After the doctors cleared her to resume a normal life, Cassandra was hoping that the rest of the summer would be pretty boring. She spent the days working in her family's store and doing what she always did; taking pictures, lots of pictures. Even in those days, Cassandra used mostly film cameras. She developed her own negatives in a small darkroom in the attic of the old farmhouse but didn't print most of what she shot, it was too expensive. For her 18th birthday, her father gave her a new tech digital camera. She played with it and had lots of fun but was still convinced that film was the only way a real artist worked. Throughout the middle of the summer she was getting stronger each day but sometimes had setbacks. It was hard. In early July Cassie said quietly one afternoon. "Cassandra, you don't have to go to school this fall, you could stay at home if you want to, it'll be okay."

Cassandra thought for a moment and almost said bad words and then bit her tongue. "Mom I'm not letting some bug bite or whatever it was stop me. I'm going to college in the fall. I can pay for about a third of it from scholarships and I'll borrow the rest if I have to. I have also saved a bit this summer, so I think I'll be okay."

Cassie held her beautiful daughter's hand and said kindly. "My love, if that is what you want to do, I will support you one thousand percent."

Cassandra had a plan to start CU in the fall. She didn't care that she would start college as an 18-year-old, five foot ten, eighty-five-pound virgin. She was afraid that if she stayed in the comfortable environment of home that she might never leave. The rest of her summer went as planned until the middle of July.

Cassandra's parents had always taught her to do the right thing. Look both ways before crossing the street, be respectful to her elders, always wear a seatbelt, don't smoke, and all the usual. She remembered that day in middle school when a State Trooper came to school and gave one of those mandatory safety lectures. One thing he said that really sunk in was that when he was showing those horrible slides of car crashes was. "I've been to hundreds of accidents over the last 25 years and I have never unbuckled a dead person."

Maybe it was from that day on, Cassandra never failed to wear a seatbelt. That habit definitely saved her life.

It was just after the Fourth of July holiday and Cassandra and her mother were driving back from yet another of what seemed to be to me endless and equally worthless doctor's appointments. They never could find anything wrong and frowned at her almost non-existent weight gain. On this particular day, the doctor's office was 30 minutes away on state Route 9. It was a pretty drive through a small state park. Cassandra was daydreaming and staring out the side window at the scenery. That's when it happened. Three large deer bounded out of the woods right in front of the car. Cassie swerved to miss the first one and then hit the second one. There was a crash!! and a bang! and then someone screamed.

Cassandra came to hanging sideways by her seatbelt. There was lots of white steam and the smell of antifreeze. Cassandra grunted from the bruises. Her whole left shoulder and hips hurt from the seatbelt. Blood and guts were dripping on her from an eviscerated Mule deer which was halfway through the shattered windshield. The car was too old to have airbags, so her feet were practically on the dash. She looked over and saw that the driver's door was completely gone. Cassandra screamed as she saw that her mother was lying on the ground about 20 feet away. She pressed her feet against the dash and unbuckled the seatbelt. She slid down the seat, across the bloody mess and fell through the missing door and screamed again when she hit the hard ground. She tried to stand up but nausea and dizziness made that impossible. Cassandra crawled over to her mother who was lying motionless on the ground. Cassie's left leg was bent at an impossible angle and was obviously broken. She had cuts all over her face and arms. There was a huge bruise forming on her left cheek. Cassandra screamed again, this time in terror. "NO!!"

She put her ear to Cassie's face and heard her labored breathing. Cassie had acquired a cheap pay-as-you-go phone when Cassandra was in the hospital, but it was nowhere to be seen. Cassandra finally willed herself to stand up and was rewarded by throwing up almost instantly. She choked and cursed and spat out the bad taste. She remained standing and somehow managed to stagger over to the side of the road. There wasn't much traffic and she looked like an extra in a bad teen slasher movie. Cassandra was all covered in blood and deer guts, her blouse was torn to shreds and she looked like Jason's latest victim. Finally, a car showed up and she waved at it furiously. The driver didn't even slow down. As the car sped off, Cassandra couldn't help but notice the out-of-state plates and a faded Gore 2000 bumper sticker. She stood staring at the empty road and started to cry when another vehicle came over the rise. The driver of the old truck slowed down and pulled over behind the overturned car. Two men in army uniforms ran over to the bloody teen. The older one asked in a commanding voice. "Are you all right miss?"

Cassandra stammered. "Yes, yes, I'm okay. It's my mom, she's hurt bad."

By this time, the younger soldier was kneeling by Cassie. In a professional voice, he said. "Broken leg. Looks like a compound fracture. Also broken ribs and probably a concussion. Pulse is weak, breathing shallow but steady."

The muscular black man who by now was using his strong left arm to keep Cassandra from falling over and reached into his uniform pocket and flipped open his phone. He pressed 911 and the call was answered immediately. "Yes, medical emergency. We need an ambulance immediately. Single vehicle accident. Two victims. We are on the east side of Route nine just past mile marker 87."

The soldier went on to describe Cassie's injuries. While this was going on, Cassandra started feeling woozy again and while the soldier was speaking to the dispatcher, he helped her down to the ground again. The last two things she remembered him saying on the phone was. "The second victim appears to be a 15-year-old female. Looks like she's going into shock. Twenty minutes, okay we'll do what we can. Private Wilson is administering first aid. Yes, my name is Sergeant First Class Warren Johnson, United States Army."

He clicked the phone off and said. "It'll be okay Miss; the ambulance is on its way."

Before she passed out again, all Cassandra could think was. Do I really look 15?

So, for the second time in four months, Cassandra woke up in a hospital and was all hooked up to machines. Not as many as the first time and her memory and sense of time were intact. She opened her eyes and her father was there in the room. It was dark outside and she knew that not too many hours had passed; it wasn't even that late into the evening. Cassandra's father was holding her hand. He wasn't crying like the last time. He was sad, but she sensed that everything was going to be okay. Once her eyes fully opened she murmured. "Dad, um, what, um."

He squeezed her hand and said softly. "It's okay Cassandra. Your mother will be fine. I'm here for you."

She heard those words, tried to smile, and drifted back to sleep.

Cassandra woke the next morning to an empty hospital room. There were only a couple of leads stuck to her but no aliens or anything else invading her body like the last time. She spied the little bathroom, unhooked the pulse monitor on her finger, carefully got out of bed, and looked around. She quickly dashed in while trying to make sure that the stupid paper-thin hospital gown was not flying into the wind. Cassandra closed the door and was horrified at the visage in the mirror. She looked like she had gone three rounds with an MMA fighter. Her eyes both had bluish-black bruises around them and there were cuts and bruises all over her face... Holy crap, she thought. What about my mom!

Cassandra took care of relieving herself and even that hurt a little. She opened the door from the little side bathroom just as a female nurse entered the room. They were both silent for a moment and the kindly woman said: "Ms. Banner, the monitor said that you were awake."

Cassandra gave her a desperate look and asked. "How's my mom, can I go see her?"

The woman motioned to the bed. "Miss, you need to get back into bed for now. I'll check and get right back with you, please just give me a few minutes."

Cassandra reluctantly complied and gave the nurse an anxious look as she left the room. A couple of minutes later an orderly returned with a wheelchair. Cassandra stood up and stared at the woman for a moment and looked down at her bare legs and feet

The woman in green scrubs gestured to the wheelchair, helped Cassandra sit down, and then wrapped her in a blanket and put a couple of paper booties on her feet. A moment later, the nurse returned and directed him to a particular ward. "Miss, it'll be easier this way. Your mother is recovering from surgery so you may only visit for a few minutes."