My alarm blared in my ear, the beeping pulling me out of a blurry dream about something or another. I looked at the clock and sat up. The clock read ten thirty, but my alarm was set for nine o'clock. But why? I racked my brain for a reason while I put on a pot of coffee, leaning back against the counter in the just-beyond-your-mind's-reach position.
The calendar centered my vision, and only a blurry red circle was visible. I retrieved my glasses from my nightstand and went to the calendar. Oh, fuck, I thought, and ran back into my room.
Throwing on a nice turquoise dress and hurriedly pouring a cup of coffee in my travel mug, I grabbed my keys from the rack and ran out of my apartment. The red circle burned a hole in my mind. How could I have forgotten Anna's baby shower? Anna had been my best friend since middle school, and now she was pregnant with her first child, my godchild. And I forgot about her baby shower.
My red 1999 Ford Fiesta sat forlornly in the empty parking lot. I reached for the beeper to unlock my car, only to realize that the keys I held in my hand were Anna's spares. I searched my purse to find my house keys, and remembered that I left them hanging on the key rack. I hung my head in disappointment and trudged back up to my apartment. I tried the door. The one time I lock it. I stared at the door and pondered, until I remembered that I left the kitchen window open.
I pushed the pane of glass to the left and hopped onto the sill in my dress and heels. The stiff curtains shed dust and dead spiders on me, and I sneezed and nearly fell backward. I pushed my body in and fell halfway in the sink. I felt the wet grounds from yesterday's pot of coffee soak the seat of my dress and I groaned. "I don't need this today," I yelled to no one.
I hopped down from the sink and slipped forward. Landing on my stomach, I cursed at the leaky coffee pot. It had overflowed from the filter onto the counter and dripped onto the floor. I tried to get up and nearly slipped again. The heel of my favorite black pumps snapped in half when I fell. I hobbled into the dining room and grabbed the car and house keys, making sure to keep them firmly in my hands. Nearly breaking my neck down the narrow hallway, I staggered into my room and peeled off my dress. I went to my closet and perused my dresses. "Fuck it," I said, and shut the closet door. Instead, I put on pants and a t-shirt, and settled on tennis shoes. I figured that Anna would understand after I told her how shitty my day had been.
I went back into my tiny kitchen, closed the window, turned off the coffee pot, and ran out the door, keys in hand. I told myself I'd deal with the coffee on the floor later.
For once in the four years I'd owned my crappy car, it started up right away. I pulled out of the parking lot, checked for oncoming traffic, and screeched off to Redwood Park, where Anna was having the baby shower. It was close, only a few minutes away, but I was already twenty minutes late. I decided to take the freeway and hop off two exits down to maybe shave a minute or two off my already shameful delay.
The on-ramp was empty, so I floored it and hit a measly sixty five. Moving to the left, I stayed in the middle lane to avoid the traffic for the next off-ramp. My car's speedometer pushed a bit above seventy, and I relaxed knowing I wasn't slowing anyone else down. As I was about to change back into the exit lane, a shiny black Mustang zoomed past me, easily hitting ninety. I shook my head and turned on my blinker.
The Mustang slowed down a bit and dipped into a pothole. No, I thought, but he swerved and I slammed on the brakes. He hit me on the right and flipped my car. I couldn't tell what was up and what was down, all I knew was that my seat belt was digging into my neck and I couldn't breathe. My vision grew dark and I felt myself crash down on the pavement. I finally took a deep breath and looked around. For some reason I thought someone had turned off the gravity, but I was upside down and my hair blocked my sight. I moved it out of the way and screamed as a semi came at me head on.
