There was nothing but pain, at first, as Lilly started to enter a conscious state. She could still feel herself strapped into her cushioned car seat and the car wasn’t moving. She started to feel around herself: her cushioned arm rests, plastic cup holders, cotton-covered steering wheel and a solid shape above her head. She started to open her one eye—the other badly damaged—and she stared right at the log which came through her windshield. It unnerved Lilly to think this log could have done so much damage alone. She looked around the small environment of her car to see the airbags had not exploded into the space. Lilly wanted to tilt her head, but all she could feel is a sharp spasm every time she attempted it. While she could hear the car still running, she attempted to turn it off. She felt behind the steering wheel on the vents, which blew hot air, and she turned her hand lower towards the right. Lilly felt the plastic stick which was the key and turned it, feeling the car turn off. When she tried to pull the key out, she found she couldn’t and realized she needed to put the car in park to do so. Once she did those actions, the lights turned on and she could better see what was going on outside. She looked out at the trees as they cast shadows all around, her car pressing against one of the trees. She saw that her car had bent in due to the force of colliding with the tree, and she knew if there were any more pressure, the tree itself could have come down.

After seeing the wreckage around her, Lilly started to realize she needed help. She felt around for her cell phone in the passenger side seat, luckily finding it sitting right on top. The phone illuminated to life as it instructed her to put in her passcode. Once she did, she viewed the homepage and quickly pressed the screen for the phone app. She used it to dial 911 and waited.

“911, this is your emergency call center, what is your emergency?” A man’s tenor voice came on the other line. It was rough like he had a sore throat.

“Ye-yes. I-um-I just got in a car acc-accident,” Lilly’s voice flitted out of her mouth as she stuttered through the explanation.

“Are you hurt?” He immediately responded as she heard him typing in the background.

“Yes, I can--cannot move my head too far or open my left eye.”

“Can you tell me where you are?”

“I am on Sycamore Lane, I believe,” Lilly tried to recount as things still felt a little fuzzy. “It’s right next to Gavner Road.”

“Alright, help is on the way,” the man reassured Lilly, as much as one could on the phone. “Can you tell me your name?”

“Yes, it is Lilly Ostander, and I am 23 years old.”

“Can you tell me about your car?”

“Yeah, it has a log through the windshield right in front of me, and it is pressed up against a tree on the passenger side. I can just barely see the tree trunk.”

“Is your car still running?”

“No, I turned it off and took out the key,” Lilly corresponded as she heard sirens in the distance. She hoped it would not be too long before she could get out of the car.

“Alright, are there any smells or anything you can see that may be of concern?”

“Surprisingly, no. Nothing out of the ordinary other than the fact that a log is staring me in the face.”

“That’s good, Lilly,” he remarked. “Is there any more information that you can tell me?”

“I hear the sirens getting closer. I think they are almost here.”

“That’s good, I’m just going to keep you on the line until we are sure they are there, OK?”

“Yeah, OK. Sounds good.”

“Great, now Lilly, let’s just keep talking, OK?”

“Yeah, sounds good. I just feel a little dizzy.”

“OK, did you hit your head?”

“Yeah, the log got me good.”

“Can you open both eyes?”

“No, only the one,” Lilly explained as she felt blood trickle down the left side of her face.

“OK, how about--.”

“Hey, can you hear me,” Lilly heard a shout from the outside of her car.

“Yes, I can hear you,” Lilly responded in kind before replying to the dispatcher, “I think they just got here. I heard one of them yell.”

“That’s good, Lilly, now I am going to hang up so you can talk to them, OK?”

“Yeah, OK. Thank you.” After that, there was a beep from him ending the call.

“Ma’am, are you alright?” The voice of a man once again yelled from the outside of the car.

“A little banged up, but I’m ready to get out of here!”

“We understand ma’am, we’re just going to see if we can get your door open quick,” he shouted into the car as she heard him try and work the door handle. “Ma’am, is your door still locked?” Lilly checked by pressing the automatic lock button, and she pressed unlock a few times to make sure. She heard the car door open then. Lilly felt the cold air blow in from outside and she couldn’t help but shiver from the combination between cold and warm air from the car. “Alright, ma’am, let’s take a look at those injuries. I’m Jerry, the paramedic.”

“Hi, I’m Lilly,” she responded as she saw him from her right eye looking over the damage of the left side of her face. “Can you tell me anything, like can you move or is your vision blurry?”

“I can’t move my head to the side or else it hurts.”

“OK, what about your vision?”

“I can see out of my right eye just fine. I do feel a little dizzy though.”

“That could be from hitting your head. Now, let’s see if we can get you out of here without jostling you too much, OK?”

“Yeah, good.” He disappeared for a minute, and Lilly sat waiting, wondering how this could have happened. She never imagined herself being in this kind of pain.

“Alright, Lilly, I got a couple comrades to help,” Jerry said as he returned. “Let’s see about getting you out of the seat belt.” She felt as he reached over and clicked the locking mechanism. “Now, I am going to try and move you. We’re going to try and keep your back straight as much as possible, and this may hurt a little, but we need to get you out of the car, OK?”

“Yeah, OK,” Lilly replied as she braced herself for the move. She did not like pain in the slightest, but she knew she could not stay in this car forever.

“On three, OK? One, two, three!” Lilly felt as Jerry took her legs and started to turn her as another person reached from the backseat to steer her body in the same direction. Lilly gasped in pain as she felt spasms ricochet her back, and she tried to hold the feelings in as the paramedics did their jobs. Not too long after, she was laid on the stretcher, ready to be moved to the ambulance.

“Alright, good. Now, let’s get you to the hospital,” Jerry stated as they lifted her up in the stretcher after belting her in. They carried her to the road and Lilly stared up at Jerry as they moved. She noted his strong bone structure in his jaws as well as his wavy, dark hair he had, which was jutting out over his forehead just above where it rested on the eyebrows. His stark blue eyes followed the path ahead. She listened to the shuffle of their feet in the snow, hearing the crunch of the snow packing after each step.

After they reached the road, Jerry spoke, “Alright, Lilly, let’s get you in the ambulance for the ride over.” Lilly heard the shuffle of the stretcher being laid on top of the bed in the ambulance and Jerry climbed in along with her. His partner shut the door once he was sure they were settled for the ride to the hospital. “Can you tell me your last name, Lilly?”

“Ostander,” she responded as she watched Jerry work around her. She could feel the ambulance start up and move. It did not take long for the sirens to begin to ring. “What is going to happen to my car?”

“Don’t worry about that, Lilly,” Jerry reassured her as he took her blood pressure, “They are going to get a tow truck on the way. Now, I am just going to make sure you are OK, and I am going to get your pulse.”

“Alright, do what you need to do,” Lilly attempted to smile, but Jerry was not paying any attention as he took her stats and wrote them down. He concentrated on his work the rest of the way to the hospital, connecting her to wires and putting in an IV for fluids. It did not seem to take long before the ambulance came to a stop and she heard the driver side door open and shut as Jerry’s partner popped out to open the large doors in the back of the ambulance.

“Alright, Lilly,” Jerry stated as he started pushing her out of the door, “We’re going to turn you over to these doctors who are going to take care of you.”

“Thanks, Jerry,” Lilly stated as she felt the bed’s wheels fall onto the ground, keeping her at the same height. It jarred her a little, and she felt little spasms again. Lilly looked out in front of her as a team of doctors ran her way to take over. Jerry read off her stats and she was rushed into one of the emergency rooms. Things happened in a blur as they checked her out, cutting her clothes as they needed to gain access to give her a full workup. They checked her eyes, her scalp, back and everything else that Lilly recited feeling.

“Alright, Lilly,” one of the doctors spoke after their fast work up. “We need to get you into surgery for your cuts here, so I am going to put you under, OK?”

“Yeah, OK,” Lilly responded, knowing she did not have any other choice.

“Alright, if you can count down from ten for me?” the doctor put a mask on Lilly’s face, full of anesthetics. Lilly knew it would not take long for her to pass out.

“Ten, nine, eight, sev—….”