My Near Death Experience..

It was our last day in New York City. Our month long summer trip was amazing with all the beautiful attractions, restaurants, shopping and people we've seen. And it was coming to an end. It was raining and so my mother and I decided to do some last minute shopping in bloomingdale's . My hands were getting numb from all the bags I was carrying and was happy for my father's phone call telling us we have plans for tonight. "We're on our way, were picking you up in a long black stretch limo!" he said. 


We left the building and were waiting at the corner of the block for the limo to arrive. I was excited, it was a 'cliche' in every NY movie scene. You had to ride a stretch limo in NY! And when the car arrived, the limo driver opened the door and there was my brother's, father and cousins all cramped up in that Limo. We cruised the rainy streets of NYC, playing loud music, reminiscing and laughing at the unforgettable memories of the trip. 


After the end of the two hour ride, we have reached our destination, the hotel. We were too excited and didn't want the 'last day' to ever end. As we left the limo we saw a beautiful white horse carriage by the corner and we waved at the carriage driver that we wanted him to come to us. However, when he was about to come over, a couple of people stopped him and took the ride instead. We were annoyed and he could see that so he waved at us to wait for him by the same corner. 


We obeyingly waited for the man by his corner. "Aaaaah!" one of the girls screeched. It was a rat. Actually, not one but MANY. The streets of New York were filled with garbage, a stinching smell and yes... those little rodents. We've waited for a while but it seemed like the man was no where to be seen so we've decided to go back to the hotel. 


While we were walking back, we saw him from a distant. The beautiful white carriage filled with fresh roses and the man smartly dressed steering the carriage towards us. So, we decided to start walking towards the carriage and the man was coming towards us. Suddenly, within a blink of an eye, a Taxi cab appeared out of nowhere and hit the carriage from the back. The people inside the carriage suddenly were thrown into the busy new york street and the flowers that were so beautifully placed in that carriage were now destroyed by passing cars. 


The carriage seemed to have fallen onto the horse and part of his body was not able to move because of the heaviness of the carriage. He tried getting up several times but failed to do so. And the people that were thrown into the street, one by one they got up and ran towards the pavement in fear of the passing cars and the frustrated horse. 


However, one person did not get up. His head hit the concrete so strongly that we heard the bang. Blood started to appear all underneath him and people started to hover around him asking him "are you okay?" but sadly, with no response from him. It was the carriage driver. The same carriage driver that just a few minutes ago told us to wait and that he would be right back. The same carriage driver that we were supposed to have had the carriage ride with. That was supposed to be us. The people that were thrown into the street with such harshness was supposed to be us. Maybe, if he wasn't in such a hurry to reach us, none of this would have happened. 


All that happened in a split second. We froze in our place for what seemed like forever. I couldn't speak a word, I realized I was standing there with my eyes wide open and my hand on my chest and could hear my heart beating so fast. 


That night I couldn't sleep at all. I woke up early in the morning and went with my father to the same street. I found it so strange, people moved on. It seemed like nothing happened. The blood on the street was cleaned and the carriage was removed and the other carriage drivers kept on working. How can a life be so insignificant? Is that the reality? No one cared if he was alive or not? And then I started wondering, what if it was me yesterday instead of him? 


I went and asked the other carriage drivers if they knew anything about this mysterious carriage driver and a couple of them asked what had happened as they simply didn't know. I told them the exact scene I saw yesterday and they told me he was in a comma and they don't know if he's going to survive or not.