When I was about 12, I was really into riding snowmobile. My brother Cody, who was 9, and I rode together all the time. One crisp, winter day, my niece, Brittany, 6, was over, and we decided it would be fun for us all to go ride our really old, beat up, yet fun snowmobile. My mom and sister were a little unsure about it but decided that they would be home if anything happened and we were always careful. So we went out just as usual and my brother checked the oil and everything else he needed to do before we rode. We got on: my little brother in front, driving, then my niece Brittany and me in the back. We were having so much fun. We have a grove of trees, 13 acres to be exact, and we were riding around on the back of the grove on the edge of the field, going fast and having tons of fun.
Our faces were freezing like icicles and our cheeks were rosy red, but we didn’t care, we were having a blast! We had gone around our usual path around the grove about three times when we were coming to the short edge that leads to the gravel road we live on. There is a driveway there and then a field across the road.
I remember my niece yelling, “Faster! Faster, Cody! Go faster!” As she’s yelling this, giggling between words, I was watching the road in front of us. It was coming closer and closer and we weren’t slowing down at all. Right that instant I knew something was wrong. I looked up at my brother and could tell he was nervous, starting to panic. We went right through the driveway and I watched as we sped right across the road. Then, BOOM! We hit the ditch and ramped it. We were soaring through the air for a short second or two then hit the ground like a gigantic rock that had just fallen from the sky. I remember the snowmobile slightly tipping to the side, the first time, and my niece was going to fall off until I grabbed her as fast as I could and held on tightly. At this point, there was nothing we could do. The snowmobile tipped again, and that was it, we all went down.
As for the snowmobile, it just kept right on going. We later found it stuck in the fence at the other edge of the field, still running. It was a monster, trying to force it’s way through the fence. Luckily, we weren’t severely injured, just a few minor cuts and scrapes and we were only about a half mile from the house. I remember us all getting up and attempting to walk to the house. My brother was fine other than a big, HUGE, fat lip that looked like he had a baseball in his mouth! He was the first to arrive at the house as my mother and sister found him and started freaking out. Meanwhile, I was just really sore all over and slowly made my way to the house, dragging my niece along like a dead animal on a leash. I recall her sobbing, “Kyla, carry me! I don’t know where my boot is.” Next thing I knew my mom and sister were running out to help us to the house. As I said, we didn’t have any major injuries, just minor ones that didn’t even require medical attention, other than a little…a lot of ice and some rest.
