The Ski Mask

When I was 9 years old, my grandmother passed away after fighting cancer. We were very close, and I took her passing very hard. A couple of moths after the funeral, I was home sick from school and went out with my mother running errands. Nothing new with that. It was around February so it was still cold outside and I was wearing my coat and a ski mask that covered my whole face except for the eyes and mouth.

As we started off, mom said if I wanted to, I could sit in the front seat with her, and my baby brother and sister would be ok in the car seats in the back by themselves. As she started driving, I had this feeling that I should put on my seat belt. Being a young child, I did not like wearing it so I ignored the voice.

Mom made a few stops and told us that we had 2 more places to go and then we would go to lunch. As I sat in the from seat I heard this loud voice tell me to put my hat on. I had taken it off at some point because it was hot in the car. I started thinking, "It is too hot to wear it..." and I ignored the voice.

About 10 minutes later I heard it again. "Put your hat on!" This time it was louder, but I still ignored it. Mom just finished her next errand and we were on the way to last one. As we started down the street I heard the voice even louder and this time I recognized it. It was my Grandmother. "Donald! Put your hat on now!" I finally decided to listen.

About 15 minutes later, as we were driving down the street, a car pulled out in front of us and made an illegal left hand turn. Mom slammed on the brakes but was too late and hit the car head on... I remember a lot of pain and then I blacked out...

I remember hearing my mother screaming my name and opened my eyes. She was yelling at me to hold still and not too move. I tried to tell her I was fine but she would not let me sit up in the chair. I remember thinking "why is the windshield missing..."

Paramedics came and I could hear them saying how lucky I was... I did not understand why until they carefully pulled the hat off my head. The hat was covered in shards of glass from the windshield the my head went through. They started checking me out, but I did not have a scratch on me. As they were taking care of my mom and siblings, I saw my grandma standing right next to the door.

"It is not your time yet for us to be together" She said with a smile. "I'm glad you finally listened to me!"

"Thank you Grandma." I said tears streaming down my face. "I love you so much, and will always listen to you!"

"Who are you talking to?" My mom said coming over to give me a hug. "Grandma! She told me to put my hat on!" I said with tears in my eyes.

To this day we still talk about the accident where Grandma saved my life. I still listen to her and she has helped me a lot!