People don’t know how important safety is until it affects your life.  We don’t think anything can happen to us.  Until that one second your world as you know it changes.  Your illusion of safety disappears forever making you realize how fragile life is.
I am driving home from a friend’s house.  My mom is texting me, asking when I am going to be home because it is a school night.  I waited for a stoplight to text my mom back, saying I am 30 minutes away from home.  While I was in the middle of my text, the truck behind me reared the back my car, sending me into an intersection.  The next thing I know, I see bright lights, and they keep getting brighter.  It felt like time slowed down and, time was on my side.
It was like my life flashed before my eyes, starting with when I was a little girl.  It was my first day of first grade, and I was so shy that I was hanging onto my parents, not wanting to go.  I was wearing a pink dress with flowers on the skirt and white, shimmering flats.  I was shorter than a lot of the kids there, making me feel like a midget.
My most recent memory was just yesterday, and I was hanging out with Rose and Anna. We were at the mall shopping and acting like goofballs.  All three of us were different from each other.  Anna was the spunky one, the one who would get into fights and wouldn’t care what the world thought of her.  Then there was Rose, the one who could make everyone laugh until you wet yourself and the carefree one.  And finally there was me, Sasha, the shy one.  I’m not really talkative to people I don’t know that well, but with my friends and family, I would talk all day.
In-between those memories were memories that had very little meaning but held so much emotion.  There were the happy ones, like when I’m with my family and we were laughing.  There were the sad ones, like when my family lost someone close to them.
When the flashbacks are over, my car is flipped over and shattered glass is everywhere.  I can see my reflection in the mirror and I see blood coming down from my forehead.  I look around and I see my blue t-shirt is tattered and stained with blood.  I feel the sharp ends of the glass piercing into my back.  I’m in so much pain and that I’m wishing I’m dead.  I don’t want to go through all the pain.
I see people rushing to me, but everything is starting to get hazy that I can’t recognize them.  I see their lips moving a bit but everything sounds like they are whispering. Even though I can see their lips moving, I can only hear a few words.
“Okay?” the anonymous voice whispers.  But I still don’t understand what is happening.  I start to get tired and getting an urge to fall asleep.
“No …fall… stay…!” I hear the anonymous voice whisper.  I close my eyes and let myself fall into a dreamless sleep.
I wake up in a room with simple white walls and bedding, smelling like it had been cleaned repeatedly.  In front of me, I see a clock ticking reading 11:30 a.m.  As I watch it tick by, I’m wondering where I am and how I got here.  I see a TV in the corner of the room turned onto the news.  While looking at the TV, I see that today was July 7, 2013.  I had to take an extra glance at the date because the last thing I remember was driving home from a friend’s house, but that was three days ago.  I see a window to the left of me and look out of it trying to remember how I got here, but everything comes to a blank.
A guy walks in the room wearing a white lab coat, blue button up shirt underneath with a black and white striped tie, black dress pants, and black and blue running shoes.  He has brown hair with light green eyes that have glasses covering the eyes.  His forehead has wrinkles on it, from stress or old age and a smile on his face makes him seem friendly.  A Stethoscope drapes around his neck, with a clipboard in his hand. 
“Hello Sasha, I’m Dr. Wayland” the man informed me.
“Hello doctor,” I croaked.  He hands me a glass of water to help with the rasping sound in my voice. 
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
“I’m sore but, what happened?  Why am I here?” I questioned.
“You don’t remember a thing?” he asked.
I try to remember what happened, but there were no memories I can recall.
“You were in a car accident and have been out for a while.  You were fortunate you survived, if it wasn’t for the seat belt, you would have been dead before you got here.” Dr. Wayland informed me.
“Did anything bad happen to me.” I whisper, shyly looking away from the doctor to look out the window.
“You have three cracked ribs, a broken arm, and a concussion.  You should rest for a week to help with the concussion.  You have to go easy to let your ribs and arm heal,” the doctor cautioned.
“And how long will that take?” I urged him.
“It will take about three to six weeks to heal,” he informed me.
“You have some visitors, I’ll let them in,” Dr. Wayland told me.
“Okay, thank you,” I muttered.
I see my family walk through the door, after the doctor walks out.  When I see my mom, it looks like she had just got done from crying.  Her eyes are bloodshot with dark circles under them.  Her nose is red from blowing her nose often.  Her cheeks have tear stains on them.  Her mascara was smudged under her eye.  My dad has tears in his eyes from holding them in because he wants to be strong for mom.  He’s always trying to stay strong for the family, even when he needs to let out his emotions.
“Oh honey, how are you feeling?” my mother sniffles out. 
How am I feeling, I think to myself?  Well I was just in a car accident and don’t remember what happened.  But I don’t say that, not wanting her to feel worse, so instead I lied and said, “I’m all right, just a little sore”
“Well the doctor said that we can take you home just, after they look at everything to make sure you’re okay.” Mother says still sniffling. 
A nurse walked into the room, and started to take out the wires that were connected to the machines and me.  As she was leaving, she turned around and mentioned in a soft voice, “It’s okay for you to go, just have one of your parents check you out”
I smiled at her and thanked her.  My dad left to go check me out while my mom helped me change.  We got out of the elevator, and waited for my dad to finish checking.  When we got outside I let out a breath of air that I hadn’t noticed I was holding in.
If I didn’t wear a seat belt that day, I would have been dead.  My parents would have to go through so much, if did make the mistake of not wear a seat belt.  Even if I did survive the crash it would have affected my world and I would never be able to take it back.  I’m just glad that I choose to wear a seat belt and I’m going to keep wearing one.