Just hours after my last story posted, sharing positivity and a mindset for the new year, I was met by an alternate reality. It was sunny and 55 on a Sunday, for mid-January who’s going to pass that up.
“We should go for a hike”
“Eh, maybe”
“What if we just go for a quick ride in the neighborhood? Come on, it’s nice out. I’m gonna go if you don’t.”
Matt agreed to ride his bike while I longboard, our usual routine. It was my first time taking this new board out. My og board was stolen out of my car this past summer. Having ridden it for the past five years, I was so comfortable with it and absolutely loved that board. So as a birthday gift, my dad got me a new one. One that resembled my old board, same brand and shape.
The initial push in the driveway felt different and fast. I tightened the bearings bit more before we took off. We went on to cruise the streets in our neighborhood. Very residential with little to no traffic. But it’s called West Slope for a reason, there are some mad hills in the area.
Not my first time out in our neighborhood, and I know my limits of what to ride and when to walk. It was going great. I came across a nice steady hill that I went back and rode again. We made it to the park, rode down the path and decided to head back home…
It was somewhere in the half-mile from home that my doubt landed me in the hospital. There was a point where I noticed the long steady depression in the street. It wasn’t steep but questioned it because I could essentially pick up a lot of speed. Matt casually rode ahead. I was jamming out to my personal playlist for when I snowboard ‘Shredding’ and I thought, “Fuck it, I’m doing it.”
What I didn’t think through was, if and when I did pick up speed, would I make it through the opening in the speed bump ahead. The break in the speed bump was just wide enough for me to fit through and avoid it. As I picked up speed, I start to think this out and started to second guess my decision. What will happen if I don’t line up to the opening? I need to slow down. And that’s where it went black.
Now, I question what would have happened if I kept going?
It felt like three separate moments in time that my mind went black. On the ground, I look down and see bone at my inside left ankle. My foot was hardly attached. Instantly I screamed, “Matt I broke my ankle!”
The shock I felt for myself was met with Matt’s great shock of how to help. I tell him he needs to call for an ambulance now. Once he gets off the phone, we managed a way for him to hold me and slightly lean me back. Everything in me was trying to stay calm. I just starred up at the sky and the trees, with the occasional yelp. Wishing for anyone to show up to help me, but the street was empty and no one was around.
Eventually, an older man walked by and asked if we were okay. And shortly a middle-aged man who must have been out for a run joined. I asked for him to call again to see if someone was coming and he immediately picked up his phone but just seconds later help arrived. It took about 10 minutes for a FIRETRUCK to show up. Thankful in the moment because finally someone that could help me, but where the fuck is the ambulance. “They’re on their way”
I couldn’t see my leg as Matt blocked the view with him holding me, but I could see the look on the responder’s faces. It was not good. An ambulance finally shows up without a sound. Relief. Once they got there, in my mind, I would be okay and on my way to fix this.
Read Part II here.
Jane Theory 
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