Sterling Gates

Curly-Haired Comet
After going to the library, then going to Poppis to eat, I asked my mom if I could go to
the skate park to hang out with some of my friends.
She said Yes, but be careful. With that comment I left my dad's office and began my
adventure to the park. I skated through the alleyway, taking up as much space as I wanted. My
journey ended upon a crosswalk that was newly added to the intersection, crossing a two-laned
road leading to a tan, two-story community college. To the left of me was a Dennys, and to my
right was a parking lot for the Trolley building. I crossed here because I had never taken this
crosswalk before, due to it being newly added. I pressed the button that illuminated yellow lights
on a neon yellow sign, signifying I could walk. The car in the first lane stopped and gestured for
me to continue forward. I began running across the paved white lines, afraid of creating traffic.
As I ran across toward the safety zone in the middle of the road, a car in the following lane did
not see me until I reached that cars lane.
The silver SUV was traveling about 30 miles per hour. With a violent crash my young
frail body came in contact with the mechanised wagon. My skateboard left my grasp and I was
launched through the air. A memory from lake powell entered my brain, and I was struck with a
sense of Dj vu. I was riding a tube with my friend Katie, and my Dad made us hit a large wave,
and we were launched straight out of the tube.During this moment of flight, I remember being
able to see everything around me. We hit the water with a hard smack, a salty feeling entered my
nose.
However, the landing of this flight experience was different. Like a curly haired comet I
crashed down to earth. As I hit the solid stretch of black pavement, my back and elbows were
cut. An ambulance was called, and as soon as they arrived to my location, they asked me my
fathers name. They proceeded to call my dads work, then I was taken to Mercy Hospital where
I was put in the emergency room.
My Mom had arrived at the hospital after my Dad, and had to leave my sister in the
waiting room. The emergency room was silent except for the agonizing screams of the 14 year
old boy who just got pulverized by the silver automobile. I wouldn't stop thrashing and kicking,
so the nurses had to strap me to the bed. Through the IV placed in my arm the doctors began to
administer narcotics to calm me down.
WHATS GOING ON? WHERE AM I? Were questions I screamed, filling the once
silent room. The doctors decided to fly me up to the Children's Hospital in Denver to make sure
my brain wasn't in too bad of shape. It was decided that my dad would go up to denver with me
first, and my mom and sister would stay behind and pack clothes for the following days.
After embracing a near death experience in the ambulance, I arrived at the Children's
Hospital a few hours later. The morphine began to kick in and I was asked to identify my Dad
which I did, identifying him as the Red faced man with the silver hair. My Mom entered the
room quite some time later, and I was asked if I knew who she was. I responded by closing my
eyes, putting my hand on her hair, and saying Ronald McDonald?
The drugs began to fade away a few hours later, and I had awoken from my comatose
state. I was told that I had got hit by a car. The previous day was a blur, and at first I did not
believe what I had heard. I was placed in a neck brace, and all I could look at was the white tiled
floor. The days that followed were sombre and vague, lasting for three days and another night in
a hotel room. After that final night, we began our seven hour descent towards our house.