way to the highway and begin the journey the rest of the way to New York. The first few hours of the drive were uneventful. The same cars around me all traveling the same speed on the same road that just seemed to go on forever. Yeah, driving gets boring when you drive alone.

After those few hours though...I still don't know what happened. It's hard to wrap my head around it. It all happened so fast.

There was a blue SUV in front of me and a red car to my right. Behind me and to the right was an 18-wheeler. With all that in mind I didn't have anywhere to go if something happened...and it did.

A flash of light reflecting off the windshield of a car on the other side of the highway caught my attention. I took a quick glance but returned my gaze to the car in front of me like I trained myself to do. I didn't want to be distracted in case the SUV decided to brake all of a sudden. Another flash of light had my attention and this time my eyes locked on the vehicle. I felt the blood drain from my face as I watched the car slam into the guardrail separating the two roads. Instead of bouncing off the rail, as expected, the car flipped over the rail and barrel rolled right into the North-bound lanes.

I had only a split second to react and my body went into overdrive. The car in front of me braked as I expected it to but I floored the accelerator of my car as I spun the steering wheel to the right. Almost expertly, I swerved between the big rig and the SUV. Spinning the wheel to the left to avoid driving straight off the road, I watched as the barreling car smashed into the SUV. Just when I thought I had avoided the wreck, the car that was once beside me ended up beside me again, only this time it was pointed straight at me. There was nothing I could do but push the brake pedal to the floor and hope that, by some miracle, the car would miss me...I wasn't that lucky.

I first felt the impact of the car pushing in my driver side door. Next was my head against the glass of said door. That second hit almost knocked me unconscious, but no, not yet. I had to see how it ended first. As I looked through the windshield, my hands still glued to the steering wheel, which was useless at this point, I saw a tree. A big tree. Then darkness...