The bell finally went, and I practically ran out of school, even knowing that this wouldn’t make time go any faster, but somehow it helped, it always does when you’re young. I jumped into the car with my mum, and we headed for home. On the way she had asked me how school had been and just replied,
“Fine, but it will be better tonight!”
When I got home I tucked straight into my tea, and I remember my mum saying,
“Don’t eat so fast, you’ll get indigestion.”
I didn’t care though, I just wanted time to fly, and suddenly slow down to a slithering pace as soon as the fun started, but when you want things to go by quickly they never do.
Eventually the time came, and my mum, dad and I set off for Red Barnes, an hour early so we had chance to get in, because all tickets were expected to sell out. When we got there the queue to get in was nearly a mile long. Ok I know it’s an exaggeration, but this was going to be one of the biggest and most astonishing firework displays ever.
There was going to be every type of firework known to man, from the Volcano, which oozed out as spitting sparkles and went into bright illuminous oranges and reds, burning in the night sky, to the cracker, which crackled and exploded into shattering pieces of coloured dust.
We eventually got in and I got a hamburger and a coke that tasted exquisite, the best I’ve ever had. While in the queue I saw my good friend John. We talked about what fireworks we desperately wanted to see. I wanted to see the spinning spiral that spun off and burst into an array of stunning and mind-blowing colours, while he wanted to see the rockets, which screeched up and blew up in to a series of bangs.
I then took my place in the front row to watch the display. It began at seven, but didn’t start till just after. The first firework was spectacular. It was illuminous purple, with firey reds and intense greens in it and the whole audience stood back with mouths open in amazement. The only way I can describe it is that it was like something out of Star Trek, an episode, which I had seen recently where a planet in the solar system had exploded and divided up into pieces of golden greens and catastrophic reds.
The first ten minutes were absolutely stunning, and the sight and smell of smoke reminded you of a war, and the sound of bangs and the flashes of light, with sudden changes of colour in one firework, added to the effect and was better than opening your presents on Christmas day. I just didn’t want it to end. I thought for a brief moment I was in heaven but instead of peace and tranquillity it was all flaring bombs and misted smoke everywhere.
All I can remember next was something streaming at me, skimming across my head, and having intense and severe pain, and I heard a screeching scream for help. I went to grab my head and as I pulled my hand away all I could see was dripping blood, running between my fingers. After, I passed out with the entire shock off the whole event.
I woke up in a daze wondering where I was, and then I realised that I was in hospital. I looked around. All I could see was rows of beds and white coloured walls. I could smell the blood from the next bed where an injured cyclist had fell off his bike and was getting ready to be whipped straight into theatre. At this point I realised the terrific firework display had turned into a living nightmare.
When my mum visited me later she told me that one of the fireworks had flown off to the right and scraped my head, enough to spilt it open. It had burned it so badly that my skin where the wound was, it was charcoal black. Then I had passed out. To add more grief I found that I had, to have fourteen stitches and now had to wear this headband, which was more torture than lying on a bed of smouldering pieces of charcoal. When I looked in the mirror, I felt as though I looked real stupid, and it felt so humiliating and I thought the whole world was laughing at me.
When mum visited me a few days later, I learned that three kids had been injured and two killed. I was devastated. As I learned more I found out that after the firework had swiped my head open it had spun out of control and hit five other kids. The show that I had been waiting in desperation for had turned out to be cruel to not just me but the children and families of five others.
After leaving hospital a few days later more bad news came to me. One of my friends, John had been one of the children who had died. At this point I wished I could turn back time, because John was such a heart warming, sympathetic and passionate type of person and he was truly magnificent, and I also wondered why god works in such strange ways and could be so cruel.
As I mourned the death of a good friend I realised that life had to on and nothing could be changed. I kept saying to myself,
“Things happen for a reason,” and then I would say, “What possible reasons could it be?”
To this day though I will remember what happened for the good reasons and the bad, and I will remember my good friend John and his family, and think to myself ‘How Lucky I Am,’
