Photo by Tori Greene

Freshman Blaire Bussey reads music during her choir class.

The midnight blue Suburban screeched to a halt in the middle of the residential street while the young blonde girl stared doe-eyed at the couple in the front seats of the vehicle. Their eyes held the same surprise as her own. She stood over her hot pink electric Razor scooter frozen in terror. Her heart raced. Her head spun.

Her life flashed before her eyes.

Freshman Blaire Bussey had quite the scare when an SUV almost hit her on Dec. 26, 2013 while visiting her grandparents in Deer Park, Texas on winter break.

“My heart was pounding, but the rest of my body wasn’t moving,” Bussey said. “I was paralyzed.”

Bussey raced through the street with her new scooter outside her grandparents’ house with her younger sister Brittni and a family friend when she had mistakenly turned out into the middle of the street and into oncoming traffic. The driver of the vehicle skidded to a stop right before he hit her. They both momentarily froze in shock.

“I was terrified,” Bussey said. ”I thought I was going to die.”

Brittni rode on her own scooter across the street when she heard the unmistakable whine of tires skidding on the pavement. She looked to the road at her older sister and watched as the car drove off before she ran to insure that Bussey was not injured.

“I felt so thankful she was alright,” Brittni said. “Our family wouldn’t have been the same without her.”                                     

After the incident, Bussey shook away her momentary panic and continued riding her scooter like nothing happened. This time, she stuck to the sidewalks, thankful to be alive.

“Make every day count,” Bussey said. “You never know when your life could be over.”