The Hawaii Mishap

“Bye mom. I'll be back in two weeks. Two weeks, not a year.” I struggled to slip out of her tight grasp. “I know, I know. I just don’t want to let you go. You know ever since you went on that other trip of yours with your friends to Iceland, I always prayed that a day like this would never come again.” “Alright I’m going to miss you too, but I really need to go, my flight is leaving in two hours. My friends are going to get there soon. I don’t want to be the last one there.” “Alright hurry up now before I change my mind and hold you back.” With one last hug, I scrambled to get out the door. As I ran down the driveway with the wheels of my bag sinking into every pothole in the cement, I looked up and noticed a black BMW sitting by the curb. “Did I really call for such an expensive ride? I’m really going to be in debt after this trip. Hawaii better be worth it.” I checked my phone and noticed that it said my ride was a few minutes away. “Huh, I wonder who that could be?” When I looked back up from my screen, I saw a figure clumsily walking up the driveway. When the figure got closer I noticed that it was my close friend. “Gerald?” He waved at me. I dragged my luggage and got closer. “What are you doing here? I thought you said you were busy so you had to cancel your ticket at the last minute.” “Well I am really busy later, but I do still have a couple hours free, so I decided to take you to the airport myself.” “Gerald, it’s fine. You don’t need to give me a ride. Look, I can see my taxi coming around the corner.” “Really, because I don’t see anything.” I sighed, and before I knew it, I was sitting in the passenger’s seat of his black BMW. Once he popped my bags in the trunk, he asked, “Are you excited to go to Hawaii?” “Yeah, just hold on. I need to cancel my reservation with probably an angry taxi driver because you unexpectedly decided to drive me to the airport instead.” “Well, if you really want to ride a taxi, you can get off now.” “I already canceled my reservation, so it's too late now.” Gerald awkwardly hobbled into the driver’s seat and sped out the driveway. “Geez, why do you always drive so fast? You could’ve hit someone.” “Without an answer he turned up the radio to max volume.” I sat back in the chair and silently listened as the broadcaster announced the weather. . . “Woah! Watch where you’re going, you almost hit that street lamp!” “It’s fine, the key word is almost. Look, we're almost there, tell me why-'' My head jerked forward and a ring quickly infiltrated through the holes of my ears bursting at my eardrums at every second. I looked up and whispered, “You alright Gerald?” Seconds ticked by and by now not a single word was spoken. “Gerald? Gerald?” I immediately turned to the left, “Oh my god!” Then through all that ringing I slowly started to hear police sirens. I quickly unbuckled my seat belt and swung the door open. I slowly crawled out the car and endlessly waved my arms in the air. Once the police cars and ambulance pulled up, the cops and paramedics flooded out the doors. Most of them, noticing Gerald’s critical condition, ran to him. Some came to me, but I insisted that I was fine. Unfortunately, they didn’t believe me and still sat me down. As I slouched on the curb of the street I thought to myself, “If I would’ve just taken a taxi this wouldn’t have ever happened.” When the cops later questioned me, I unconsciously answered them by paying attention to Gerald in his inert state. Soon they propped up Gerald in a stretcher and he was taken away in the ambulance. Once the paramedics said I was clear, I sat in the back of the cop’s car and drove to the hospital that Gerald was being taken to. When I arrived Gerald was already in his bed. I ran to a nearby nurse in front of his unit. “Is Gerald going to be okay?” She replied saying that he is luckily stable and is slowly starting to wake back up. As she left, I called out to Gerald. He slowly opened his eyes and in a raspy voice said, “Sorry.” I replied saying, “It’s fine. I just want to make sure that you’re fine.” “But what about your flight, you’ve gotta go!” “No, I canceled it. I can just go next time and maybe with you.” He weakly smiled. “You know, I think that would be nice, but just next time, we should just take a taxi.” We both laughed softly. Once the laughing died down Gerald said, “Well you should go now, you probably want to get rest as well.” “Actually I was thinking about just staying here with you. The nurse already said that they could bring some blankets and pillows for me so I can stay here with you until you’re discharged.” “I can’t guarantee you that the time you spend here with me in bed will be fun, but at least I have someone to keep me company while I recover.” “That’s fine with me. Plus all my luggage was destroyed in the crash anyways so I’m fine with staying here.” “Oh that’s right. What happened in the crash.” “Do you seriously not remember? You were talking and then your car hit a sign and then ran into a lamp post. The cops said you were lucky because if you crashed any harder, your engine would have blown up.” “Wow, I can’t believe I did that. I am really sorry. One thing is for sure, I’m probably not going to be driving for a bit and when I do, I better keep a close eye on the road.”