Part 2

Next thing I see is black tar... Then I realized I was lying on the ground! I mean, I was lying on the cold, hard, road and a crowd had gathered around me. I remember in particular, a lady with a headwrap telling me 'this is the hand of God, you know?' Just thank God; and another lady holding my right hand, kept squeezing it and talking to me, making sure I was responding/responsive. Then the lady with the headwrap squeezed my left hand and I felt a pain throughout my body. The thing is, I was lying on my left side, and could feel a horrible pain in my right foot. Also, my boot was missing from that foot, so I was freezing. I tried to turn and lay on my back, but both ladies told me not to. My left arm was aching so badly though, and I tried to point that out to them by nodding in that direction. As I looked at the hand, seeing the angle it was positioned in, I knew it was broken. I didn't know how, or if indeed it was still a part of my body, but I KNEW it was broken because I moved my elbow, and the hand just lay still. I felt some kind of friction, like something was moving back and forth in my uooer arm, but other than that, my left arm just lay still on the floor, in a funny right angle to my body.

Meanwhile, my poor sister was in tears, and frantically making calls home. Someone called for an ambulance, and a kind gentleman took off his jacket and covered my by now shivering body. I suddenly felt a trickle down my nose, and asked for some tissue, blew my nose and came away with a bloddied tissue. It was at this moment that it fnally dawned on me that I had been hit by a car! I've heard numerous stories of people losing their lives in car accidents, and it seemed so odd that I would become of 'those people'. I also realized I couldn't breathe properly. I felt as if a heavy weight had been placed on my chest and each time I inhaled, I felt a sharp pain in my chest area. I really thought I was going to die that night. I thought it was time for me to go home, leave this earth, end my sojourn here. I began to ask God for forgiveness of sins, and I thanked Him for sparing my sister's life. I also prayed that He would comfort, guide and protect the rest of my family in their time of mourning my demise. Suddenly, I was glad it was me, and just me that was affected. I was glad that my sister was left unscathed and my family would not bear a double loss. Most of all, I was glad because I was at peace with God. I had made my peace with Him months before, and if He had decided to call me home to Himself on that 21st day of October 2002, I would have gone gladly. By now the crowd had increased and I could not see my sister anymore. I could still hear her crying though, so I asked the lady holding my right hand to tell her to come closer, where I could see her, and she did. Shortly after that, the ambulance arrived.

By now, I was bored with lying still and started singing a little song that came into my head at that moment. It was a very simple song, which says: 'You are worthy to be praised, amen; Almighty God, you are worthy to be praised, amen... More of an interlude actually, but that is what came to my mind, and I sang it over and over again. I was lifted (with difficulty, as the ambilance crew could not tell whether or not I had a spinal cord injury/injuries, ribcage injuries, internal bleeding, etc, and in excruciating pain) off the cold floor into the ambulance. The police arrived and were asking questions, trying to get witness statements. The nurse placed a mask over my face so I could get some oxygen, and she kept telling me to inhale. I was still singing. She then brought out a pair of scissors, and I begged her not to ruin my trousers because they were only a week old, and she promised not to. She had to cut open my socks, as well as the arm of my jacket. I didn't mind the socks so much, but the jacket... I had had it since School days, and it was one of the more expensive, cutesy types. The police questioned my sister, who wouldn't leave my side and I for my part, could not stop singing. The nurse asked my sister what I was doing, and she told her I was singing a Church song. She told my sister not to worry, I would be alright, afterall I was singing my heart out. The nurse insturcted me to inhale again, this time counting one to ten, but backward. I did, and I felt so lightheaded. The nurse asked if I was a drinker, she said it would feel a bit like that, and I told her I don't drink, so she said I should not worry, just inhale and count. I did. I could tell there were people around me, and I could hear their voices, but they all seemed/sounded so far away. Then I remember the sound of the siren, and the ambulance taking odd. I don't remember much of the ride to the hospital, the next conscious memory I have, is of arriving at the hospital.