A Traffic Accident

Feeling disoriented, I woke up slowly with a searing pain on my immobilised right leg. White walls and spinning fans surrounded me. There and then, I remembered. The pain. Oh yes, the pain— that indescribable searing, tingling sensation. To my absolute horror, scenes from the recent past flowed into my mind like a broken tap and made me shudder and quiver in fear… 

Earlier that day, I had fun plans. Strolling to the café to meet my friends, I tapped vigorously on my phone, fully engrossed in the game I was playing. As I had memorised the route to the café by heart, I was confident that I could get there even with my eyes glued to my phone and my ears stuffed with my earpiece blasting loud rock music.

Upon reaching the road crossing, I saw no cars on the road out of the corner of my eyes, which made me assume that it was safe to cross. Little did I know that I would soon regret my poor choice of actions. 

SCREECH! A loud sound came from my right, followed by the stench of burnt rubber and a booming honking noise. Whipping my head around, I noticed the petrified face of a driver—and, just above him, the glowing red pedestrian light I had failed to notice. 

Two words popped into my head: "Uh oh." 

My feet stood rooted to the ground as I froze in fear. Fervently, I prayed that the truck would stop in time but to no avail. In a split second, the truck rammed into my hip, causing a painful searing sensation to travel down my spine. As I fell to the ground, I could hear faint sounds of screaming and yelling. With great difficulty, I craned my neck around, only to see crimson red blood dripping from my legs. As I laid on the ground in a blubbering heap, I passed out.

An unknown amount of time later, I came to in a hospital bed. With a pounding pain in my head, I opened my eyes with much difficulty, only to be met with the sobs and cries of my parents. As I craned my neck towards my parents, they bellowed tearfully, "Why were you not careful? You could have been killed!" Guilt gnawed at me painfully and regret pooled in me. I apologised to them for not looking where I was going.

To this day. I am still traumatised by this horrifying incident. I had been lucky: the accident had left me injured but not crippled, and after months of painful physiotherapy, I could walk again. I have learnt to always watch where I was going and not be engrossed with my phone, so as not to get into another traffic accident. I vowed to never use my phone while walking again as one silly, careless mistake can cost me my life. This horrifying experience would serve as a lesson and will stay in the deep recesses of my mind for many years to come.