The leaves were slowly changing color and falling off the trees. My friend Matt and I were raking up these leaves into a ginormous pile. It was so big we couldn’t resist jumping into the pile.

Here I go for the last jump of the day. I run step by step, getting closer to the pile. In midair, a metal rake comes flying into sight. As it connects with the right side of my face, the skin rips the skin above and below my right eye. I finally connect with the pile in pain as if I just got hit by a freight train. Blood rushes down my face.

I hear faint laughter from my friends. They laugh at the blood, which looks like I am wearing red nail polish. The laughter immediately stops when the blood starts to run from my nails to my hands.

I am immediately rushed to the hospital for a cat scan and 150 stiches in my forehead. The doctors said they could see my skull when they went to sterilize my gash. It hurt: the 150 times they pushed the needle in and pulled it out. Three hours later, my family and I left the hospital and I was extremely dizzy I could barely walk to the car on that one fall day in 2010.