All Well

It was a long day at work. So my friends and I decided to go on a drinking bout to relax. We knocked down drinks after drinks and bitched about the who’s who of the office and laughed our way to a happier and more relaxed state of being.

Around an hour past midnight we realised, we must take our leave of this provisionally satiating world. Two of my friends, who lived nearby, went back home staggering. The other one called for a cab. I drove to work; hence I had to drive back home too. Well, I had options to crash at a friend’s place or take the cab home, but I chose to drive back.

In all my senses, supposedly, I snaked my way through the straight highway that led to my sweet home. I recollected all the jokes we laughed on at the gathering and chuckled, while the screams of Legion of the Damned lingered with the scent of single malt on my breath inside my car that was fully loaded with airbags, ABS, EBD, Hill Hold Drive Assist, defogger and bigger 17 inch alloy to add better grip.

Next, I woke up to a man shouting at the top of his voice, “I am going to kill you bastard if my little girl doesn’t wake up!” He violently swung a crowbar at me with his right hand and his kid in his left. I looked past the man and saw my car was hit on the right side with another car.  A man, who I guess got luckily saved from the accident, ran up to the father with a bottle of water. They sprinkled some on the kid’s face to wake her up. But she didn’t.

Then the man ran up to me with a piece of cloth that he took from inside his car and pressed it to the side of my face. I swatted it away and got a glance at it; it was covered in blood. Everything around was covered in red, even the black of the night. The cute pink dress of that cute little kid whom I sent into a deep slumber had turned red too. Her father loaded her up in his hands and placed into the car caressing her head. And drove off in a hurry.

I was numb on the inside. I didn’t know what to do. “Does it hurt?” the man, who was still standing next to me to see if I was fine, asked. “Starting to feel the pain,” I said as my senses reinstated because of the shock. He said, “Well, if I had a rod passing through my head, I would be feeling the pain too.”

His words locked me in a coma state for a brief moment that seemed like forever. I returned to normal, held my breath and worked up enough guts to pull the rod out. I, then, gently blew air out to locate the hole. I felt the air coming out straight from the side of my right cheek. I found one end of the tiny tunnel the rod made in my head. The other was on the backside of my head, I suspected.

As for regret, I rode the rest of the way in silence. It was a long day at work. Long enough to cut the rest of my life short. I cringed. It was an experience to learn from. I will never drink and drive, I swear!

P.S: If you drink and drive, chances are you will not live to learn from your mistake. Or anyone else’s mistake for that matter.

Don’t Drink And Drive.