You know what they say about how lightning doesn't strike in the same place twice?
Well...
“Aaaaannnd goal!!”
Screamed David as he kicked the ball so hard it went over the fence and into the woods.
“Hey man! What you do that for?!
My dad just got this for me yesterday,
he’s gonna be so mad if I lose it!”
“Haha! Dude! It’s just over the fence,
just climb over and get it like you always do.
Alright, I gotta go, see you tomorrow at school!
Peace!”
“Alright, laters!”
So I climbed over the fence...
...again.
This is not the first time we lost a football in the back of the woods behind our house.
But this one was brand new,
so my dad was seriously going to be furious if I lost it.
I was running around in the woods trying to find the stupid ball while thinking to myself,
“Man!
How could it have gone so far?!”
After about 20 minutes of searching,
I was just about to give up,
when the image popped up in my head of my dad yelling at me.
Great. Really looking forward to that.
Then I looked around and realized that I didn’t know where I was.
I had ran so deep into the woods for so long that,
I didn’t know which way was home anymore.
I spun around to try to figure out which way I should go
when I spotted something moving.
I was scared, but
I decided to take a closer look, because
there was just something about it that made it look so familiar.
Hey! It was my ball!
And some raccoons!
They were playing with it,
and they must have brought it back into the woods with them.
That explains where it went!
I was overwhelmed with joy!
So I chased the raccoons away,
and sat down on a tree stump that was nearby,
and started thinking
and staring at the sky.
What a relief!
At least that’s one less thing I have to worry about.
Although the sky is getting really cloudy,
it looks like it’s about to rain.
So I grabbed my ball,
and started heading back the direction I thought my house was in.
It’s gotta be this way.
After about 5 minutes of walking,
I heard something really loud and really close.
So naturally, I turned around to see if I could find where it was coming from.
Then I saw another lightning strike the ground
a few meters from where I was standing.
I mean…
Lightning doesn't strike the same place twice right?
I was really curious.
I mean, I’m a few meters away.
How cool would it be to see what the ground looks like where the lightning has struck?
So I asked myself,
should I go look,
or should I continue home?
I decided to walk over there and check it out.
When I got there,
I was staring at the ground for a few seconds...
And then, another one struck...
But this time, it struck so close to me that I could actually feel it.
What I felt was a face full of hot white blinding light.
That was the last thing I remembered.
After that,
everything else was a blur.
I woke up hearing my mother crying,
and my dad talking in the background.
The first thing I did was ask my mom,
“Mom, where am I,
and why can't I see anything?”
After I said that, I heard another voice answering,
“You’re in the hospital and boy, are you lucky to be alive.
You were almost struck by lighting!
Unfortunately, you didn't escape unharmed.”
The voice then said that my eyes were now very sensitive to regular light.
Then he explained that if my eyes were exposed to natural light
for more than three minutes,
they will feel like a volcano in my face.
I will feel an intense, sharp, burning sensation
hit me when my face comes into contact with any kind of light.
Which means, I can’t do things like getting my picture taken with a flash camera,
because it's too bright,
or go to the movies, because I won't be able to see anything.
But after a week of wearing a visor on my face,
I started to be able to see better and better.
I started to be able to play with my friends again and slowly,
everything started to return to normal.
But to this day,
I'm still asking myself the same question,
what would my life be like if I had just gone home
instead of walking over there?
Then I remind myself,
I can't change the past,
but I can make a brighter future for myself,
no matter how long or how short my life is.
To be honest,
I am proud of myself for who I am and my curiosity,
and if anyone says I'm strange or a weirdo,
well, I just ignore them.
Nobody can tell me I'm something I'm not,
because this is the real me,
and I know who I am and I wouldn't change a thing about me.
So,
it's actually not true that lightning doesn't strike in the same place twice.
It's just an old belief that was turned into a saying
to those that were really lucky or unlucky to tell them that it won't last.
But guys, it's not true!
So by all means, be curious,
but stay safe!