By: Rachel Brooks
Major: English & Secondary Education
Year: Junior
Hometown: Round Rock, TX
“Hurry, hurry, hurry!” the best man chanted, tapping the accelerator with his booted foot, his fingers fidgeting on the gear shift.
“We’ve got it, start the car!” screamed groomsmen number one, the bride’s brother, as he and two other groomsmen shoved the cake into the back seat. He climbed into the front as groomsmen numbers two and three sat on either side of the cake.
The best man threw the car into drive and slammed the accelerator to the floor before the other groomsmen had even closed their doors. The tires squealed and the car gave a jerk to the left. “Come on!” the best man screamed, slamming his palms on the wheel and cursing his preowned four-door.
Groomsman number one bit his lip, turning in his seat to look at the cake. “I can’t believe we forgot the cake, Dan. Melanie is going to kill me.”
The best man laughed darkly as the car finally took off, “She’ll kill us all.” Dan drove like mad, whipping around corners and darting between cars.
The groomsmen cried out and held the cake box upright best they could. Dan cursed as he realized he was in the far lane from his exit. He gunned it to pass the semi beside him and whipped into that lane, just as a motor home on the other side did the same. The four-door was no match. It careened out of control. The groomsmen watched with wide eyes as the ground changed angles. No one had remembered their seatbelts. The semi couldn’t stop in time. The cab plowed into them, metal screaming against the concrete as the eighteen-wheeler pushed them down the highway. The trailer swung from how hard the driver was breaking, sending other cars left and right.
Hours later, when the wreck was pushed to the shoulder and the mangled, thrown bodies were clear, two EMTs stared down at a beautiful wedding cake lying on its side in the middle of IH-35. “I guess they were in a hurry,” one said to the other.