Distanced

CRASH!!!

The ABS was pulled.

I pulled it.

But it didn't stop us.

That big oak stopped us.

And if God or someone wasn't looking out for me- we would have hit it directly on the driver's side and that would have been the end for Dale and I.

But someone was looking out for us.

Some how our bus hit just on the corner of the passenger's side- tipping us over after hitting the wheel and skidding a good four or five yards.

Opening my eyes, the lights inside the bus blink on and off. I landed just in the head room above Dale's seat.

He was strapped in thank God.

"F...uh...ck..." Pushing myself into a sitting position, I can feel my right shoulder out of its socket again. "Dale! Dale!!"

Looking around, I find his seat belt cutter Velcroed to the dash. Taking it, I cut him loose and drops two feet from his seat onto his side.

With all my might, I roll him onto his back and check for a pulse.

"Dammit Dale! You're not dying on Christmas!" I put my left hand over his heart and with all my might, I push down.

The cartilage breaks and I bite through the pain as I use my right hand to start CPR.

"Come on!" Outside the bus, I hear people calling and sirens going. I stop and check for breath- which there isn't any. "FUCK! Come on, Dale!"

I keep going- my arm putting me in agonizing pain.

"Fuck it!" I stop doing CPR and all I can do is think of Young Frankenstein. Balling up my left hand, I punch him hard in the chest a few times and then wait. I get low to his mouth and I feel it. Air hitting my face. I feel his pulse and I sit down and just cry. "Thank you!!! Thank you!!!"

A firefighter comes up to the glass and looks at us.

"I need you to cover his face and look away. I have to break the glass." Doing as he says, I block his face with my body- and face away from the windshield. In a matter of seconds I hear the glass shatter and he and an EMT come rushing in. "Ma'am- are you alright."

"Fine! He needs a ventilator and to be taken to the nearest hospital. I believe he had a heart attack. He's diabetic as well. He had severe pneumonia a few years ago that caused heart damage... I got him back breathing but his pulse is barely there." I relay all the information and they get to work quickly as I look for my phone and purse.

Finding it, I bend over and feel extremely dizzy.

"Ma'am- I need you to come sit down so my team can evaluate you."

"I can tell you right now- based on impact and everything: my right shoulder is dislocated terribly- so pull it so I can get that out of the way and I feel extremely dizzy and sick- so probable case of a concussion, minor case of a brain bleed. On top of that, my right side is in excruciating pain...so probably a fractured or even broken rib..." I painfully breath and they look at me oddly. "I'm a bloody doctor..."

"Right. Let's get you to the hospital."

"Can you first offer me a pen?" I ask feeling sick to my stomach.

"Um." The man pulls a pen out and I weakly grab the top of it with my right arm.

"PULL." He looks at his friend and then does really hard and a huge popping sound rings out in the bus. "Oh...thank you...fuck that feels so much better..."