Monday, September 05, 2005

He had an accident, so did I

Bear in mind that we're involved in 2 different accidents. My bf, Al, was driving his dad's car in the middle of the night on Wednesday to have supper with his friends when he was hit by a trailer at the crossroads. According to eyewitnesses, Al and the driver of the trailer both stopped at the crossroads at the same time, both wanting to let the other go first. Unfortunately, when Al started driving, so did the trailer. The driver couldn't stop in time and hit the back portion of the car with such an impact that Al's car actually turned turtle and spinned from one traffic light to the other. The total length the car spun: 23 metres. I didn't know anything about the accident until the next morning when his sister called me to inform me that he's ok. And it became quite a frantic day for me, calling every single one of his phones non stop, and when there was no answer, frantic calls to his sisters to make sure that he's all right. Thank goodness that class was cancelled on Friday morning because Sham was on MC. I quickly took a bus back to Penang to see him and although he looked quite normal, I can't help but recoil at the ugly stitches on his head.

Al couldn't remember a single thing about the accident. I guess it's the shock of the accident and also losing his consciousness during the accident. According to him, when he woke up, his head was already stitched up and his fifth rib bone on the right was fractured. Thus, the inability to move much. During his stay at the hospital, they ran all kinds of scans on him and found out that there's some blood clots in his head. FOrtunately, according to the neurosurgeon, the clots seem to have cleared up and assured Al that there's nothing to be worried about. Still, he needs to go back to the hopsital for weekly check ups to be 100% that the clots have completely cleared.
Al only found out about the actual story of the accident today, when he was finally discharged from the hospital and went to the police station to make a report. When he called to tell me the actual story, my blood actually ran cold because if he were to drive slightly slower, he would have been hit directly and would be most probably dead now. I really thank God that he's safe and alive now. It showed how much God loves him because this is the second time that God literally saved him from death's grasp. Still, I can't help but blame him and his friends a little. If they didn't ask him out for supper in the middle of the night, and if he has the good sense to say no to them, he wouldn't have gotten into such a terrible accident. In his sister's words, "the car is as "kemek" as a Coke can". Most of the time when he ran into problems or trouble, it's all no thanks to his friends and to me, this time round is no different.

As for myself, I got into an accident on Saturday when I was on my way to the hospital to see him. No worries, I'm safe and sound although I can't say that for my mum's car. As I'm the one who hit the car in front of me, I'm in the wrong in the eyes of law and thus was given a summon of RM150, which the policeman nicely told me in a smile, was a 50% off the actual price of a summon. The whole story? Well, there was this Wira in front of me going really slow and I was following behind it in a moderate distance. I needed to keep to the left and look into the rearview mirror to make sure that there is no on coming cars. In less than a second, I look in front and the Wira had already stepped on his emergency brake which I follow suit. Unfortunately, when I saw the Wira in front of me braked and follow suit, it was a little too late because next thing I know, the car was still hurtling forward and I would have hit the steering wheel or the windshield if it wasn't because of my safety belt holding me back.

The driver of the Wira, a late 30s-early 40s guy, came down from the car and started shouting at me. He was going on about him braking and I not following suit and hitting his car. He was shouting, but not scolding. HOwever, that didn't stop me from shouting back at him, telling him that it was an accident, that I tried braking immediately and that it's a matter of circumstances. When both of us finally calmed down, he asked me what I want to do to which I replied that I need to make some phone calls.
I first called Mum to tell her about the accident. Next, I called Uncle Andrew who unfortunately was in Jakarta for a business trip. However, he asked me not to panic and assured me that he'll send someone to the scene to help me. True to his words, somebody from the workshop that he frequents showed up and practically handled everything, from the police reports to damage assesment. I couldn't drive my car to the workshop because the engine was hit very badly and the car had to be towed. Mum called Ivan (who's also my uncle but I never called him uncle cause he's only 7 years older than I am), who rushed to the scene with his gf to make sure that I was ok. He and his gf drove me to the workshop first to hand in some details, before driving me to the police station to make a report. Later, he sent me to the hospital to visit Al who was equally worried about me. During that moment when I was with Al, I nearly broke down and cried, for what I reason, I do not know but I guess it's because of shock. Fortunately, I didn't cry but I was overwhelmed with guilt because Mum wouldn't have a car to drive to and fro from work. And she'll be literally stuck at home the whole night. Thank goodness Uncle Andrew called and told Mum that he'll try to get a car for Mum to use for the time being by Thursday.

I really thank God that it was a somewhat minor accident. I was completely ok. The car was the only thing that was wrecked. And the only thing that I suffered was shock and guilt.