Thrills and Chills: Watching as a Car Plummets Down the Cliffside!
Driver Survives but the Nightmares last for months .. Issue #31
It was a sunny, bright, beautiful day; Mom and I were cooking in the kitchen, or better yet, she was cooking, and I was prepping as I always did when needed. We could see the empty lot next to us from the kitchen window, the ocean, and the cliff's edge.
Mom suddenly turned white and gasped, trying to catch her breath, almost sounding like she was breathing deeply and pushing her arm out so I would look to see what she was in total shock about.
Her fingers pointed shakily, and I looked out the window at when the car left land. It was flying in mid-air. I immediately checked to see if Mom was okay, and she said, “Run out and see what has happened. Mom was dialing 911 for help.
Police, Ambulance, and fire trucks were on their way as I ran to the cliff’s edge. Once I arrived, I saw the car at the bottom of the 200-foot cliff.
OMG, I was alone and now in shock as I witnessed someone opening the car door. I was shaking; I couldn’t help; I couldn’t run down this side of the cliff.
I needed to go on the opposite side of our house and run down that way. I was familiar with going up and down the cliff as I did it almost weekly. I was living on the edge of life.
By now, the Cavalry had arrived. I pointed to where the car was, and now I was witnessing a man starting to climb up the cliff slowly, very slowly. He was alone! The medics took down a stretcher, and within 15 minutes, the cliff was full of onlookers wanting to know what had happened.
The medics arrived at the top of the cliff; the man was back on land with a sheet on top of him. But just then, the sheet blew off, and I saw his chest pushed in from the steering wheel impact. He looked directly into my eyes and said, “I can’t do anything right, not even able to kill myself!” !!!
The horror! I was in total paralysis
Now the Medics were asking me, “Are you alright young man?”. “Just numb, sir,” I replied
I eventually shuffled slowly back into our home; Mom, a Cigarette in one hand, a drink in the other hand, asked me, “Is it bad?” “Very,” I replied. “He is alive, but I have no idea how?”
…ifOnlyi… I could get the Images out of my mind! It was one of those experiences that stayed with you for a long time.
...ifOnlyi... short stories are published chronologically and follow my life growing up in California from 4 years old. If you’ve just found me, the stories will come together when you start reading from….Issue #1
I had an amazingly similar experience that I had completely pushed out of my mind until I read your account. At about age 10, I witnessed a car miss the curve and nosedive straight into a concrete "cattle pass." The EMTs pulled him out on a gurney, bloody and lifeless with no sheet on him. He may have already been dead but either way he did not survive. It's the kind of thing that explains to a tough ten year old, that he is not immortal. No offense but I wish I had not read this.