It was the start of our third day at sea and I couldn't stop thinking about The Splash Zone while I was headed to breakfast. It was 10:30, the sun was beating on us. It was a perfect day to be at the pool. “After breakfast can I go to the waterpark?” I asked my mother. “Sure, but don't do anything dumb,” she replied. I scarfed down my food since I wanted to get to the water park as soon as possible. My sister was in a hurry too and asked if she could have the room key. My dad handed us the card and mom repeated, “Be careful, and don’t get hurt”. Maggie and I were walking to our room, and talking about getting ice cream, but I said we should wait until after the water park. We quickly changed into our bathing suits and ran to The Splash Zone.

When we got there, it was packed. People were everywhere. Kids were sliding on the benches and the floor having fun. The benches were big, white, and metal with smooth edges. The floor was teak wood. Everything was wet and slippery. I saw some older kids and a few girls, and I wanted to impress them. The first time I went to slide on the bench I almost slipped on the floor before I even reached it. I slid down the whole bench on my belly, and nearly fell off the edge. 

Everyone began chanting to encourage this tall boy with blonde hair and blue eyes to slide on the bench on his feet. He ran up to the bench, jumped up, slid down, and landed on his feet. I wanted to mimic him to impress everyone. Sliding on my feet flat on the floor instead of on the bench, I slipped and fell headfirst slamming my shoulder on the solid metal bench. I was in shock, so I stayed on the ground for what felt like forever. When I finally got up, I started to shake and panic. One of the girls asked, “Are you okay?” I walked away wincing with pain and embarrassment, and murmured, “Yeah”. I walked away from everyone and went to one of the ledges to rest. Dangling my arm over the edge of the banister, I told my sister to go get our parents. 

She realized I was beginning to freak out, so she started to freak out and ran away in a frenzy and looked for Dad. When she found him, Maggie exclaimed, “He broke his arm! Come quick!” a few minutes after, my dad found me sitting down, hunched over with my hands over my face. He took me back to the hotel room and gave me some Advil and ice.

Two days went by and I was still unable to get out of bed. The pain was so viscous that my mom had to take me to the infirmary on board. It was a long wait in the lobby, but once I got in, it went quickly. They told me to take my shirt off and stand in front of a white box. The x-ray revealed a crack in my collarbone. It was broken, right in the middle. 

When I got back to Connecticut the realization of my injury started to set in. I couldn’t play outside, hang out with friends or play hockey. This sucked. I was supposed to go to a hockey camp in just a week, I was really bummed out. My mom and I had to drive to the camp and tell them the unfortunate news. I spent the rest of the summer regretting my decision and thinking about what I could have done to not get hurt.

Whenever I see something that I want to do, I think about this poor decision and try to make the smarter decision and not get hurt.