by Steven Grant

Did I just kill my friend? Could he really be dead? I’m calling his name, but he’s not answering. I yelled “Mike!” again…Nothing. This can’t be happening. What did I do? I remember seeing 120 on the speedometer as we reached the cusp of the hill and the road ended. I am so stupid. How did I not realize the road was going to end so soon?

I threw a going away party for myself because I was moving to Florida the next day to attend community college. My parents were on a romantic getaway in North Conway for the weekend, and we were left in southern New Hampshire to our own devices.

My friends and I started playing beer pong before noon, and we were still at it around eight o’clock, right before the incident took place. My partner and I had been riding a winning streak for hours. The party was great! All my friends were there and everyone was getting plowed. I decided to take a break from beer pong, and headed upstairs to the kitchen. I was standing by the front door, with a big smile on my face, enjoying the noise of the crowd, when I spotted Mike on the other side of the mass of people.

He emerged at the top of the basement steps, with that big shit-eating-grin on his face. I could tell he was in his element, as was I. That is when it happened. That is when I was given my warning.

Mike and I made eye contact from across the room, and I could see the mischievous look on his face. You see, we had recently met a rich man who was paying us to do research for him. He was basically a mentor, worth millions of dollars, whose presence in our lives had convinced my friend that all our worries were over. I remember him telling me one time, “You don’t get it Steve. This is our cash horse. We’re going to be rich!” Being on top of the world as we were, there was not a care in the world that we concerned ourselves with that night.

At that point, I already knew what he was about to suggest. He wanted to go on a high-speed jaunt, as we had done a couple nights earlier on a separate boozing occasion. He was laughing like a schoolgirl as I pushed each gear to its peak, driving up, down, and around the tricky New England roads. It was unlike me to engage in such recklessness, but at that moment I was riding an impenetrable high.

Mike dug in his pocket and pulled out the keys to his newly purchased Audi A6 Quattro; what a machine. Once he had them in his hand, he looked at them for a split second. Then he tossed them across the room at me and said, “You should drive. You’re way more drunk than I am.”

Of course this made no sense, but in the heat of the party, it was exciting. We didn’t give a shit about anything. We were young and invincible.

As I lifted my hand to catch the keys, everything slowed down. I couldn’t explain it, so I looked at the keys lying in my hand for answers. That meant something. Did time just slow down to warn me of something? Naw.

We got in his car and were getting ready to depart among inquiries from our friends about whether I was alright to drive. I responded to the questioning with something like, “Don’t worry. I’m a professional.” or some other nonsense.

I took a few laps around the mile circle that I lived on, gaining speed with each new pass. We went past my house at 80 miles per hour (20 mph zone) and I caught a glimpse of people in the driveway, watching us as we zipped by again. Then, we left the neighborhood and headed west at top speed. I was using the width of the whole road to properly facilitate the high-speed maneuvering. I was startled by a person who zipped by the side of the car with their dog on a leash. I remember thinking, Why are they walking in the dark on such a dangerous road?

Just after narrowly missing person and their dog, I took a right and headed into my old neighborhood from back in the day. The road went down for a half mile, and then went back up for another half mile, as if they were perfectly placed. I drove the stretch to the end and pulled the emergency brake to slide the car around. Then, I asked my friend, “Mike, how fast do you think I can get this thing up to before the road ends?” This statement made his giddy laughing and high pitched squeals of joy subside. Before he could answer, I floored it.

“I bet I can get it up to 120. What do you think?”

“I don’t know?” He said this as he moved his right hand up to the Oh Shit Handle. “Be careful.”

“Boom!” We hit the halfway point and bottomed the car out because we were moving so fast through the transition. We were approaching 100 mph at this point and the engine was having a little trouble getting the extra 20 because we were heading uphill. I became obsessed with reaching the mark, although the road was going to end. I got lost in the moment and was zoning out about how lucky we are to know that we would be rich one day in the future.

“ Steve!” Mike shouted out.

“Oh shit!” I yelled as I realized the road was ending Right Now, and I was going way too fast. In one second’s time, I managed to downshift, slam the brakes, and aim in between the two largest trees I saw. God save us. The car bottomed out in the ditch, “Ka-Boom,” and launched off the rock wall on the other side like it was a ramp. We had no seat belts on, so we were lifted off of our seats and thrown into the back of the car by the airbags. All I could remember from our Dukes of Hazard jump was seeing the entire windshield spider and what looked like a shotgun in a dark room blasting off in my face. That was the airbag which sent me flying into the back seat.

When the car stopped flipping, there was nothing but silence. I couldn’t move much at all, and I realized it was because I was in the back seat section where people’s feet usually go. The car was on its roof, and I could feel my buddy jammed in the foot space next to me. He was not moving. I called his name, “Mike!” No response. Then I called it again. And then again…

It felt like an endless amount of time before he responded with, “ Steve, you killed my car.”

“I’m glad I didn’t kill you. Are you alright?”

“My back hurts pretty bad, but I’m alive.”

Right then I smelled fire and thought the car was burning. “Mike, do you smell that? I think the car might be on fire. We need to get the hell out of here! Can you move?

“I’m pretty much stuck where I’m at.”

“ Yeah, me too. Are we in the back seat? Oh shit, I smell it now!”

“ Mike, I’m going to try to kick out the window next to you.”

“I kicked pretty hard and heard Mike yell, “Ow, you asshole, you kicked me!”

“ Sorry Mike. I’ll try to punch out the window next to me.” I threw a hard fist against it, and, “Thud.” Nothing but a hurt hand. I can do this, I thought, and pulled my arm way back. I threw a haymaker, and, “ Smash!” It worked. We are free. I crawled out, grabbed Mike, and pulled him through the tiny opening. He stood up and I looked him over. His head was completely covered in blood.

“ Holy crap Mike! Are you alright?”

“ Yeah, I’m fine. Look at your arm.”

I did this and noticed that my entire arm was soaked red, and blood was dripping off the ends of my fingers.

“Are you guys alright!?” The call came from the house whose lawn we had just come crashing into.

“ Yeah, I think so!” I called back.

“Why don’t you come in the house and clean up?” They looked very concerned.
They showed us the bathroom and we used their nice, clean towels to soak up our bloody bodies.

As we made our way back out their front door, we were met by the police and an ambulance. They took Mike into the back of the ambulance to make sure he was stable, and I went with one of the officers to show him where the car was. Once we located it, the cop looked shocked. The trunk had been ripped open like a tin can and Mike’s toolbox had been thrown a hundred feet or so into the woods. Then the officer said something I will never forget. “I’ve never seen an accident this bad where anyone survived,” He said as he glanced me up and down as though I were a ghost. It was eerie.

We had survived, and were fine. We were bleeding so bad because of multiple glass cuts, but nothing too serious. I was more hurt by the emotional trauma of thinking I just murdered my good friend. It was like I went from feeling like the richest man in town to the very poorest, all in the blink of an eye. I cried in my girlfriend’s arms that night.