The sun shined bright in the sky as everyone on the bus cheered loudly. I started cheering along with Celestial, who sat next to me. Our teacher just told us that we were almost at Six Flags; it was just a couple of exits away. Once the cheering died down, I slumped into my seat and stared out the window. Celestial looked at me.

“Are you still tired?” She said while ruffling my hair. I nodded as I stared off towards the woods along the highway. “Come on Pentan, we’re almost there. We’ll perform at our competition and then head to Six Flags for a fun day in the sun.”

“Cel, we’ve been on this bus for three hours, not to mention that I woke up at five for this field trip.”

“Stop complaining. We’ll have fun.” The bus ride was quiet for the most part, considering that a lot of people were tired and wanted to rest. It was May and the day couldn’t be more perfect. Celestial and I were band members; we played the saxophone. Our teacher advised us about a field trip along with a competition down in New Jersey. That sounded like fun to me, so I paid immediately. About five minutes passed before I saw Celestial stand up. “What’s wrong, Cel?”

“I have to go to the bathroom; I’ll be right back.”

“Alright; don’t fall in there,” she scoffed as I started chuckling. I turned around to see her walking down the aisle and that’s when I realized how close to the front we were. I looked out the window to see that we passed a sign that read Exit 18. I heard my teacher gasp and she stood up. I looked over at them to see her walk up to the bus driver.

“Phil, we missed the exit,” she said. The bus driver hit the steering wheel with his right hand and apologized to her. She shook her head. “Don’t worry. Just take the next exit and find a new route.” I shrugged and continued to look out the window. I looked up towards the sun and saw a big white cloud heading towards the sky. It was so puffy and white, which made me smile. It went over the sun and the sky grew dark. Then, I heard honking coming from behind us. Everyone on the bus looked towards where the honking came from and it was an 18 wheeler. Why is he honking? He drove past us, but I still didn’t understand why he honked at us. I stared at the truck as it started to drive faster. That’s when I noticed up ahead was a pothole in the road. The moment the truck went over it, the unimaginable happened: one of the front wheels hit the pothole so forcefully that it popped out. The wheel came at our bus full speed and hit the bus driver’s side. He groaned slightly as the bus started swerving. A lot of people on the bus started screaming and I saw our teacher hold onto her seat as she raised one of her hands into the air. “Please remain seated everyone!” Everyone started to calm down, but my eyes widened as I saw the truck fall to the side. The momentum of the truck was too much and it headed right towards us. I grabbed onto my phone and hopped into the aisle, where I ran towards the back. Celestial stumbled out the bathroom with a frazzled look as she saw me run towards her.

“Pentan?! What’s going-”

“Get down!” I screamed as I grabbed onto her. I brought her to the back and fell onto the floor with her as I heard a loud crash. The bus got hit hard on the front that it flipped over. I held Celestial close to me as I tried to grab onto the chair, but once the bus was upside down, everyone was off their seats. I couldn’t recall what happened, but I did hit my back against the window. The bus did one flip before it crashed on the side. I fell onto the window hard while still holding Celestial. My back hurt badly and I felt blood drip down the side of my head. The crazy thing was the entire time of the accident, I had my eyes opened. The only time they closed was whenever I hit my body against the bus, but for the most part I kept them open to see everyone in the air. It was all too fast to even describe what happened. When it was all over, I laid on my back with a pained look. Suddenly, there was dead silence; I saw Celestial raise her head slightly. She stared at me, seemingly traumatized. All I could do was thank God that we were alive, but at the same time I was angry. Celestial lifted herself up weakly; I stared at her. The moment she moved her leg she cringed in pain. I slowly lifted myself up, while I took deep breaths from the pain in my back. “Cel, are you hurt?”

“My leg,” she said through clenched teeth. “I think there’s glass in it.” She tried to move it again, but this time she whimpered in pain. “Forget me, what about you?”

“My back hurts badly, but I’ll be okay for the most part-”

“You’re bleeding!” She stared at my head, where I grabbed it. I removed my hand and brought it to my eyes, where I saw blood.

“It’s nothing bad Cel,” I looked around and felt myself gasp in horror. Celestial turned around and gasped just like me. The entire front of the bus was destroyed and there was blood splattered everywhere. I noticed that our seats were completely destroyed. Now, that scared me the most. Damn, we were so lucky. Then, I heard groaning coming from behind us. Celestial and I turned around again to see two girls raising their hands to grab onto the seat. “Cel, call 911.”

“I don’t have my phone, Pentan.”

“Here,” I said handing her mine. “Call from mine.” She nodded and started dialing. I grabbed onto the seats near me and pulled myself up. I was off balance when I was on my feet, but it was weird standing on the windows. I walked towards the back of the bus and saw one of the windows completely shattered. “Cel, I’m going to head out and see where we are.”

“Please be careful, Pentan,” she said as she held my phone tightly to her ear. I nodded and faced the window, which was above me. With the strength I had left in my arms, I jumped and grabbed ahold of the bus. I pulled myself out the window just enough to get my head out in the open. I looked up at the sky to see the cloud leaving, where the sun broke through and shined brightly again. We were by a wooded area, but in front of me was a large green sign that read Exit 17. I stared at the sign in fear. The cheers that amplified our spirits, were gone in a matter of seven minutes.