By Sarah Hines, Year 11
It was cold. Very cold. I adjusted my scarf and kept walking. The tall, grey buildings added to the oppressive atmosphere: the sky was cloudy, the light would go in a few minutes, this made me quicken my step. I had never seen so little people, you would have thought there was the plague. I checked my phone: 4h45. The light was leaving rapidly, I was determined to get home before it got dark, I dislike cities at night though I didn’t know why. I paused at the traffic light as the cars screeched past. A lady in her forties stood ominously behind me so I moved aside to give her more space. In response she walked forward and was now standing at my right. For some reason it felt kind of awkward so I took my phone out but before I knew it, I heard a crash louder than I had ever known and a piercing scream that followed like dominos. A car had missed the turn and banged into the traffic light. I stood in shock, clutching my phone. Someone pushed me back just in time while a second car collided into the previous. I just sat there on the pavement breathing faster than ever. People started crowding around the unfortunate victims. One man ran to the road, stopping any other cars from reaching the same fate. Two ladies rushed to the driver of the second car who seemed to be a lady in her forties, kind of like the lady who- I turned in terror and there I saw lying on her side was the lady who I just moved aside for. This made me react and I leaped towards her, thoughts raced in my head, I tried with all my strength to focus and remember the first aid training I had had once done but my mind couldn’t focus. An older man and his wife rushed towards me. The man knelt down next to me; I moved aside slightly.
“Call an ambulance, she’s hardly breathing” he said looking at my phone in my locked hand.
“Y-Yes” my fingers were shaking. What was the emergency number? I felt sick.
“911” said his wife
“W-what?”
“The emergency number, should I call?” she had obviously noticed I was struggling.
“Y-y-ye-“ I shoved my phone at her and she just had time to grab it before I turned around and threw up on the pavement. My brain was literally blocked. It took a few moments before I could hear the voice of the woman behind me again:
“No, she doesn’t seem to have any outward injuries, but my husband thinks she may have punctured a lung since she has very slow and stained breathing.”
I stayed in this 180-degree turn, my face looking down at the concreate while my legs were facing this unreal circumstance. It had to be a nightmare, a terrible, terrible nightmare. I kept repeating this to myself as I looked down at the ground. I then heard sirens wailing and the screeching of car tires behind me. I wasn’t sure how much time had passed but my legs began to feel numb in the cold wind. I turned around slowly just in time to witness the unfortunate lady being transported on a stretcher to the ambulance. She looked the same as before, immobile, helpless but completely normal; no injuries to be seen.
“Are you okay?” I looked up, a policeman with a stern but friendly face was looking down at me.
“Y-yeah” I nodded. Even though I couldn’t have felt worst, I tried to smile.
“It’s just shock, you’re lucky to still be in one piece.” I think that was supposed to reassure me but it really didn’t.
“Here, come on now.” He extended his hand and helped me up. I felt dizzier than ever but was determined not to show it. At this point the woman who had borrowed my phone came back to me, I had actually completely forgotten about her.
“Here’s your phone, thank you.” She smiled and handed it to me. I attempted to smile back.
“Of course.” The policeman had left at this point and now the woman too. I walked slowly down the road, it was dark: the sun had gone. I thought again about what had happened and a something that had been lurking at the back of my mind pushed forward: If I hadn’t moved over for that lady, I would be the one in her place.
