The minute i woke up I was out the door and on my bike. The sun was beaming down, the wind blowing against me making it harder to pedal. I called Dan and Michael as I raced down the sidewalk. They were both older than me by about 2 years, which made me feel cool, even though no 5th graders are really cool. “I’ll be outside your house in 2 minutes! “ I yelled to Mike as I rolled down the massive hill. My blue eyes were watering from the cold air hitting them, and my long blonde hair flopping around, smacking me in the face. I skidded down the sidewalk stopping right in front of Michael and Daniel, who were waiting for me to get there at 10:00a.m. same as almost every summer morning. “What are you guys talking about?” I asked.

“We were trying to figure out a good way to build the ramp we started the other day.” Mike exclaimed. “We will probably be able to finish within the next few days!”

We worked hard those next three days, eager to finish our project. Of course, since i was the youngest, they made me the guinea pig. I felt like the king of the world climbing to the top of the hill, looking down at them, and our freshly made dirt jump. They yelled at me to be careful, but I was zoned out, only focused on clearing the gap from one jump to the next. At 12 years old, it seemed to be the length of a school bus. Trying not to worry I put both feet on the peddles, and started to roll down the hill. I was nervous, shaking, and debating weather or not I should stop. But I was already at the lip of the ramp, it wasn’t until then that I realized I didn’t have enough speed to clear the gap. In mid-air, time slowed down, giving me time to think about how I had to land. In this case, I wasn’t thinking, I was just praying I didn’t fall. I came closer to the landing ramp, and as i land my back wheel barely clips the tip of the ramp. My foot slips off the pedal and my back wheel rolls over my ankle. 

Immediately after, i was rolling down the ramp yelling, tears falling down my face. I never really knew how it felt to break a bone, but after this i was positive that I had broken something. Daniel picked up his phone to call my mom. 10 minutes later I was on my way to the hospital. The whole car ride there I was in the worst pain I had ever experienced in my life. It felt like a knife was being pushed through my ankle over and over again. I could see the bone in my ankle, almost poking a hole in my skin, like a pen through thin paper.  My blue Nike t-shirt was stained, and my khaki levis were torn at the ankle and knee.

I layed in the back of my moms Ford Explorer, replaying the whole scene in my head, over and over. Everytime we hit a bump, the pain would get worse. I knew i wouldn’t be able to sleep, so just sat as still as possible and waited for the pain to disappear.