@nikesoled for a plotted starter !
She’s accustomed to working late into the night, and it’s not uncommon to find Joyce driving home from work in the dark. It’s a route she’s taken at least daily, well used to the way the road looks with little to light her way save for her car’s headlights. She otherwise mightn’t have spotted it, may have ignored it completely if it didn’t make the blood rush from her face.
A car parked on the side of the road isn’t anything new -- probably just some kids, she usually assumes, but upon approach it seems the scene is completely different than she thought. Not parked, more like veered off into the slight ditch at the side of the road. Joyce slowed for a moment, just enough to understand what she’d actually seen. Something that may have once resembled a vehicle she’d recognize sat almost completely totaled, smoking. Joyce didn’t know what else to do at that point, besides bring her own car to a screeching halt, and rush to investigate the scene herself.
Shattered glass scattered across the pavement, and it crunched beneath her shoes as she rushed to what was once the car door; the car’s owner, still lying inside, unconscious. Her hands start to tremble, hesitant to try to tug at the door handle for fear of making the situation much worse -- but it’s clear that he’s hurt, he’s bleeding, and she needs to get him out of there.
“ Steve! ” Yelling now, Joyce hopes to see him move, or breathe, or do something. Oh god, she couldn’t bare to watch the kid suffer, or die, not on her watch. “ Steve! Can you hear me? ”