Accidents

So today I was involved in a bus crash.

It wasn't like a serious head-on collision or anything. Everyone's still alive. Only two of us suffered any kind of injury.

What happened was a really weird sequence of events. In the afternoons, I always get the bus with my bus-buddy. I'm sure he won't kill me, and no one will manage to track him down if I say his name's Conor. So I got to the bus stop by a garage and waited for the bus, chatting. After 15 minutes, the bus decides to make an appearance, and in the driver's cabin is very clearly a trainee, as he has a supervisor overseeing. After a joking argument about who would save a seat and who wouldn't, I managed to get on the bus first and save a seat for Conor, me by the window, him by the aisle.

So we traipse slowly around the town and head up the road out of town, by which point the bus was 20 minutes behind schedule. Then, we head up around this sharp corner near the local primary school, where we met another bus heading the opposite way. The second bus stops. Ours tries to carefully maneuver around the second bus by mounting the pavement, but the wing mirror of the second bus collides with the window of ours. This happens all the time, so I look at Conor and go "oohp!" and then there's this huge noise as the front of the other bus goes straight through the window in front of my seat. It doesn't stop there. The bus keeps moving, dragging the front corner and wing-mirror of the second bus through the window, sending glass raining down on everyone.

I threw myself into the brace position and screamed very loudly.

It's all like a huge blur. It seemed so surreal. I kept thinking "this is a dream, wake up". These sorts of things didn't happen to normal people. I couldn't move at first, it was too unbelievable to do anything. I was completely transfixed. The shower of glass seemed to move towards me in slow motion. When I finally managed to break away my gaze I dived down and to the left, so I was nearer Conor as opposed to the bus coming through my window.

There was in my hair. There was glass in my shoes. Down my shirt. On my lap. It was everywhere. It was quite pretty at first, sun shining down on it in a way that almost seemed as though the floor was littered with diamonds. I looked at Conor, who hadn't moved a muscle throughout the whole thing; he reached up and tousled his hair and said "There's glass in my hair". Painfully, I stood up and moved into the aisle.

Of course, everyone got their phones out and started to take pictures. No one was seriously hurt. People were laughing. I was laughing and taking pictures, the situation seemed almost comical. Then, after 5 or so minutes, I woke up. I was on a smashed in bus, with 50 or so other kids pressed together.

I wanted out. I started yelling at everyone to get off of the bus. A year 7 next to me said "well at least the windows are open!"

Yeah. Great. Thanks.

Finally, everyone started herding off of the bus, coaxed by some 6th formers. Finally I was out on the pavement with Conor who was so excited about what had just happened. The younger students were absolutely buzzing with excitement. Conor was shaking shards of glass out of the back of his shirt, laughing. I wasn't laughing any more.

I phoned my mum and told her what happened. She asked if I was hurt and I replied, no, I wasn't and she said she'd come and pick up my brother and I. After the call, I picked up my rucksack and like a cool kid, I swung it on to my shoulder and then I became aware of the pain at the top of my back.

With my long history of back problems, I knew this was going to be a problem.

Obviously, some people had cuts. You can't smash in a bus and expect no one to get cut. Someone had pointed out that my knee was bleeding, and I'd picked out the shard of glass. I had to take my shoes off as there was so much glass in them they were cutting my feet.

My mum phoned again to ask where we were and I told her about the pain. She told me to make sure my name was written down by the bus driver.

I told Conor and my brother and the pain. Conor took me inside the primary school, carrying my bags for me and told me to sit down on the sofa. It was his old primary school. I didn't sit for long, I went to talk to the bus driver, and after a very stressful conversation on the spelling of my address, I was ay-okay to wait for my mum.

Soon enough she showed up, I said goodbye to a happy Conor and his brother, and got in the car.

I spent the rest of the evening in tears, thinking about what happened. Shock.

I'm going to the doctor's tomorrow for them to look at my back. We think that I've jarred it. Tomorrow is my last day at school before study leave.

Greeeeaaaat.

The other person who was injured went to hospital and had the glass removed from her scalp at Minor Injuries. She's okay and says she doesn't really remember what happened.

So it wasn't a disaster, but it certainly wasn't something I'll be boasting about having been through.

And it isn't likely to be something I'll forget, either.