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“Wan! Wannn!!!”Abah screamed with all his might.

I was awaken by this scream. Not knowing what was happening actually, our car started to move like a gliding snake. It was such an unseasy ride. I still couldn’t catch what was happening. Abah pulled the car’s steering without his realization. The next thing I know, our car skidded. It turned upside down. Slided for about 40 meters ahead until it reached the roadside. Thanked God the big drain on the roadside stopped our car from sliding further. When our car stopped, all of us were on top of one another…

I started to scream frantically.I still didn’t know what was happening. All I could remember was that we were chatting happily, recapping things since Abah and Umi were not around to fulfill their pilgrimage. Thinking that tomorrow was a working day, Kakak and I sat on the left and the right side of the car so that we could catch some sleep. Umi was in the middle. Us, my youngest bro on the other hand, sat at the very back of our car, indulging himself into songs from his MP3.

Now were not sitting in our seats. Our feet were not on the car’s carpet. Our car was not moving. We were not chatting happily. And I was not asleep anymore…

I couldn’t stop screaming. Umi yelled “Allahuakbar” in a very weak tone. But where’s Umi??? I shut my eyes and opened them, even wider than before. Now I realized I was on top of Umi.

She was heavily bleeding. My t-shirt got stained by Umi’s blood. Maybe she had knocked herself somewhere when the car turned upside down. Seeing that, I screamed even louder. I heard Abah calling us one by one. I couldn’t stop screaming until Us called me:

“Nyah,nyah! Rileks…rileks k..aku lagi sakit ni. Aku kat bawah korang ni. Jangan panic. Tak ada apa2. Sudah ok”.

Feeling assured by Us’ words, I stopped screaming finally. In between of my feet, I could see Abah was trying to get himself out of the shattered window glass. Then I saw Wan was under my feet. His feet could reach the almost shattered front glass. He broke the glass using one of his feet and tried to get himself out too. With helps from some motorcycle riders who witnessed the accident, Wan tried to get all of us out. I got out first, without my tudung. I didn’t know how come I ended up without my tudung. Maybe the great crash did so. Then Umi got out. She was heavily bleeding. Her nose and her eye were heavily bleeding…I didn’t know what to do..Us didn’t come out from the car. He started searching for our scattered belongings. He tried to move all of Abah and Umi’s luggage out. I sat like an idiot for a while. Deep inside my heart, I told myself: “Get up Didie! Do something!”

I got up. I went to our crashed car and started searching for my tudung and my handbag. Lucky I had put my hand phone back into my handbag after I sent one last sms to Haziq the night before. Unlike Kakak who forgot to zip her handbag, all of her things flew everywhere in the car. I looked for my hand phone. I found it but I can’t switch it on. The battery was flat! Damn it!

I got up and went near Umi.

“ Umi where’s your phone?” I asked.

“Umi tak tau..dalam bag rasanya…” Umi responded in an exhausted tone.

Hearing her tone, I got a little panic. Us and I searched for Umi’s phone. We found it. Tapi aku nak call siapa? My mind was dialing everyone’s faces very rapidly. Cik Milah! I called her.

“Cik Milah! Kami accident! Didie tak tau nak buat apa ni. Umi teruk berdarah…Abah pun sama…didie nak buat apa ni?”

“Ok didie kat mana sekarang?” Cik Milah asked.

One good question. Where am I? I looked for an indicator around the place…Got it!

“Kami kat kilometer 18.9. Opposite road ada exit ke Tuas dan Pontian”

“Ok ok!.Cik Milah datang sana sekarang. Didie sabar k..Cik Milah try call ambulance dengan PLUS …Tunggu sekejap nanti kami sampai..”

“Cik Milah tolong la cepat…umi berdarah…” I pleaded her with a sob.

“Ok! Ok!” She assured me.

Then I started to call other people, including Syereen so that she could call my school to alert them on my absence.

Things happened so fast. Now I know the tragedy happened when Wan tried to avoid one laundry basket which I don’t know until now how it ended up in the middle of the highway. Abah, who always gets panic when his children and wife drive, pulled the steering, which had made Wan lost control of the car. It was nobody’s fault. It was the basket’s fault.

I took a bottle of mineral water and start pouring it on Abah’s face. Searching for a towel in my bag, I wiped the blood came from abah’s injured head. Umi started to have difficulties in breathing. She lied on the grass. I cried and called the ambulance again. My mouth couldn’t stop cursing the ambulance for rescuing us so late.

Now, Abah, Umi and Kakak have got on the ambulance. Umi was brought into the ambulance with the help of a stretcher. Me, on the other hand waited for Cik Milah and Cik Cumi with Wan and Us. Wan hugged me, convincing me to stop crying and that things were going to be all right.

I was brought to Hospital Kulai by Cik Cumi and Cik Midah. Cik Milah on the other hand helped us with the towing thing by the company that insured our car. Soon I reached Hospital Kulai, Cik Cumi and Cik Midah supported my jellyish body to walk. When I proceeded to the emergency room, I saw abah’s head being ‘tailored’ by the doctor. I started to cry until the doctor asked me not to see it. Then I saw Umi, lying so helpless…I should have seated in the middle…I should have seated in the middle…My eyes just couldn’t stop generating tears…I should have seated in the middle…I should have…

This sentence was like a zikir on my mouth. I could not stop asking myself this. Why didn’t I sit in the middle? Why Umi?

I was brought for an X-Ray. I could not stop crying, thinking why I didn’t sit in the middle of the car…Thanked God, I was just an outpatient. The back pain was nothing abnormal..swollen parts, bruises will be there when you involve in an accident. Except Kakak, the doctor detected one crack on the backbone that they decided to keep her under observation.

How time flies, it has been 4 days since the tragedy happened. Obviously it was not a very good way to welcome a new year but things happen for a reason. The incident really has left a mark upon me…it made me think again of the importance to cherish my family members because God has given me a taste of how it feels if I were to lose even only one family member. Thanked God, we may lose our car but we didn’t lose each other in the accident. Thanks to God who gave us lucks so that we could survive. I couldn’t stop thinking what would happen if one of us flew out from the car when the accident happened? What if our car skidded to the opposite lane? What if the roadside was a deep cleft? I can’t imagine what will happen. And even now I couldn’t stop chanting: “I should have seated in the middle” every time I look at Umi’s red-white eye and her ‘very dark circle’.

Each time I remember the terrible sound of screaming tyres and busting glass, the sound when the car’s body kissed the road, I cry of scare.

Maybe this incident was made to happen as a reminder in case I might forget something about Him. It’s true, before it happened, I missed my Subuh thrice in a row because of the lousy alarm clock I had.

So dear friends, this shows that if God says He wants something to happen, it will happen and if we disobey Him, he will not wait for the Hereafter to punish us. He has once put me 5 inches from death as a reminder of His existence but He still loves us. He still loves me. He still wants to give me a chance to do deeds and to amend errors. The incident has taught me well enough about the things I ignore sometimes. I just can’t imagine if He put me one inch from death, I might not be here to share my experience.

Therefore:

• Drive carefully
• Support government’s new policy: Fasten your seatbelt when you are traveling by car
• Don’t forget to cherish your family. You won’t know how long they will live enough for you to cherish them
• Neighbours and friends are important to share happiness and sadness. They were the biggest help to us when the accident happened.
• And don’t sleep in the car so that you don’t end up like a crazy woman when untoward things happen.
• Remember He is always there to watch us, to reward us, to remind us, and to punish us for everything that we do in His world.

Till then.