Could Happen Tomorrow
Korryn Bachner
I was lit on fire during my sophomore year of high school.
There was an extremely bright flash, and I was thrown from my chair to the ground. As I stood up, I realized I was on fire. I fell to the ground and attempted to stop, drop, and roll. I thought the fire was out, so I stood up but immediately realized I was wrong when my friend Jon threw me to the ground and put the rest of the fire on my body out. I got on my knees and peeled my eyes open. As I stood up, Jon handed me Autumn’s phone which I used to search for mine so I could call my parents. I walked around the backyard to see where everyone was, but all I could see was ashes, smoke and small patches of grass on fire. I kept trying to call my parents, but my mom never answered. We all took turns checking to see if each other was okay. I finally found Autumn, and that’s when I realized her injury was much more serious than mine.
Finally, my mom answered her phone. I told her that there was an accident, and I was injured along with Autumn. That was all I knew. I didn’t know that anyone else was hurt yet. My mom kept telling me to stay by Autumn and keep talking to her. She told me to try and hold her hand, but I couldn’t even do that because of how badly we had both been injured.
I didn’t even know that someone had called 911 by the time the paramedics and police eventually showed up. They told Alyssa and me to go around to the front of the house so they could ask us questions. I remember the walk to the back of the ambulance in the street because I was freezing cold: the coldest feeling I have ever experienced. While Alyssa and I were waiting for the paramedics to talk to us, we looked at each other in shock. We touched our hair and slowly took out a piece. After a few basic questions from the paramedics like my name, address, etc., they put me in the ambulance to run some tests. As we rode to the hospital, they tried to warm me up with these thin sheets, but I was still shivering. My jacket pocket started vibrating as I was reminded I still had Autumn’s phone. The paramedics told me to just leave it alone and worry about it later. That’s the last thing I remember: I had gone unconscious.
After a full week in the ICU, I finally woke up. I had been to hell and back and was now glad to be in a safe, helping hospital. I eventually learned that I wasn’t alone in the hospital. Four out of the twelve of us that attended that innocent backyard gathering were severely burnt. Our journey toward healing was just beginning, and we will forever be tied together due to that one quick moment.
This obstacle in my life has really opened my eyes to the world. I believe that I have dealt with the incident and the mental impact it had on me very positively. I just keep pushing through one day at a time and keep recovering as fast as I can. I’ve learned to appreciate the little things so much more and have patience when things get rough. The entire town, school and so much more have supported me in my recovery. I’ve never seen so much love and help to make everyone involved feel better or simply be able to smile. A year and 5 months later, I am waiting on a new surgery that could possibly change me dramatically. Today, I try to make sure everyone around me knows how much I appreciate them because you never know what could happen tomorrow, tonight, or even in 5 minutes.