I was afraid to breathe. I was afraid to move. I was afraid even the slightest shift in the environment would send the car plummeting down the cliff face into the river below. One fallen leaf, one rain droplet, could snuff out our lives Just. Like. That. I imagined clambering over the seats trying to redistribute the weight toward the back of the car where the tires still clung to the road. But in every scenario, the car succumbed to gravity and tumbled over the precipice, flipping end over end, tossing us like rag dolls, knocking us cold. The car would smack the water nose first, bobbing like a fishing float for a minute, then righting itself. Then the water would seep into the wheel wells and cracks and crannies, and down the car would go with a slow rocking horse motion, gurgling and bubbling, while Cody and I pounded the windows and kicked the doors until the air gave out and we lost consciousness. Once fully submerged, in ten minutes tops we’d be goners. Tomorrow a search-and-rescue would pull the car from the river, and when the doors were pried open and the muddy water and muck had finally drained, they’d extract our sodden bodies, entwined in a farewell embrace.

That creative writing course I took in high school finally paid off, I thought sardonically after composing the scene in my mind.

Upon impact the engine had stalled and the dashboard lights were extinguished. Dangling over the ledge, the front wheels had spun crazily with a whucka-whucka-whucka sound for a good minute until they slowed and finally stopped. Underneath the chassis a small avalanche of rocks tumbled over the embankment with a dry rattling sound. The car shifted with a groan, then settled. The rain-swollen river churned below. In the far distance a buoy light winked. A fingernail moon, peeking out now and then behind the clouds, provided the only light. I heard Cody’s disembodied voice next to me in the gloom.

“Are you okay?” he asked with eerie calmness.

“I think so,” I whispered, as if the sound waves could lurch the car forward. I couldn’t feel anything but terror, but I assumed any bodily pain would come soon enough. All I wanted to do was call for help. But it was too dark to see my cell phone, probably somewhere at my feet; I dared not lean forward to search.

“Don’t move.”

“No joke.”

“Can you see what’s outside of your door? Is your side on stable footing, or…?”

I barely turned my head to check. It looked like I could make it to safe ground if I jumped far enough.

“I think so. Are you suggesting we make a jump for it?”

“I don’t see any other way to get out of this thing before it falls.”

“Okay.” It sounded like a ridiculous plan that would definitely kill us, but all I had to offer was okay.