soniktoothe

excerpt from my novel ive been working on forever:

I saw the faces of the drivers only a split second before collision. On their faces were frozen expressions of disbelief and horror. It seemed as though neither one could have possibly predicted the day would turn out so horribly wrong. This was not meant to be. I imagined what was going on in their heads wondering if they were awake or dreaming, hoping that will alone could change these events. I saw the man in the Buick lock eyes with the woman in the caravan. At this moment all is pure, nothing concealed or withheld, all the cards are on the table. It is at this moment that I ponder the essence of the moment. All we have is the fabric of everyday in which each second is a thread. These nanoseconds all create an order of events giving way to chaos in which nothing can be foreseen until two absolutely unrelated events a bad tire and a slick road combined with this chance passing on a road create a fatal situation. At some point each party made an unrelated decision that put them on a course that would be their demise.
All of this passed through my mind in a split second watching these two approach each other from opposite directions. Hit play. Bits of glass sprayed in all directions as metal met metal in a perverse twisting resembling two bodies melting together as they couple. I thought of bone and sinew snapping as teeth ground against metal in an ear-wrenching cacophony so loud that all sounds melted together into nothing turning into the loudest silence I had ever heard. I just sat their with my mouth agape staring dumbly straight forward. I felt like I was watching one of those nature videos where you see the weak antelope getting separated from the group and mauled to bits by a pack of hungry hyenas. As quickly as it began it was over. The two ravished hulls sat at odds of each other on the surreal stage. Nothing even twitched. It seemed as though I was looking at a photograph of this road. The only sign of life was the sound of a horn that emitted from one of the vehicles. I sat there for several minutes as still as the picture I looked at. Two ambulances skidded onto the stage followed by a few police cars. Each and every one got out of their vehicles with their mouths open and a look of cold disassociation. They approached the scene from all directions circling like a pack of wolves then finally delving upon the wreckage.
I just sat there watching the people move about the stage. Some tried to help the victims and others tried to keep traffic moving orderly. Still others arrived on the seen with no other purpose other than to bear witness, as a testament to the victims former existence. As I was sitting there I came to a realization. Life is so fragile. It is so balanced and delicate that it can disappear in a second. I had to take mine and make the most of every moment. Up until now I had been paralyzed with fear, afraid to live. Now I was afraid that I had lived my life half asleep. I had to keep moving. I had to become kinetic energy and never stop.