Angle: First Responder

I hit a deer yesterday and totaled my car. At least, they told me it was a deer. I still have my doubts. But I do not want my husband or the doctors to think I am crazy, so I am writing my thoughts down for myself.

It was Wednesday night, and I was driving home from church. I was rounding a curve on Bolch Creek Road when I saw the thing in front of my car. I only got a quick look at it, but I still swear that it was not a deer.

The thing looked like a giant green and orange preying mantis, the kind you might see in a science fiction or horror movie. It was walking down the road when I came around the corner. Not across the road, but along it. I honked my horn and slammed on my brakes. The thing just stood there and held up one of its claws.

That big insect must have been heavier than it looked, because when I hit it I went one way and it went another. It let out the most horrible series of squawks and clicks. I've never heard an injured deer, but I cannot imagine that one would make noises like that.

The impact made me veer off the road, and the last thing I remember of the crash was a tree branch coming through the windshield.

I woke up with the oddest sensation. There was a strange feeling of slowness, but I also felt, somehow, disconnected. It was as if I was floating away from my body and from reality.

I heard a car door open, and then quick footsteps on the road. Then a man spoke. He was talking to someone down the road, on the otehr side of my car. The voice sounded young and educated, and it said, "We have three minutes to work and talk freely. That is how long the other paramedics will remain in the trance. So what happened?"

Then another male voice spoke. It sounded older, gruffer, and more country. "HQ sent me out here to track a newly arrived Mantid and take it in before it got itself hurt. Obviously I was too late. I called you out as soon as I saw the accident. Like I said on the radio, the lady in the car is unconscious but stable. I tossed an orb of healing in there to keep her that way. She'll be fine for three minutes, but when we take the orb away she'll need to be treated for shock and concussion."

The young man spoke again. "So she saw the Mantid."

There were more footsteps, and then the older man spoke again. "She must have. Look at the skid marks; she tried to stop. How should we explain this accident? Drugs?"

There was a pause, then the young man said, "No, she is not that type. Look at her mind; you can tell she has never abused any drugs or alcohol. We'll need to use a physical evidence plant and a memory alteration."

"What do you have in mind?"

"Watch."

There was a small jangling sound, like a coin landing on the pavement. Then there was another, different, strange sensation. It felt like I was being stretched and shifted around, shoved aside to make room for something new entering the world.

The older man said, "Hey, not bad."

"Yep, you wouldn't believe how many situations I've dealt with by pulling a dead deer out of my back pocket."

"So we implant a suggestion in her mind, she wakes up remembering that a deer jumped out in front of her."

"Right. I'll do that, and you can take care of the physical evidence."

"Yes, I have the tools to lift this Mantid blood off her car and plant deer blood and hair instead."

There was a pause, and some scuffling, and then the young man spoke. "Oh, do we know what shape the Mantid is in?"

"Last time I checked the scanner, it was off in the woods, alive but hurt. I'll go deal with it after we get her in the ambulance."

"Will you need backup?"

"No, I've dealt with those clowns before."

I felt something being placed on my forehead. Then, I saw a scene being played before my eyes, like a dream. I was driving along the road, just like I had been before, but when I rounded the corner, a deer jumped out in front of my car. I slammed the brakes, hit the deer, and swerved off the road.

The young voice spoke. "Okay, time's almost up. The trance is about to expire. Let's get back to our places."

I felt heard a small humming in the passenger seat, coming from an area about the size of a softball. The humming rose up from the seat and then out of the window. As it left, my head began to hurt like crazy and I felt a lot worse.

Then, a few seconds later, the floating sensation vanished and I lost consciousness.

After that, I only have vague memories. I remember being lifted out of my car and onto a stretcher. I remember a few seconds of the inside of the ambulance, and then I remember being put in a hospital bed.

I woke up Thursday morning in the hospital. My husband was sitting beside me. He said that I would be fine, that the concussion had been minor. I did feel fine, but they doctors said that I needed to stay the rest of the day for observation. I said nothing about the accident to my family, simply because I was not really thinking about it.

About midday, I got tired of everyone hovering around me. I asked for some privacy, and also a pen and paper. When everyone left me alone, I had time to think and then I began to write this.

I am glad I did, because every time I think back to the accident, my thoughts become fuzzier and fuzzier. When I read the first part of this, it seems like it was written by someone else. I remember hitting the deer. I remember it very clearly. I can still see the strange giant insect, if I try, but it seems like a dream, or something I saw in a movie long ago.

When I try to recall the conversation between the two men, to search my memory for more details, I become sleepy. I feel that if I do go to sleep again, I will not remember any of this when I wake up. But the urge to sleep is growing stronger.

One of the paramedics who brought me to the hospital come by to check on me earlier this morning. He seems like a very nice young man, but I doubt that this paper will still be here when I wake up.