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Posted by joshua on Aug 28, 2010 7:43:09 GMT -6
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The alarm went off and Nathan almost cried. He’d played a gig with his band the night before and he remembered brief images from the after party. Mostly of beer cans. Empty beer cans. And now his head was splitting from the pain. He rolled out of bed with a crash, scattering clothes, comics and books across the floor. Righting himself, he slammed his hand down to silence the noise, knocking his clock off the table and sending the batteries tumbling out. One rolled by his feet, the other fled to the darkness and safety underneath his cupboard.
To get it back, he flailed across the floorboards in his room for a few seconds but when he almost upended his entire wardrobe, he gave it up as a lost cause. The battery, it seemed had gone for good. Like his chances of any more sleep. He pulled the curtain back, stifling a yawn, wincing in expectation of sunlight, but it was dark outside. No streetlights, and the overcast night took care of the stars. But his alarm wasn’t set to go off until 6.45, by which point he’d expect to see milkmen on their rounds and the sun enticed slowly out from under the covers, like a lazy teenager at the prospect of a cooked breakfast.
Not today, apparently.
Blearily he walked across the hall to the bathroom. Showered. Brushed his teeth. Walked back across the hall, slightly more alert and stopped by the clock. It read 3.15 am. “Seriously, Michael?” he groaned. He wasn’t due to wake up for another three and a half hours. His brother had a hysterical sense of humour.
Three hours later, two homework assignments which had been resisting his efforts were finally vanquished and he had made good headway into his coursework. Getting up early had actually been good for him. Who knew? His hangover had started to fade, too. He didn’t drink much, as a rule so last night had been the most he’d ever drunk. He wasn’t keen to repeat the experience.
Fast forward past the paper round and breakfast.
Nathan was waiting by the bus stop with a few friends, chatting about the gig last night and the weekend football. They had an important match coming up later that day versus one of the other local schools. He was barely aware of the other pedestrians on the street until they were walking past him. This is why he didn’t notice the woman on the mobile phone, or the 2 kids walking behind her. They couldn’t have been any older than five and were bouncing a ball to each other.
*gloing gloing gloing*
The ball bounced as it hit the pavement. Then it all went a little bit wrong.
*gloing*
The ball bounced onto the pavement and was deftly caught by the other boy as a tracksuited-man out for a morning jog turned the corner at the end of the street.
*gloing*
The ball bounced back, as the jogger got closer and the traffic cleared enough for the bus to come turning down the other side of the street.
*gloing*
The ball went high and the first boy leaped to catch it, not looking where he was going, and knocking the jogger over who cannoned into the boys’ mother.
*gloooing*
The ball hit the corner of the pavement and rolled into the road, where the second boy, seeing no-one else standing to retrieve it stepped out to do so himself.
Nathan didn’t really know what he was doing. His conversation halted and he turned into the road, rushing to pull the boy to safety. He could see the five year old wandering after his ball, totally oblivious to the danger of the oncoming bus; the look of horror in the bus driver’s eyes as he saw a kid in the middle of the road, and then it happened.
He knew he couldn’t make it in time to grab them both and leap out of there. The bus was moving too fast, he was moving too slowly. He would be able to save himself, however. All he had to do was to leap back onto the pavement. There was still time for that. He had to choose, now. Himself or the nameless five year old kid. It was no choice at all.
He grabbed the boy who had just picked his ball up and spun, flinging him roughly towards the pavement. As the boy flew through the air looking terrified, he saw friends white with shock and the runner looking in horror. He braced himself, flinching for the second time that morning and possibly the last time in his life as he waited for the impact.
Then time seemed to resume its normal course, he heard a single scream and, in a squeal of brakes and screeching tires, the bus slammed into him.
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Sept 4, 2010 18:39:29 GMT -6
joshua
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