2 years ago, on October 27th, 2015, I was involved in a major car accident and no, I'm not talking about a minor fender-bender. I'm talking the final result being 2 cars that were 110% completely totaled.

It was a rainy afternoon and I was headed to school for a band concert, a Halloween concert actually. Everything was fine up until the moment of the impact. Of course, nobody expects an accident to happen, hence the term accident, but I never thought I'd be in a car accident like this.

Everything went from great and excited for the night to come to screaming and coughing because I couldn't catch my breath and every single part of my body was in pain. I was confused because I didn't know what happened or even how it happened. I remember the impact so vividly, though. I even remember the sound of my brakes being slammed and the nauseating smell of what I guess was the airbag hitting me directly in the chest.

Within minutes, I was taken from my car and to the hospital. My whole body was in pain and if the doctor would've told me I broke every bone in my body, I would've believed them because it was THAT bad. My foot hurt because it got stuck under the dashboard during the crash, my chest was beaten up from the airbag, and I had the worst headache.

What seemed to be a million and one scans and x-rays later, they discharged me from the emergency room and sent me on my way. The doctor's prepared me that I'd be (very) sore since I got banged up pretty good, but what they didn't prepare me for was the aftermath mentally.

I was scared to drive for a long time. I can't even begin to tell you how many nightmares I had (and still do get) and woke up crying because the impact of the car accident in my dream scared me and woke me up. I have to drive past where the accident occurred every single day and I still clinch onto the steering wheel when I pass it. I always get scared when someone pulls out in front of me because I instantly think that I'm about to get into another accident.

It was bad enough that I had to go see my doctor about it. I couldn't sleep and I didn't even want to get near a car because I'd just break down and have the worst panic attack. My doctor told me that she believed I had some sort of PTSD and I was put on anxiety medication.

Still to this day, 2 years later, I get scared to drive every single day. You never know when something like this can happen and there's no way to avoid it because it's inevitable. I'm still not in a place where I feel completely comfortable driving and I don't think I'll ever be.

The doctor's appointments and physical therapy didn't last forever, but the mental scarring will.