How It All Goes Down
Collision
- "Sixteen Moons" comes on the car radio. This is unusual because the Beater typically only gets three AM channels. Oh, and because it's not a real song.
- The Beater's headlights reflect off a pair of huge green eyes in the road. Ethan thinks it's an animal at first, but then he realizes it's a person.
- Don't worry, he doesn't turn anyone into road kill. The girl in the road holds out a hand. Ethan expects to crash into her, but the car stops less than three feet away. Does the Beater have really good brakes… or is something magical happening?
- [We interrupt this program for a shout-out to lovers of teen paranormal romance. Does this remind you of the Edward-saving-Bella-from-the-skidding-car scene or what? Twilight came first.]
- Anyway, Ethan gets out of the car to check on the girl in the road. In a not-so-surprising twist, it's Lena Duchannes.
- Lena's eyes are huge and electric green. (Cool!) When he reaches for her wrist, he sees scratches right in the place where he grabs dream girl's wrist in his recurring nightmare. Whoa.
- When Ethan touches Lena, he feels a jolt of electricity, and at the same time, lightning strikes. Double whoa.
- The lightning rips a nearby tree in half. It's all very exciting and reminiscent of Jane Eyre.
- Ethan tells Lena that she's the girl from his dreams. And…this is when things get messy. She thinks he's drunk and she even accuses Ethan of trying to kill her. Huh?
- They bicker for a bit before Lena finally agrees to let Ethan drive her home.
- Ethan notices the number on her hand again: 152. That's four less than when he saw the number in English class.
- And remember that dream Ethan was having? Well, he can't recall it anymore. "The harder I tried, the more it all seemed to fade away, into the rain and the highway" (9.11.55).
- Ethan calls Ravenwood (where Lena lives) the Haunted Mansion. Like the Disney ride, except no one wants to go near it. So it's more like the Eddie Murphy movie.
- After Lena leaves, Ethan notices a silver button in the passenger's seat. He pockets the button and starts wondering what he might dream about that night.