A Simple Drive

Ok. I'm feeling shaken. I don't really know what to say. I have a feeling whatever comes out will be a bunch of ramble.

Just got home after dropping a friend S home in Regents Park. On the way I become a witness to a car accident (single car involved). I think they hit the concrete side walls on Silverwater Road. I'm not sure. I was ahead of them, and only saw the car (white) spin and come to a halt. The car then soon started to smoke up. Just a few minutes ago, I had stopped at a traffic light next to the car in question, and noticed the passenger.

When I saw it I was like "what the?!"

I stopped the car, and started to reverse. But I was at least 400m away and on a 80km road. I thought, "no, bad idea".

Then I thought about driving up and did a circle, but then thought "no, bad idea again". I thought maybe I should just leave the scene. It was late (proababy close to 1am) and I wasn't sure whether there were any casualties. I know the passengers would definitely be in shock having been involved in a serious car accident in the past. I still remember those milliseconds prior impact vividly.

There was no one else around. I felt I had to do something. I was scared, mostly for my safety. I wasn't sure what I was doing. I was reacting. My mind was racing.

I thought of calling home, so at least someone knew where I was, but I quickly thought, "no, bad idea. After my fall three weeks ago, I wasn't going to freak my parents out again".

Being out in the middle of no where, in the middle of the night, a single girl on her own didn't ease my fears. I stayed put, in my car with the door slightly opened, and called emergency.

The operator asked me where I was. I had no idea what to say. My speech was all in a frantic trying to explain to them what had happened and what I just saw. They asked questions pertaining to my location, but my mind came to a blank.

"What state and suburb are you in?"

A simple question, but I wasn't in the right frame of mind to answer it. NSW I got pretty quickly. As to suburb, I went through Eastwood, West Ryde before confirming Dundas.

"What street are you on?"

I had no idea. I racked my brain, running my mind though the ajoining roads in hope that it will help jig my memory. Eventually I got it.

After the call, a couple of cars stopped to attend to the accident. I got out of my car and started my way up toward them. One of the cars that stopped happened to be an off duty police car.

When the second car opted to leave, I felt things were okay and looked after. I was half way towards the accident and decided to turn around and make my way back to my car, and started my way home. I was shaken so I called my friend S.

The off duty police car had saw me leave and chased after me. They thought perhaps I was involved. I quickly gave them my story, and they asked for my contact details as witnesses. I asked them whether the couple were okay. They said they were. I didn't probe much more, but that eased some of my thoughts.

They told me I did the right thing. "Did I?" I'm not sure. Thousand of thoughts were still running through my mind - like all the little things that amounted to that moment - the hang night at C's, and the thoughts in my mind leading up to that moment.

A simple drive home.

Or so I thought.