draliman on life

Daily Prompt: A to Z – Create a short story, piece of memoir, or epic poem that is 26 sentences long, in which the first sentence begins with “A” and each sentence thereafter begins with the next letter of the alphabet.

All I remembered from the accident was a screeching of tyres, a spinning sensation and a loud bang. Brakes were applied of course – but far too late.

Cars are my life. Driven recklessly they can obviously be dangerous, but I do that for a living. Expert on the track, I drive rally cars. Formula 1 it’s not, but it’s still a thrill, a real spectator sport and I’m good. Good enough to find myself on the podium more often than not.

Here’s the thing though. I’m not so good that I never make mistakes, and today’s mistake was a big one. Just because I’ve finally caught the race leader doesn’t mean I should try to overtake on a tight corner at such a reckless speed.

Knocking on Death’s door has always pretty much been my thing – I’m a danger junkie – but this was taking it way too far.

Living dangerously is one thing, living stupidly is quite another.

My driving skills are quite prodigious, but not enough to save me from an uncontrolled skid – that’s why they call it “uncontrolled”.

No way to stop – the car clipped the verge, glanced off a tree and flipped. Over and over it rolled, finally coming to rest on its roof, the front smashed inwards against my legs. Pain lanced through me – though I don’t remember much about the crash, I remember that much. Quiet fell then, the only sound a hissing as steam leaked from the cracked radiator. Random thoughts flitted through my pain-racked mind – my home, my childhood, my first love until finally, I blacked out.

Suddenly the world intruded and I found myself lying in a bed surrounded by beeping machines – a hospital bed, then. Try as I might I couldn’t move my legs, but they hurt like hell – that had to be a good sign, right?

Unbelievably I had suffered no permanent damage. Very lucky, they all said – it could have been so much worse. Way worse. X-rays were taken and confirmed the diagnosis. Yes, both my legs were broken, but they’d heal and no other damage to report – I’d be back on the race track next season.

Zoom, skid, crash, bang.