The Stick That Caused It All

This is a true story. It happened about a year ago. Warning: not for the faint of heart!

It was a regular Thursday evening. My mom was inside the house baking lasagna for a party we were going to and my little brother Lennon, my friend Kina and I were outside playing. I was riding my bike on the road in front of our house. We decided to play a game where I was the mom who was a really smart scientist and Lennon and Kina were my kids.

In the game I (the mom) was experimenting with the rush of adrenalin. Lennon and/or Kina would stand in the middle of the road and I would pretend to run them over (really, really stupid game , I know!!) We would see if their adrenalin would take over even if they knew I wasn't really going to run them over. I was coming towards Lennon and suddenly--(at this point of the story I must honest with you. I have know idea what happened next. I passed out for a few seconds. This part of the story is all made up of bits and pieces of what Kina was able to recall.) I was coming towards Lennon and suddenly Lennon stuck a stick in my path (now understand that this was more of a metal rod then a stick).
An ordinary stick would have broke when I ran over it. But oh no, not this stick. Of all the sticks in the world Lennon had to stick a metal rod in my path! Apparently I flipped over my bike handlebars because the next thing I knew I was laying on the road too hurt to move. At first I thought I had just skinned my knee or something (I have fallen off my bike before) but of course that was before I picked up my head and saw my hair was covered in blood.

It took me a minute to gather my voice. I said (although it sounded more like a whisper) "Go call my Mom." (This another part of the story where Kina had to tell me what happened) Kina was already running towards the house, Lennon stared at me in shock. I rested my head on the road again. I felt too injured to keep it up.

The next thing I knew my Mom was running towards me (she told me later that she thought I had only gotten a couple scrapes). She helped me up and took me inside the house. It wasn't until she got me to the bathroom sink and lifted my hair away from my face that she saw the huge chunk of flesh missing from just above my right eye. "OK Sam, we have to go to the emergency room," she said calmly as she lead me towards the car. I immediately started crying "I don't want to go to the hospital Mama! It doesn't even hurt!" Of course that was a lie and my mother knew it. She grabbed me two wash cloths, one to cover my face and another to cover my bleeding elbow.

The driving to the ER is never a particularly fun activity, especially when you have a gigantic gash on your forehead, blood all over your face, scrapes on both your elbows, a cut on your waist and a big bruise swelling up all around your eye. I cried the whole way. And when I heard my mom talking on the phone with my dad saying I might have to have stitches, well that only made me cry harder. My mom tried to comfort me and it worked a little but I kept yelling ,"Mom, I don't want to have stitches!" When we finally arrived at the hospital (it felt like forever!) my mom parked in the emergency 20 minute parking spot and we all marched into the emergency room.

I was seen by the nurse right away because I was bleeding. She wrapped a mummy-like bandage around my head, took my temperature (the thermometer tasted very much like hospital) and sent me back out to the waiting room until the doctor came. They announced that I would definitely have to have stitches. In the waiting room I calmed down a bit. My dad came and took Lennon to the store to buy some cheese cubes and Ritz crackers for us to snack on (it was a little after six and we hadn't had dinner yet) and Kina's mom picked her up. After they left my mom took me to the restroom. As we we're walking back to the waiting room the nurse said that the doctor would see us now. Immediately I started shaking like crazy. We were lead into a small room with a curtain as a door. After a minute or so the doctor came in.

He was in fact the freakiest doctor I have ever laid eyes on! He was bony and had hairy arms, partly bald with twin patches of black hair on each side of his head. Worst of all , when he talked to you he would roll his eyes to the back of his head so that when you looked at him you only saw his eye whites (weird huh?) First he did the famous doctor basics (look in ears, follow light with my eyes, etc.)
Then he showed us to another room (bigger and complete with a wooden door) where they would do the stitches. He left the room for a while to get the tools that he needed, and while he was gone I felt like crying so I did. My mom calmed me down by talking to me about Gilmore Girls (one of my favorite TV shows) until the doctor returned with all of his scary and important tools.
First he prepared to give me the shots that would numb my forehead so that I would not feel the stitches stabbing into my poor skin. My mom told me to close my eyes and squeeze her hand. I swear it felt like he was popping more or less into my pimples! Boy, did it hurt! I cried and cried. When he was done I opened my eyes, breathing hard. I looked over at my mom. Her eyes were wide and she fell to the floor! I screamed and screamed. Nurses rushed in and picked her up. There was spots of blood on her back. I screamed louder. Picture it: your mother falling to the floor, her eyes wide open. My mom woke up saying "What's going on?" I kept screaming. A nurse rushed over to me saying, "What's your name honey? How old are you?"
"Sam, her name is Sam," my mom said faintly. They laid her down on a gurney outside my room. "But she has to stay with me!" I yelled. "But she can't honey. You don't want her to faint again, do you?" the weird doctor said. I sent feelings of hate towards him. Of course I didn't want her to faint again! Just then my dad rushed into the room with Lennon at his heels.

"I want to go see my mom!" I said. "Can she?" my dad asked. "No. The medicine might wear off. We don't want to have to give her more shots." the doctor said. I realized I would just have to be brave. I laid back down, prepared to be sown together.

Do you know that feeling when you go to the dentist when he's picking at your teeth after your gums are numb? You feel it and it feels awkward and uncomfortable but it doesn't really hurt. Well that's how it feels to have stitches put in. My dad held my hand and talked to me and it wasn't really a big deal. Of course at first I was nervous and I cried a little but after a while I guess I got used to it. I have admit I felt really proud of myself when they were finished. The nurse wrapped another mummy-like bandage around my head and I was free to go! I ran out of the room to see my mom. I hugged her and we both ate some cheese and crackers. (It was about 9:30 and we were starving!) As it turned out when my mom fell she cut the back of her head. The doctor had to staple her her cut back together. Yes, with actual staples! After that we all went home. Finally it was over.

The next day Kina, her mom and her brother Jimmy came over to visit me. Kina brought me some pretty flowers in a vase. Jimmy handed me a strange, long, large package wrapped in different sized boxes taped together.
What the heck is this? I wondered. "Open it, open it!" Jimmy and Kina cheered excitedly. I tore open the package. You will never believe what was inside! It was the metal rod! The stick that caused it all! I laughed with pleasure. "Thanks you guys!" I said. Best of all Jimmy had written on the stick. It said: The stick that caused me to have stitches. Do not throw away.
"Thank you so much! I will keep it forever!" I really will.

Hope you enjoyed my story more than I did!