Tomorrow

So very few can say they’ve come close to death. I’m one of those few. But others can say that what they did to put them in such danger was worth it.

People call me brave, a hero, for what I did. To risk my life for someone else. It wasn’t until after the accident, that I realized…

It was the most selfish thing I had done my entire life.

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I usually didn’t care about certain things. Like students staring at me as I passed by in the hallway. I was used to it. I had to be, with the reputation I kept up and the friends I had. I was what you could call “popular”. So people stared. It was only natural.

But today, was different. As each moment passed, the stares, the whispers, the loud smacking of my shoes on the ground all seemed to raise my temper. I was only lucky that it was the end of the school day; otherwise I would of have to sit through my embarrassment and mindless presentations from the teachers I already disliked so strongly.

Once I was out of the building and was drinking in the fresh air, my head began to clear and I felt calm. The school buses were just beginning to arrive, so not a soul was outside yet and I had a few silent moments to myself. I would like to say that it helped my jumbled thoughts as well, but the cruel words continue to ring in my head like bells.

You’re good for nothing. Worthless.

I spot my older sister, leaning against her beat up car parked across the street. Although it’s starting to clear up, my sister Beth had obviously caught the slight rain as she waited for me to finish school. Her head is down, covered by her hood, as she texts on her cell phone.

You’re both selfish. Care about nobody’s feelings but your own.

I make my way down the front steps of the school just as the last bell rings, and almost instantly students begin to pour out the front doors like a flood. It isn’t until I’m across the street when I hear my name being called. I whip around to see Jenna, a very close friend of mine, standing on the front steps exactly where I used to be. Even from a distance I can see how pale she is, the way she hugged her arms around her body. She was clearly just as shaken as I was from what we had endured together only minutes ago.

You bring everyone down just so you can feel better about yourselves.

But Jenna didn’t hold my attention for long. A jeep, almost as tall as a bus and music blaring from the speakers was flying around the corner down the street at full speed. The tires screeched on the wet road as the rubber burned from the friction. I look back at Jenna, but instead, see a girl, probably a year younger than I am, crossing the street. She has earphones in and the volume turned up so loud I can hear it across the road. Her head is bent and covered by a hood, just like my sister. She doesn’t notice the jeep.

Nobody stands up to you. That is, until now. And it’s about time.

And as the jeep nears, I find myself stepping back onto the road. Flinging my bag to the ground, I run across the slick pavement, my arms outstretched for the girl crossing. I don’t know what I’m thinking. In fact, not one thought has crossed my mind as I launched myself at her.

Every word you say, every look, every laugh, every point of the finger. It hurts everybody around you, and you just expect the rest of us to deal with it, don’t you? Expect us to worship you like goddesses, as if you deserve it.

My hands make contact with the girl, and the force almost catapults her into the air as she is pushed out of the path of the speeding Jeep and I’m flung in front of it.