Officer Hannover pulled up right behind the white Jeep and clicked off his flashing lights, as well as the headlights on the cruiser. The only light now was emanating from the Jeep’s front end. He would handle that in a moment. He’d done this dozens of times. Grabbing the large mag light from the passenger side of the car he pulled the door latch and got out. As Hannover walked up to the Jeep he noticed the driver, a young woman, rifling through her glove box with a small flashlight in hand. His eyes looked up and down the long stretch of road: no other traffic. Tap tap, he rapped on the driver’s side window and then clicked the flashlight on to illuminate the inside of the vehicle. He took a quick scan of the vehicle: no weapons that he could see. He saw her groping for the window controls and the window slid down just a tiny bit, “Hello officer! I’m sorry, but I can’t see you. I can’t see anything; the light is kind of in my eyes and I just dropped my flashlight.” Hanover smiled, “Oh my. I’m so sorry about that ma’am.” He lowered the glow of the light. “Sometimes I forget how bright these flashlights are. I didn’t mean to blind you.” He gestured at the cracked window, “Can you roll the window down a bit more for me? I will need to see your license and registration please.” He maintained the same pleasant smile. “No problem! I was just looking for it in the glove box when you came up and I was startled. I dropped my flashlight on the floor. Do you mind if I reach down to pick it up?” She pointed at the floorboard of the vehicle. Hannover took a step back and thought for a moment. “I can shine my flashlight in that direction for you. I’d prefer if you’d keep your hands where I can see them. I’m sure you’re a nice enough young lady, but it’s mighty dark out here and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit nervous.” He let out a tense chuckle. Her face relaxed and her lips formed into a reassured smile. “Yes, sir. No problem at all.” She reached forward into the glovebox and found the registration immediately. “Here is the registration. Let me just grab my license from my wallet.” She said this as she rolled the window the remainder of the way down and handed him the paperwork. “Thank you. Do you mind shutting off the engine and those headlights please, ma’am. They distract the other drivers.” After he said this he saw her face suddenly grow confused. That was ok. He had her, and she would do it. He projected that winning smile at her and mentally willed her to relax. She didn’t move. “Ma’am?” he repeated. “I’m sorry. Yes, yes I can do that.” She timidly reached forward and hit the button to shut off the engine, then switched off the headlights. When she turned her gaze back to the passenger seat and reached for the wallet, he quickly slid his hand into the car and disengaged the door locks. Within an instant, his hand moved from the door lock to her wrist, and pulled her arm towards the window. She let out a startled cry. Hannover’s grip tightened on her arm, then there was a clunk as he dropped the flashlight on the ground outside the car and used that hand to pull the car door open. That’s when everything went wrong. There was a sudden burning in his eyes, around his eyes, all over his face. Hannover let out one quick cry of surprise and began to choke; he couldn’t breathe. He released his grip on her arm, pulling his hands up to wipe the stinging substance from his face. He heard the door slam shut, and the car engine fire. ‘Shit!’ he thought, and he reached out blindly to grab a hold of her, feeling delicate strands of hair beneath his fingers. He grabbed the hair quickly, but he immediately knew it wouldn’t be enough to hold her. At that moment, he felt the car window thud against his outstretched arm, but he was determined not to release his grip. Her hair gave way, and the moving vehicle spun him to the ground. Still gripping the small clump of hair in one hand, he sat there, unable to see and barely able to breathe. In the next second he heard a loud crunch, a crack, and then pop. Those were the unmistakable sounds of a collision. He attempted to open his eyes and squinted through the pain. His vision was still fuzzy, but he could make out the scene. She had managed to get the headlights back on, but not in enough time to see what was in front of her vehicle. She had run that Jeep head on into a large tree. He couldn’t see much else, but it didn’t look good, well, not for her anyway. Picking himself up off the ground, he grabbed his flashlight and quickly made his way back to his vehicle. Hannover threw open the passenger door and groped around until he found the bottle of water he had left on the passenger seat. He rinsed his face and eyes until the stinging began to subside. After cleaning up, and checking the road once more to ensure there were no oncoming vehicles, he returned to the Jeep. The woman was laying crumpled on the ground next to the vehicle. Her head was crushed and bloody; she must have hit the tree head on when she was ejected from the vehicle. The airbags had deployed, but not in time. He breathed a sigh of relief and headed back to his vehicle to phone in the accident. “There’s a monster on route 460!” he shouted, as he chuckled to himself.