Accident

Accident

I looked at the scar on my arm. All the horror and pain I had tried so hard to push back to the back of my mind came rushing back like a newsreel. I was transported to that fateful day.

My father and I had just spent our day at the Science Discovery Centre and we were heading home after that. Dark clouds were starting to charge menacingly towards the helpless fluffy clouds. Sparks of lightning illuminated the sky and thunder roared. KABOOM! Lightning struck a tree above us and it started to fall. Both my father and I were indeed horrified at the scene before our eyes.

Crash! A huge shadow loomed above us. The windscreen shattered as the car crumpled like a can of drink under the weight of a big bulky tree. I screamed in pain as a flying piece of glass cut into my arm, drawing blood. Turning around, I noticed that my father was gasping for air. “Past me my…my inhaler…”he managed to mutter under his breath, “it’s in my pocket.” Snapping back to my senses, I searched frantically for the inhaler in my father pocket but to no avail. Beads of perspiration were starting to trickle down from my forehead as I panicked. Where did my father place his inhaler? My father would die from his asthma attack without his inhaler! I must find the inhaler! “Stay calm and concentrate! Stay calm!!” a voice at the back of my mind commanded.

“Hold on, dad. Hold on,” I told him. “Are you all right?” I asked with worries and concerns. Through his haze of pain in his chest, I could see that he could make out my anxious voice asking him if he was fine. He opened his mouth but nothing came out from his parched throat. The words seemed to be stuck in his throat. At that moment, I noticed a small line of blood was dripping from his head onto his shirt, staining it ruby-red. Before long, he fainted.

“Dad?” I inquired. However, there was no answer. I sobbed bitter tears as I tried to force open the door –to get out from the danger zone. I thought of nothing but the need to get out from the car. I desperately wanted to get out, to get help for my father. To my dismay, the door just would not bulge, no matter how hard I pushed it. Energy was draining out from me as blood gushed out from the gash I had. Mustering all the remaining energy, I pound hard on the door. It finally opened and I tumbled out of the wrecked car, into the rain. I lay on the wet road, too tired to scream for help, too tired to even move a finger. The water around me was slowly but surely turning red with my blood.

Minutes seemed like hours before help finally arrived. Tap, tap, tap. The sound was from footsteps. My expression altered from loneliness to happiness as my eyes flickered with tears of hope. Just at that moment, I felt as if my last thin thread of consciousness was slipping away from me due to sheer fatigue, swept into oblivion.

I did not have to open my eyes to know where I was। I was either in the hospital or heaven. A strong smell of medicine assaulted my nose and sobs reached my ears. Groggily, I rubbed my pair of eyes before fluttering them open. My mother shrieked in delight and enveloped me in bear hugs. “Thank god,” my mother mouthed. Then a man in white came entering the room, most probably a doctor. He asked me how I was feeling and I told him that I was fine. However, I was still confused why I was lying at the hospital at that moment. Then, images of the incident flitted in and out from my mind before everything came back in a rush. “Dad!” I screamed. My sudden scream shocked my mother obviously who stood rooted to the spot. “I meant how my father was,” I explained. My mother replied, “He was fine and had only suffered a minor cut on his forehead.” I heaved a huge sigh of relief upon hearing that.

“Joanne,” my father called me. I was jolted out from my reverie by my father. “You seemed to be deep in thoughts. What were you thinking about? Tell me about it,” my father queried. “The incident which almost cost your life,” I answered.