Love Every Moment

People say that when something traumatic happens that it is good to talk about it. It hurts people to hold it in.

So, this is me talking.

On December 5th at 7:50 am I saw a man die.

I was sitting down on the sidewalk next to Liam and Amanda, two other exchange students, waiting for a bus, full of my host mom's coworkers to pick all of us up and take us to Fantaslandia, an amusement park in Santiago. My host mom, Alia had told me earlier in the week that around this time of year the park closes down and lets companies rent it out for events. Each year my host mom's bank rents the park for a day. She had 3 free tickets that she generously gifted to me. I happily invited Amanda and Liam to join me.

As were we sitting there, taking goofy selfies to post on Snapchat and complaining about how early it was, a man on a bike pedaled out in front of us. This was normal. I live on one of the busiest streets in my town. What wasn't normal was a black Dodge Ram flying down my street at unprecedented speeds and swerving. Swerving, and hitting a man 10 feet in front of me. The sound was scarring. The high pitched squeal of breaks being slammed on. The sound of metal crunching but also metal crunching into a man.

Everything slowed down. I do not know how, but I just know that it did. I remember the small things, the shiny silver of the car's grill as it came closer and closer and the bright purple of the driver's shirt. I kept thinking, why isn't it stopping? And then I realized, we had to move, because, if we didn't we were the next to be hit. I raced away, tearing down the sidewalk. I didn't look back. I didn't want to see if the truck was still coming, if it was still right behind me.

When I finally stopped running, I was halfway down the block. Amanda and Liam parallel to me. Looking over at Amanda, she had blood dripping down her face, from her forehead and into her eye socket. Three cuts ran across her forehead caused by, we later learned, the glass from the car's headlights. We were all in shock, I ran over to Amanda and grabbed her face, seeing that cuts weren't too deep, I then checked in with Liam to see if he was also okay. He and Amanda both had scratches scattered over there legs from running through the bushes to get away.

Seeing that they were fine, I went back. I went back to see if there was anything I could do for this man. But when I was roughly five feet away, I knew that there wasn't. He was under the front wheels of the car, his bike stuck in between. I couldn't go closer. I couldn't bring myself to look at his face. He was dead. There was no way that he could have survived.  

As I backed away, I saw that is was good that we all ran, and it was good that we all ran as fast as we did. Where that car and that man finally came to stop was on top of the sidewalk, partially in the bushes covering the exact spot I and my friends had sat two minutes prior.

Everything else happened pretty quickly from there. Police, firemen, and ambulances showed up. Neighbors from my condo's poured outside. Cars stopped to see the commotion. Amanda got cleaned up and bandaged. We did end up going to the amusement park. We all thought it could be a good distraction from what we had experienced. We came back from having a good time at the amusement park, to head over to the police station to give out statements to the police. There we found out that the man was driving extremely drunk and had taken full responsibility of all charges.

What we experienced, I will never forget. It lingers when I close my eyes and sometimes haunts me in my dreams. But at the same time, I know that I am blessed, that I have God watching out for me and keeping me safe. I am grateful that it was me and my friends sitting on that sidewalk, not a child or an elderly person that could not move as fast as us. I am grateful for the love and support shown to me by my family and friends here in Chile that made my day easier. I am also grateful for every moment I spend on this Earth, living the beautiful and wonderful like I have been given. I endeavor to love every moment.