By Shawne Patrill
I’ve always believed in angels, since I was a kid. I didn’t know exactly why, but I supposed I associated them with Chrismassy things and happy times. But the one and only time that I’ve actually had an ‘angelic experience’ wasn’t such a happy occasion. In fact, it was the most terrifying experience I’ve ever had. But I do know that I was saved that day.
I hadn’t had my license for long, but I was a competent driver (or so I thought). The accident wasn’t entirely my fault, but in the craziness of moment I didn’t know what was up and what was down. I didn’t even know where I was. All I knew was that there was a lot of commotion going on outside my upside down car, and I could hear sirens getting closer and closer. I don’t remember much because everything was blurring and foggy and I seemed to be falling in and out of consciousness. I could smell something burning and felt heat around me. The sirens were getting closer, but I could feel myself slipping away.
All of a sudden I felt a presence beside me. I couldn’t see it clearly ... it was more of a feeling or something I thought I was seeing in my mind’s eye. At first I thought I was imagining it, but it felt so real. I tried to focus on the presence and started to see the outline of what I thought was a person. In my clear mind I knew I’d been in the car alone, but I could sense and almost see a figure next to me, somehow hanging in the air of my upside down wreckage.
I heard a voice, outside of myself but in my mind, somehow. It was soft and melodic and it kept reassuring me that I would be okay ... that all would be ok. The voice kept telling me to hold on and believe that I would live. I felt a calmness envelope me, and although it seemed to be getting hotter inside my car and I could feel pain in my legs and lower back, I just knew I would survive. I knew without a doubt that I would make it through this. I must have blacked out at that point because the next thing I remembered was coming to in the ambulance. I had tubes and machines all around me and couldn’t breathe properly and I started to panic and hyperventilate, my heart beating erratically.
I looked up at the paramedic tending to me and focused on his face. But behind him I could see (or at least I thought I could see) beautiful colours, like a rainbow kind of. I felt something brush against my face, stroking gently like whispy feathers and I just knew I’d be okay.
5 months later I was discharged from hospital, but had another six months of rehabilitation ahead of me. I never saw the angel again, but I will never forget it.
By Shawne Patrill
