My Own Fault

I was enjoying a nice summer day with my mom and older brother. We had gone to our favorite park to take a nice stroll. The breeze on my face as we walked near the river was unparalleled to anything else. I wished I could stay in the moment forever, but sadly time just keeps on moving. As we approached the end of our walk, I could see our car from a distance.

What separated me from just walking up to my car was this low fence that barely went up to my knees. The common response would be to either walk over it or go around it. I had other plans. I thought I was a pretty good hurdler, after all I had done track not even two months prior. I took long strides and with one jump I put one leg forward and my other leg backward as one would do. In the air, I thought nothing much other than how close I was to the car. The seats looked amazing after a long day of walking. Landing, my right knee felt weird. Nothing out of the ordinary, I thought. All felt well until I decided to just take a look.

My knee was open! I just froze up at the sight of a big gaping hole in my knee. I screamed for help, and my brother who was walking in front of me immediately noticed. He rushed to me, applying pressure to my injury to try and stop the blood. The blood trickling down my leg reached my shoes and stained them red. The concrete surrounding me was also given a paint job. We didn’t know what to do so we called an ambulance to escort me. As I sat on the hard concrete waiting for them to arrive, I didn’t process what was going on. I just tried to calm down from the initial shock. The ambulance arrived eventually and by then, the bleeding had stopped a lot. I got my first view of an ambulance’s interior. The ambulance operator asked me some questions, but I couldn’t really focus. That same feeling continued as I was sent into the emergency room to wait for hours. Hours passed by with my knee still wide open for me to see. I got stitches and was checked for any possible infections, but it all felt like a blur.