Ethan Mlaker

Persinger

P:4

2/7/2017

The Accident

            He sat there for a minute not sure what happened.  He glanced down.  Blood!  Dark, red blood seemed to be everywhere.  It just kept coming.  He moved his tongue across his teeth.  “Well at least I still have my teeth,” Max said jokingly, although no one was there yet. 

            Max eased his way up.  He tried to stand up straight, but it hurt too much.  He glared down at his knees.  They were so bruised and swollen.  They looked like two green baseballs.  Still in shock, he chuckled to himself.  “Mom is going to kill me,” he thought.

            “Max!  Dude, are you okay?”, shouted J.P., Max’s neighbor.  “I, I uh, I think so?!”  Max looked around, “There it is!”  There was his bike.  It was at least 3 feet away.  His little green Mongoose; the one Max had been riding since he was 7.  He glanced over at a blue glint.  The blue glint was his sunglasses.  One lens was bent in a curve, like a messed-up letter “C”. 

            Max looked further up the road and there it was.  The brown BMW X5.  It’s goldish brown paint shimmered in the sunlight.  Max had been hit by that SUV! The woman driving the SUV helped me to her car.  “Hurry!  Get in!” she said.  “I don’t want to ruin your car.” said Max.  The interior was creamy, white leather.  He thought back to minutes before when he was racing down the hill with Alejandro.

Alejandro went down first.  “Look, Max!  No hands!”  He was trying to see who could go faster, with no hands.  They felt as though there were no limits, except time, of course.  Alejandro flew down the hill, like he was going for a gold medal and wouldn’t settle for anything less.  Soon it would be Max’s turn.  Then came the moment he will never forget.

            It’s Max’s turn to fly down the hill.  Of course, Max being the adventurer he is, “forgot” his helmet.  He pedaled down the freshly paved, pitch black road.  One foot after the other, soon his hands were in the air.  No hands.  No limits.  No more than a couple seconds later did he look up and to the right was the gold BMW X5.  “Crap!”  he shouted.  Max slammed his hands on the hand brakes, but it was too late, so he tried to speed up.  “I’m not going to make it.”  Max thought.  Now the loop closes. 

            A large, gray car arrived on the scene.  “Wait, I know that car.”  His mom leaped out of the car in a panic.  “Alejandro told me that you got hit by a car!  Are you okay?  What happened?” she exclaimed, her head moving at the speed of light.  “I can’t believe this is happening!” she said, as the reality of it all set in.  “Mom, I’m fine.” Max said weakly.  “No, you’re not.  We’re going to the ER, right now!” said his mom worriedly.

            He hobbled into the car.  He plopped his left leg at the top of the seat to prevent the feeling of needles piercing his skin down to the bone.  Now only one leg had the feeling of being stabbed, while the other leg throbbed with each beat of his heart.  The car started, the engine revved, then Max and his mom sped away.  His mom in a panic called Max’s dad, Ring! Ring! Ring!  No answer.  

            Although, only 5 minutes passed, it felt like an eternity to Max.  He started to inch his way to the door.  Every part of Max’s body was throbbing.  His head was light as a feather, and it felt like it was going to fly right off and explode.

            He had to limp and slowly inch his way to the double, automatic doors to the ER waiting room.  When he got inside, they immediately brought him one of those silver and black wheelchairs.  He thought for a moment, and realized he had never been in a wheelchair before.  He slowly moved down, careful not to upset the terrifying monsters on his knees.

            Max’s mom was virtually screaming at the nurse, not on purpose, but she kept pointing at Max while loudly explaining to the nurse what happened.  “So, what happened to him,” asked the nurse calmly.  Even though Max looked like a black and blue monster.  His mom screamed, “He was hit by a car while riding his bike!”  Then it finally clicked; this was serious.

            “We don’t have a trauma center at this hospital.  We will call an ambulance to rush you to UMC Trauma.” The nurse declared.  They rushed Max onto one of those gurney carts with wheels.  Max wasn’t sure what they were called.  They put a white brace on his neck.  Ironically, his neck was the one part of Max’s body that didn’t hurt.  They loaded max into the ambulance and they sped off in the ambulance.  This was the Max’s first, and hopefully his last, ride in an ambulance.  Max tried to take it all in, but the medicine was kicking in and he was starting to get sleepy.

Max quickly arrived at UMC.  His dad was there waiting.  Max was happy to see his dad. They ran several tests on Max for hours, in his head it seemed more like days.  “Well the good news is, you don’t have a concussion.  We were only able to find a broken nose.”  Explained the doctor.  They decided to take some x-rays.  “Your knees are badly bruised; however, they are not broken.” Explained the technician.  They transferred Max from one cart to the other.  They brought Max back to the room through a silver door with oval windows.  He sat down and the nurse jabbed him with a needle connected to a tube called an IV.  It stung going in, but Max had so much other pain, he barely noticed.  Moments later, everything went calm, the IV was soothing.

“If he can drink this apple juice and go to the bathroom, he can go home.” The nurse explained.  Max felt the straw get pressed to the corner of his mouth. Max really wanted to go home.  He sipped and slurped until it was all gone.  “He can go home now!” said the nurse excitedly.  They wheeled him out to the car, one foot at a time, Max slowly and carefully climbed into the car.  He finally got home just before midnight.  Max just about passed out from sheer drowsiness.  It had been a VERY long day.  His dad helped him up the stairs and Maxed hopped in bed, more like he hobbled into bed.  He was careful not to let the blanket touch his knees or any of the road rash that covered his body from head to foot.  He closed his eyes.

            Max laid there with his eyes closed, but his mind was wide awake, gears spinning.  The day’s events came at him like a flood; the point of impact, the events leading up to the accident, his green bike, his crumpled sunglasses, the hospital, the ambulance ride.  All this and more raced through his mind. He wished it was all just a bad dream. 

The next morning, he rolled onto his stomach, he pushed himself up as hard as he could.  He finally got up and crawled out of bed.  He limped around the corner and there was his mom and dad.  They told him that his favorite cousin, and best friend, was coming to see him.  He and his family would travel all the way from California just to see him and make sure he was doing okay.  Max was so excited.  He always loved it when his cousin came to visit.  Though he wouldn’t be able to go anywhere or do anything, he was very excited to spend time with his cousin.  He was sure they would still have fun.

“Ding Dong!”  It was him.  Max opened the door, and there was his cousin, standing at the door with his duffle bag in hand.  That whole week, people were coming to the door giving Max cards and gifts and wishing him to get well soon.  Max appreciated all of the kindness people showed him while he was recovering.  The lady who hit him with her car, brought Max 8 bottles of different kinds of sarsaparilla.  The family had fun trying all the different kinds.

Although this is a day that Max will never forget, Max also learned some valuable lessons.  Always wear a helmet, look both ways before crossing, keep your bike in good repair, and slow down.