It seems I started off driving, but I could’ve been walking the whole time. I don’t know. I was definitely walking, alongside a guy I didn’t know, when the vehicle; a car, truck or van that seemed tan in color; came speeding toward us.

We were walking on and seemingly near the middle of some sort of expressway; the kind with two or three lanes of traffic going both ways, divided by a median strip with grass and maybe a concrete barrier. Perhaps there wasn’t a sidewalk.

We’d just passed an intersection. The vehicles behind us, facing us from the back, were stopped at a red light, there seemed to be no traffic coming from the sides, toward our left and right from behind, nor in the parallel lanes to our left.

All I could see in front of us, at least all I noticed, was the vehicle coming directly toward us, going way too fast. We moved to the side to get out of the way as it swerved from lane to lane. It seemed out of control and was going the wrong way.

I think the driver tried to brake; there may have been a loud screech; as it passed us, passed the intersecting street just behind us and slammed into the oncoming traffic, which was still stopped at the light, hitting at least one other vehicle.

The impact was incredible. It sent the vehicle, the one that had been going the wrong way, what looked like a hundred feet into the air like magic. We watched, looking up, as it soared, flipped a few times and crashed violently into the water.

That means the whole expressway must’ve been a bridge, which in hindsight makes what happened even scarier. Why me and the other guy were taking a death walk is the question. Why that one vehicle was going the wrong way is another.

I was about to ask the guy if he knew how to swim before dismissing it as a stupid question. The vehicle didn’t seem to break apart before it sank like a rock, but to suggest he jump in and try to save whoever was inside seemed ludicrous.

I certainly wasn’t going to, even if I’d known how to swim. It would have to be someone or something I really cared about in that vehicle and that was unlikely. It was probably a drunk old person with early dementia or schoolgirl on her phone.

In any case, whoever it was, they were most likely dead or dying at the very least. Crashing into the water, albeit face down, wasn’t so bad. You could theoretically escape the vehicle and tread up. It’s the first impact that would’ve ended your life.

Whether or not the person or people were lucky enough to survive, or unlucky depending on the severity of their injuries, is something I’ll probably never know. The vehicle hadn’t even had enough time to reach the bottom when I awoke.

2020 ( June 22 )