It was a cold night. Not unusual for Michigan in October. The last memory I had was that I was walking on the walkway near the 12-mile road. The ground was hard, cold and stony. My back was hurt, my head was still, hair wet. I was sure that, I have been lying there for a long time. My right hand was touching the road and left above my head. For a moment I felt embarrassed about my situation but, I was helpless. I was aware that not everything was alright with me. Also, to my surprise, there was no noise, no traffic. None whatsoever.
But, there’s nothing unusual if a suburb of Detroit gets deserted after midnight. My eyes were shut. Maybe I was not yet ready to open my eyes. I think I did not have the courage to see reality. But, no matter how tight you shut your eyes some light will still pass through your eyelids. Sometimes it is more irritating than the darkness due to its red color. But, I was not worried about the faint red light. I was more worried about how did I landed up there and what has happened to me? Why wasn’t I moving? and Why was I afraid?
Slowly I gathered all my courage and tried to open my eyes. You might have noticed that if you look through your eyes, the opening of your eyelids can give an effect of the opening of shutters of the doors. I raised my eyelids with some anticipation just a bit and a lump of amber light hit my pupils. It was not unbearable but, neither was it pleasant. At least it was not as bad as I thought. The street light was bright enough to see what’s around me.
I further gathered all my strength and tried moving my head. Soon I realized that my situation is worse than I thought. I felt that there was something slightly wet and sticky under my head. With my right hand which was lying on the road, I forced myself to get up. I cannot describe how painful it was. Somehow, I managed to sit slightly upright. Every part of my body was shaking. There was enormous pain flowing with every drop of blood in my body. I was breathing heavily… I was afraid. I did not feel right.
I looked up. It felt as if the street light was looking down directly towards me. The only help it offered was to provide some light. With my left hand, I touched back on my head. It was wet and sticky! My heartbeats started running even faster after looking at my hand. It was blood! I looked on my left side, all I could see was a small dark pond of blood under the amber light. I must have been lying down there for some time. Never I felt so much fear. I was smelling the death for the first time in my life. Extremely terrified and had absolutely no idea about what to do? With great effort, I tried to stand. It was not easy. The cold air had made my limbs numb. I was shivering, I was shaking, I was weak and terrified. I could not feel my fingers. I tried to check if I had my phone with me. There was no phone, my wallet was gone!
I got up and started dragging my feet in an attempt to walk down the road. How can I find someone? What can I do? Will I survive this? Am I going to die? A thousand questions but not answers. I did not look behind when I started dragging because looking at the dried blood pool made me feel weak. Every small drag felt like a leap. It was extremely painful I started crying and praying. Hail Mary, mother of…
I must have moved a couple of meters when I saw a car speeding towards me. I was filled with joy but it took a U-turn. It broke my heart. I almost felt that I am not going to survive this!
To this day I cannot tell you why but, I dared to look behind where I was lying. I was shocked to see myself lying on the floor, with the right hand touching the street, left hand above the head, a dry dark pool of blood around the head. I could not believe it… I still don’t believe it.
I just shook my head and started dragging my feet again. Can you believe it !? No one believes that I did not die on that day under that damn street light.
—-End—-
Copyright © Rohit Vijay Bapat (with SWA)
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Image by Megan Krause from Pixabay