I was driving along with my mother, I can't remember quite where we were going now but it was during the holiday season, near Christmas.
We were driving through the mountain range where we used to live, and I kept complaining at Mum for driving too fast, especially given the time of year (More traffic, larger risk of accidents, larger penalty for unsafe driving etc., and to top it off it was slightly damp) As if to prove my point, we came around a bend to see the aftermath of a terrible accident on the side of the road, people being loaded onto stretchers.
I told Mum to watch out for people slowing down to gawk, and not to be a gawker herself, I can't remember my exact words. We negotiated around various stopped cars and emergency vehicles and continued on our way. This was quite a windy, somewhat narrow (but not ridiculously so) road through a heavily forested, mountainous area, remember.
We kept going, with me becoming more and more stressed out by Mum's driving, although she assured me that she was being quite safe.
It wasn't long, though, before we passed another accident, with two separate groups of emergency workers picking up the pieces, red blood standing out sharply on their fluorescent yellow uniforms. Or maybe it was two separate accidents? I was commenting, not overly perturbed by the sight, on how this holiday season must have been especially bad for road fatalities, when we came upon another bloody wreckage. And another. I saw a police officer caught up in one, even, lying on a stretcher alongside the other victims. I pointed the sight out with some enthusiasm, only for us to pass another wreck.
I was getting a bit freaked out, eventually to the point that I was practically shouting at Mum, begging her to drive safely- and nothing seemed safe enough to me, really. The crashes became more and more frequent, until we were passing them regularly on either side of the road. Mum was frightened, as well, but she assured me that we were almost there and that the worst seemed to be over.
Then we snaked down the last bit of road, cleared the trees on either side, and reached the town where I used to live.
The entire place was the same. Carpeted in bodies, the occasional ambulance looking at a loss for what to do, injured or grief-stricken people stumbling around. Such a nightmarish sight instantly drove home that this was something far, far worse than any holiday road toll, and Mum straightaway turned the car around, getting us out of there as quickly as possible whilst I rummaged on the seats for a couple of filter masks I'd seen lying around for some reason, while at the same time filled with icy terror as to whether we could make it out, what was happening, and whether it was too late for us already.
I remember hoping that having the windows wound up would be enough to keep out any airborne viruses, although it seemed unlikely.
We drove up, quickly as possible along the wreck-lined road, avoiding the masses of dazed, traumatized people more by luck than anything as Mum stepped on the accelerator to get us the hell out of there- and for once I didn't complain.
And then I woke up, obviously. That was quite a freaky dream, that's for sure. Crawled straight out of bed and started typing.
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Topic: Things that made you absolutely terrified today (Read 2016681 times)