Shengliver’s Note: Accidents catch you unawares, striking at moments beyond your expectations. This teen writer is definitely wiser after the injury.

Sometimes I suspect shabby God subjects me to an ordeal on purpose. Earlier this term I knocked into a lamppost rushing to a bus shelter at dawn. I ended up with a monstrous bump on my forehead. It took roughly a month for it to shrink and go completely off my head.

Last week another accident happened. I was going down the stairs in my tower block when I missed my footing and fell. I tried to pull myself up but the pain in my ankle killed me. It was so excruciating that I burst into tears alone on the staircase. After resting there for a few minutes, I managed to get to my feet slowly. I decided to limp on the normal foot to the bus shelter. I made it.

I spent a miserable day at school with a sprained ankle. Luckily it was Saturday, on which day I am able to go home earlier than usual after school. No sooner had I set foot home than Father immediately noticed that the ankle had become twice as large as it should be. The swollen ankle gave me so much pain that we visited the hospital together without delay.

Now the ankle is bandaged and plastered just like a super big zongzi. Someone teases me in the classroom, but I do not give a damn about it. It is a joke, and I feel it absurd too wearing the weird thing around the ankle.

In a way I feel I am a lucky dog because there are many lovely friends who shower care upon me. Their consoling words warm me. Seeing me hobbling along, they offer to run errands for me. Though I still have great difficulty getting around normally, I try my best to smile at them and say, “I’m OK!” with a feigned relaxed countenance. You should not worry those who love you if you do have a grateful heart, should you?

Every cloud has a silver lining. Hand in hand with the bad luck comes my friends’ warmest care. With their support, I think I will recover quicker.

PS

I can’t stand it. The doc warned that I should not do any sports in the following weeks; nor should I run or jump. According to him, should I get hurt again before I am fully recovered, chances are that I would sprain my ankle easily, even on the smoothest road in the world. So watch your steps when you are walking, guys. Do not get glued to your phone. Do not multitask either. Just walk. This is what I have learned from my awful experience. Ouch, it still hurts like hell!