High School Journal

Monday, September 7 - The worst day of my life

This has been the worst day of my life.   It's hard to wrap my mind around something like this happening to people I care about. 

It all began this morning while I was at school.  I was in second period when I got called to go down to the principal's office.  I thought I was in trouble.  I was wondering what I had done wrong.  I walked down that cold and dark hallway until I arrived in front of the principal's office and then walked in.   Immediately, as I walked in, I saw the principal sitting at his desk with his head down.  A police officer was standing beside him, to the left of the desk, facing me.  As I walked in, principal Walker looked up at me and asked me to have a seat.  At this point, I thought I was going to jail for something, but I still didn't know what it was. 

I'll never forget the next words that came out of his mouth. He said, "Paige, it's about your mother.  She and your little brother have been in an accident.   They are at the hospital right now.   Your Dad called and asked us to take you out of class." And then, after a long pause, he said, "You should be with your family right now. Our school resource officer, Mr. Jenkins, can drive you to the hospital to be with them."  

I sat there for a moment and stared into Principal Walker's eyes. It was like I was waiting for him to start laughing.  I was sure that he would tell me this was just a joke.  I sat there and waited for what seemed like minutes, even though it was just seconds, but he didn't say another word. 

Officer Jenkins took a few steps towards the door and then turned around and reached out his hand towards me.  I looked up at him from my seat, and at this point, I knew it was real.  I stood up, and as my head fell, my eyes began to glare at the floor.  My feet slowly moved my body forward as I followed Officer Jenkins out the door.  

It was the coldest and darkest moment of my life.  As I walked down the hallway towards the door, it felt like the walls were closing in on me.  I could feel the ground falling out from underneath my feet.  It seemed like the ceiling was collapsing down on me.  I wasn't sure I would make it.  

I took a seat in the back of officer Jenkins's police car.  It was my first time riding in a cop car. There was a cage in front of me that separated the back seat from the front seat.  I suppose it is designed to protect the officers from the criminals they have handcuffed in the back seat.   

Officer Jenkins turned the lights and sirens on as he rushed down the road on his way to the hospital.   I was scared to death the whole time.  I don't know if it was just the sound of the sirens and the sense of urgency that I felt as Officer Jenkins cautiously raced through traffic, or if it was the fear of seeing my mom and brother at the hospital that was filling my heart with dread.  Principal Walker didn't tell me how they were doing, so I didn't know what to expect.

We arrived at the ER several minutes later.  Officer Jenkins walked me into the hospital and took me to the information desk.  My Dad was in the waiting room and saw us walk in.  He rushed to the information desk and wrapped his arms around me as tightly as he could.  I thought I was going to drown underneath the flow of tears that fell from his eyes. We stood there in the middle of the ER waiting room with our arms around each other for several moments. I could tell that it was too difficult for Dad to get any words out. After he held me in his arms for a minute, we each took a step back and wiped the tears from our eyes.  

After Officer Jenkins saw that I was safely in the presence of my Dad, he turned and walked back to his car.  He didn't say anything before he left. He just looked at me with a sense of sadness in his eyes.  I could tell that he was upset too. I thanked him as he turned and walked away.

Dad took me to find a seat.  He began to tell me what had happened.  He said that mom was driving Josh to school this morning when another driver had gone through a red light.  Mom's car was hit on the driver's side and flipped over several times before landing on the passenger's side, where Josh was sitting. The driver of the other vehicle fled the accident scene, but a witness gave the police a description of the vehicle. The witness told the police it was a black Ford pickup truck, but unfortunately, they weren't able to get the license plate number.