So I Had This Crazy Dream..

I was attending a family gathering. To be honest, I didn't know what brought us all together, but my date wanted to leave. She wasn't enjoying herself in the crowd of people at the house, and I couldn't blame her. I was there because it was my family. Other than that, I had no interest in being there either. She left my sight for a bit. I tried to catch her outside to say goodbye before she was gone when I noticed my mother's car was running, presumably because she would be giving my date a ride home.

Immediately, I was upset, and went to find my keys so that I could give her a ride home, not my mother. I did not want my mother to do that. I marched into the house and went into the garage where a group of my family were hanging out. Cigarette and marijuana smoke filled the air of the room along with the sound of laughter and drunken chatter. Forgetting that I went into the garage to get my keys, I became encumbered in conversation.

Suddenly, I remember what I had originally came into the garage for. I leap to my feet and bolt through the house to the driveway to discover my date and my mother's car are gone. I look at the sunsetting in the horizon as I'm standing outside. I notice there's a man stumbling near a mini van. He's so drunk he can hardly walk, and he's headed for the driver door of the van.

I approach the van asking if he is okay. By the time I get to the vehicle, he is sitting himself into the driver seat, and is about to shut the door. As I get up close, it is even more apparent how unbelievably drunk this man is. He is middle aged with dark hair and a dark goatee to match. His eyes droopy, and his head rolling around loosely on his neck as if he didn't have the energy to hold it up.

Behind him, the van has no rear seats, just a big open bay. A larger woman with long sandy blonde hair is holding a tiny newborn baby as she sits on the floor with her legs crossed. She is looking down at the baby, slowly and gently rocking. I couldn't tell if she was trying to comfort herself or the baby. She never once looked up.

As soon as I saw the woman with the baby, the situation became very surreal. My goal to get the drunk man out of the driver seat became even more critical. I knew that this was going to be a tricky situation because of the unpredictability of drunk people and the risk of aggression that comes from trying to coerce them.

"I can drive you home, will that be okay?" I ask

"Yes." he slurs.

I was surprised he had agreed! Wow, crisis averted!

I said, "Great, hop out and wait right here. I'll be right back"

He begins stepping out of the van and I go over to my step dad who had already made it out to the driveway in interest of what I was doing.

-"Okay so I'm going to give these guys a ride home because that guy is way too drunk to drive."

My stubborn step dad says, "Alright what are ya telling me for?"

-"Well, I'm telling you because I'm driving his van so I'm going to need a ride back.."

-"You talk to your mother?"

-"C'mon, this is urgent! There's a lady just sitting on the floor in that van and she's holding-"

Behind my back, a bright illumination fills the driveway. I turn around to see the drunk man has gotten himself back into the driver seat and now has the van running.

"Wait!!" I holler with my arms raised as I sprint towards the van that is now backing out of the drive way. "Wait! Wait! Please wait!?" I got to the road.

The driver gives me a friendly wave as he puts the van in drive and proceeds to move forward. The wave, an indication of gratitude for my offer of driving for him while also implying that I took too long to fulfill my offer and now it is too late. I watched as he pulled away, the van's body leaning as it weaved side to side down the road. He went for a couple hundred feet before clumsily veering over the right shoulder of the road. In an attempt to correct this, the driver oversteered to the left while simultaneously giving way too much throttle causing the van to careen with squealing tires towards the ditch until it went far enough the passenger side wheels lifted from the ground and the van rolled onto its top.

As I watched this horrific accident unfold before my eyes, all I could think about was the woman and the baby. I was too late. I could have prevented this and I'm too late. I run to the grim site preparing myself for what I am about to witness, my stomach wrenched with despair so tight I can feel it in my throat.

The first thing I see, the woman sitting on the ground with her legs crossed, crying and bloody. No baby in her arms. I look at the van, crunched roof, broken windows, smoldering steam purging from the engine bay. Underneath, the windshield is missing. I kneel down to see beneath the hood into the van. I can see the ceiling. Lying there on the headliner glittered with shattered glass, the newborn baby, blue in color and lifeless.

All the air in my lungs left, the thoughts in my mind ceased, my body frozen in time. I looked at the stiffened, swollen deceased baby, and then back over my shoulder at the sobbing woman. I bow down, looking to the ground then softly shut my eyes..

-End Dream

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