in a blink of an eye....

Once second you are laughing talking about complete randomness with your friend.... and the next you can hardly breathe. It was the loudest thump I have ever heard.... the car raised up in the air as if we were to have hit a speed bump without slowing. The scream was bone chilling. Nine gasps.... silence.......shock. And finally aware of what had happened, a sense of panic filled the air. She couldn't have been more than 5 years old... and she lay motionless on the ground. Her mother, saw the whole thing.

My cab ride home is usually pretty frightening. Winding roads, crazy drivers, and scary cliffs. But this time frightening does not describe how the 8 of us felt. In a blink of an eye a child may have lost her life. It happened so fast, and there was nothing the driver could have done. The young girl ran out in the road so fast there wasn't even time to hit the breaks. Watching them lift her motionless body into the back of a pickup truck was heartbreaking. The cries of the family that had witnessed still ring in my ears. But then there was the driver. I tried my hardest to hold back tears as he ran to her, and realized what he had done. He was in shock and he was hurting..... and I am sure that is just the beginning of his emotions at that time.
We all felt helpless and scared. The locals were enraged, and we began to worry about our own safety. It was an accident.... but try to tell a mother or father of a child whose life hangs in the balance, that it was an accident. There are no words to console them.... they are angry. They toy with the idea of revenge. What is unfortunate about Dominica, is regardless of whether there was fault, this poor man will likely spend life in prison if she doesn't make it. That would be two lives lost because of a freak accident. So please pray for them both, and of course the family who undoubtedly is going through the most horrifying time in their life. And for all of us in the car, I am sure this will be a nightmare we will never forget.