Mumbles from the darkness. Slowly the pitch-black started to fade into a bright-light. I could feel that I wasn't quite with it and I felt myself hovering over my body.
"Breathe in deeply. Relax. It's all going to be alright." - a voice spoke out. "You've been hit by a car and an ambulance is on the way. Stay with me!"

The voice had no features, it was just a series of sounds with a meaning. I couldn't tell who spoke or even if there was an actual person there but the message came through though. A car - could have happened to anyone but it happened to me.

Was I going to die? Were the injuries severe? Questions started floating into my head. Did anyone else get hurt? Was it my fault? The queries slowly began turning more emotional. Could I live with myself it it had been my fault? Could I survive with that knowledge? Could I have done something differently? It was quite overwhelming. Slowly, one by one, the bright-light developed a texture - nothing certain, but I understood that I was on the ground, I guess the part of my brain that analyzed gravity finally started up again. There was a nudge near my armpit. I was still feeling dizzy and the light took on colours but the questions continued. Did I have a happy life? Who did I wrong and who had wronged me? Will anyone miss me? Would anyone even notice?

I felt fine, I couldn't quite understand which car crash the voice had spoken about. As the textures cleared up and shapes became themselves again I started to realize that the thing that had poked me earlier was indeed my leg. From this angle it kind-of reminded me of a ball of twine, curled up and fuzzy. The lights became brighter again as the voice spoke out once more.

"They'll be here any second now, Howard. Hold on!"

I didn't.

The light is so bright .. if only .. I could ..







PAIN!

PAIN!

The light, it hurts.

"He's back, we have him. The adrenaline did it, right. Get him to the car, we have to stabilize him before we move him."