“Don’t hit! Don’t hit! Don’t hit!”

“BAM!”

A few hours earlier my stomach was hurting because I was laughing so much. Every few months, the crew at the Pizza Hut where I worked through high school has a card party or movie night. I still go to them. It was a good night, complete with “The Game of Things,” “Quelf,” and “Taboo.”

It was late when we departed and the temperature was swiftly plummeting. My friend, Sierra, who lives near me, was a little piece behind me. I reached the country deli a mile and a half from my home and started down a small hill. The moment I came over the rise was when my eyes found the deer. I quickly slammed on breaks, for she was standing in the direct center of the road, and there would be no swerving to miss her. I began skidding, teeth clenched and muscles tense, ready for the impact. The darn the thing was only a foot a way from my grill before she decided to move. I was almost to a complete stop and I convinced myself that I was not going to hit her. I was right. The doe scurried off, but when Sierra came over the small rise, she couldn’t get stopped fast enough and ran into the back of my truck. It was no one’s fault but the deer’s.

She pushed me forward a couple feet but that was the extent of the accident. They say when things like that happen, everything feels like it’s in slow motion, but the opposite was true for me. I rushed to get my seatbelt off and flung the door open. I made sure Sierra was fine, and then I noticed her car: the airbag was deployed, the hood was bent up, and the front looked like it had lost a fight. It was undoubtedly totaled.

I was prepared to see my truck in shreds, but you know what? I turned around to a major “What Are This?” moment. I couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. After calling my dad and “911,” I looked at the back again in the light. The bumper was just a little scratched, because apparently the front of Sierra’s car went underneath it.

I dealt with the police report and made it home. It took me a good two hours to sleep. I was just a little stiff yesterday morning, but nothing a trip to the chiropractor couldn’t fix… a trip I needed to take regardless of the wreck. Thankfully, Sierra and I walked away unharmed. My truck was fine. It just shook me up a little. Stupid deer.