It was a cold, snowy day in December, the 23rd day of December, in fact. It was my father's 55th birthday and I decided that I should probably go to town and get himself something for his birthday, my car hadn't been working well all week so I had to go out now or not get him a present at all. I started my 1999 Oldsmobile Alero, Fenreira and pulled out of the driveway onto the lightly snowed road.
I drove down the road and turned my iPod up, enjoying the musical stylings of Family Force Five until I realized, to my horror, that the tires on my car were very badly worn, there was almost no tread left. My car swerved and fishtailed to and fro, I was losing control more and more by the instant. At a ridiculously slow 25 or so miles per hour I lost control of my car and there was nothing I could do about it. Instants later I was rolling into the shallow water runoff ditch on the side of the road through more snow. After my car was abruptly torn off of its wheels it rolled side over top as I continued to somehow move forward. My front bumper crashed into a tree and my beautiful black car was forever immobilized.
Smelling an odd, pungent and vile stench rising from the vents of my dashboard, I realized quickly it was time to either bail or asphyxiate in a less than pleasant smelling piece of scrap metal. I unbuckled my restraining belt and righted myself, nearly standing up in the car as I repeatedly smashed my foot against the driver's side window until it broke enough for me to squeeze through. I crawled through the window and pulled myself to my feet, quickly running up onto the road to find my neighbor who'd witnessed the entire incident and instantly asked me if I was okay. I replied "a little shaken, no harm to myself, though." Soon thereafter my parents, several other neighbors, the local police, and an ambulance were all on scene asking me what happened. I told my story in the back of the ambulance with an only slightly elevated blood pressure rating and a slight shudder to my voice. I recovered myself, had my car towed away, and walked slowly back down the road.
In memory of Fenreira, the first vehicle I ever bought entirely on my own, one year gone and I still miss you.