5.

I stood in front of Dreamwood Terrace, unable to move. The wind tangled my hair. I watched people move around me as the sun beat down upon the sidewalk. Today was the day. The anniversary of my parents death.  I watched the fountain trickle slowly into the basin. I knew I should probably move. I had to get to work, but I felt paralyzed. A man to my right  jostled me into the street, closer to the fountain. I peered into the basin, only to find myself staring into the eyes of a girl I didn't recognize. Her lips  looked blue, her hair wild, and her cheeks flushed. Startled by my haunting reflection, I took a step back, landing on a searing hot tile by the fountain. Before I could even register what was happening, a blue subaru  came careening out of nowhere. Its horn blaring and its headlights flashing, it was clear I wouldn’t get out of the way in time. As I let out a desperate scream, I felt myself being pushed out of the way by a man next to me. Although out of  the car’s path, I was launched into the ever widening pothole to my left. All I could see was a flashing blue light as I fell farther and farther into the hole. Is this what it feels like right before you die? The fear of suffering the same fate as my parents overtook me, and I blacked out.

I woke up surrounded by clothes in the back of a storage closet, but I felt surprisingly calm. I was alive. I felt shocked and physically drained, but I knew I would be okay. Today, the very day my parents lost their life, I had faced the same fate and survived. For the first time since I got to Dreamwood Terrace, I knew I was going to be okay.