A No Name Story Amb Berryman   © Copyright 2018 by Amb Berryman

It was midway through the fourth grade when it all happened. No one knew what was going to happen. No one ever knows what’s going to happen until it happens. After all why would they? The day before is always like any ordinary day. It was for everyone involved in my account.

My sister, Bri, and I met my friend, Bay, and her sister, Kitty, in the morning near her house when we were ready for school. We walked down the hill and on the road bridge to get to school. All of us was excited for our sleepover tonight. Bri was best friends with Kitty and I was best friends with Bay. We somehow convinced our parents to let both of us sleepover tonight.

School was finally out and we dashed up the stairs to our house. Instantly we darted up the flight of stairs in our house to quickly pack our stuff. When we were done, we finished our homework, grabbed a bite to eat, and said our goodbyes. We were given the usual “be good” talk and then were on our way to the sleepover. When we got to their house, we were greeted by their mom and Diageo, their Chihuahua. Shortly after they came down, the sleepover had started.

“Hey. You guys ready to have some fun?” They said giving us hugs.

“Yeah we are.” we say and the night began.

We did everything a sleepover should entail. Watch movies, ate snacks, did challenges, sang karaoke, and played games. All things, we thought were entertaining. They were also essentials to sleepovers in our mind. It was a blast! We had so much fun and enjoyed every second of that sleepover.

The next day we decided to walk down the hill and get breakfast at Starbucks. Since I don’t like coffee, I got two blueberry muffins with orange juice. Bay had a piece of banana bread with a cappuccino. Bri got a chocolate chip muffin with orange juice. Kitty got a piece of banana bread with apple juice.

Since I was fairly new to the neighborhood, I hadn’t really been down the hill, so Bay asked me if she could show me around. She’d been living there for probably five years and knew every nook and cranny. I thought it would be nice, so I answered agreeing to have her show me around the neighborhood. We decided to do it while riding our scooters to get there faster and to have more enjoyment. We changed, brushed our hair, and brushed our teeth, and after saying bye we were off.

We went to my house to get my scooter and then I followed Bay down the hill. It was a pretty windy and the wind made it a little chilly. Neither Bay, nor I gave it a second thought. We were already on our way and having fun. That’s when the injury happened. No one was prepared for it. Almost no one ever is prepared for a semi-serious injury to happen.

We were halfway down the hill and the wind was picking up. We were going rapidly on our little scooters. Soon enough, I thought that I was going to bump into her. I shifted my body to try and move my scooter over to the left more. It didn’t work at all. Next I put my foot on the brake pedal, above the back wheel, which is supposed to stop the scooter or at least slow it down. That didn’t work either. The wind was too strong for the break to even help.

At this point we were a little further down the hill. I was freaking out, thinking to myself, “What if we bump? Why do I feel like we're going to bump each other? This isn’t going to end good if we bump. I have to make sure we don’t bump each other.”

I was so worried about us bumping and getting hurt, so I put my right foot down on the concrete. I immediately fell right then and there. My right foot went down and my body just collapsed. My legs are the first things to fall down, then my stomach, and then my face smacked right into the concrete, mouth open. Sounds pretty painful doesn’t it? It was very painful. My scooter at this point has stopped somewhere a little ahead of me to the side.

I can tell my friend’s freaking out, not knowing what she should do. Trying to think of something, anything, that would help me. After that I lose consciousness and close my eyes for 10 minutes. I wake back up, still unconscious, still lying on the concrete and I hear someone walk out of their house. Luckily I hear that Bay is asking him to get his mom for help.

I’m so thankful Bay knew that guy. His mom shortly comes running outside to help. She asks Bay to help pick me up and sure enough they get me on my feet. I’m bleeding a lot and in a ton of pain. They help me walk to their house, my arms around theirs. When I regain a little consciousness, I’m sitting down somewhere off the road. She runs in the house to get a bag of ice for me. I hold the bag of ice wrapped in paper towels to my mouth, which is where I feel the worst pain.

She puts me in her car, puts Bay next to me, and then drives me to Bay’s house. Asking Bay for directions along the way. After we get there I hear her mom come out of the house after she’s been told what happened by the other mother. Bay’s mom heads towards the car to look at me, helps hoist me out of that car and into her car, probably afraid that if we walk too much I’d faint, and takes me to my house.

She knocks on my front door, and my dad answers. She tells him what happened and then someone helps me to get into the closest bathroom downstairs. Bri’s now at the front door crying, I’m in the bathroom, and Kyra, my youngest sister, is running upstairs to get my mom. I’m cut on every knuckle on my hands, my knees, and have blood all over my hands, and dripping down my legs from my knees.

I’m still not completely there and I overhear Bri. She’s sobbing at this point when she says it, “I don’t want Alanna to die.”

I start imagining the worst of the situation and I ask my dad, “Am I going to die?”

He laughs and says, “No. You’re going to live. You’ll just be in pain while we fix your mouth.” removing the bag of ice that I’m still holding away from my mouth to look at it.

“It’s not all that bad. You’ll just probably go to the dentist a lot more.”

I scarcely nod my head understanding him and let out a sigh of relief.

Bri comes inside sometime and Bay and her family leaves. My mom comes down sometime after I’ve drank water and have been cleaned up. I’m fully aware now and have a fresh bag of ice wrapped in a washcloth pressed to my mouth. She tries to ask me questions, while my dad calls the dentist, but my mouth hurts too much. I only nod, shake my head, and use gestures with one of my hands to answer her questions. I hated that the result of my dad’s phone call was that the emergency dentist was going to take 30 minutes to get there but I guess it’s better than an hour.

It took a lot of dentist work to fix my two front teeth. I met the dentist once, sometimes twice a week, to fix my teeth. It was annoying, and I hated it but it was worth the wait and the time. Did I have embarrassing moments along the way? Yes, I did but I’m okay with that. I may not be able to eat one of my favorite foods anymore, corn on the cob, which was heartbreaking for me, but that’s okay. I learned to move on and now I don’t mind it as much. It was an experience that helped me be stronger in my opinion.

It was midway through the fourth grade when it all happened. No one knew what was going to happen. No one ever knows what’s going to happen until it happens. After all why would they? The day before is always like any ordinary day. It was for everyone involved in my account.

My sister, Bri, and I met my friend, Bay, and her sister, Kitty, in the morning near her house when we were ready for school. We walked down the hill and on the road bridge to get to school. All of us was excited for our sleepover tonight. Bri was best friends with Kitty and I was best friends with Bay. We somehow convinced our parents to let both of us sleepover tonight.

School was finally out and we dashed up the stairs to our house. Instantly we darted up the flight of stairs in our house to quickly pack our stuff. When we were done, we finished our homework, grabbed a bite to eat, and said our goodbyes. We were given the usual “be good” talk and then were on our way to the sleepover. When we got to their house, we were greeted by their mom and Diageo, their Chihuahua. Shortly after they came down, the sleepover had started.

“Hey. You guys ready to have some fun?” They said giving us hugs.

“Yeah we are.” we say and the night began.

We did everything a sleepover should entail. Watch movies, ate snacks, did challenges, sang karaoke, and played games. All things, we thought were entertaining. They were also essentials to sleepovers in our mind. It was a blast! We had so much fun and enjoyed every second of that sleepover.

The next day we decided to walk down the hill and get breakfast at Starbucks. Since I don’t like coffee, I got two blueberry muffins with orange juice. Bay had a piece of banana bread with a cappuccino. Bri got a chocolate chip muffin with orange juice. Kitty got a piece of banana bread with apple juice.

Since I was fairly new to the neighborhood, I hadn’t really been down the hill, so Bay asked me if she could show me around. She’d been living there for probably five years and knew every nook and cranny. I thought it would be nice, so I answered agreeing to have her show me around the neighborhood. We decided to do it while riding our scooters to get there faster and to have more enjoyment. We changed, brushed our hair, and brushed our teeth, and after saying bye we were off.

We went to my house to get my scooter and then I followed Bay down the hill. It was a pretty windy and the wind made it a little chilly. Neither Bay, nor I gave it a second thought. We were already on our way and having fun. That’s when the injury happened. No one was prepared for it. Almost no one ever is prepared for a semi-serious injury to happen.

We were halfway down the hill and the wind was picking up. We were going rapidly on our little scooters. Soon enough, I thought that I was going to bump into her. I shifted my body to try and move my scooter over to the left more. It didn’t work at all. Next I put my foot on the brake pedal, above the back wheel, which is supposed to stop the scooter or at least slow it down. That didn’t work either. The wind was too strong for the break to even help.

At this point we were a little further down the hill. I was freaking out, thinking to myself, “What if we bump? Why do I feel like we're going to bump each other? This isn’t going to end good if we bump. I have to make sure we don’t bump each other.”

I was so worried about us bumping and getting hurt, so I put my right foot down on the concrete. I immediately fell right then and there. My right foot went down and my body just collapsed. My legs are the first things to fall down, then my stomach, and then my face smacked right into the concrete, mouth open. Sounds pretty painful doesn’t it? It was very painful. My scooter at this point has stopped somewhere a little ahead of me to the side.

I can tell my friend’s freaking out, not knowing what she should do. Trying to think of something, anything, that would help me. After that I lose consciousness and close my eyes for 10 minutes. I wake back up, still unconscious, still lying on the concrete and I hear someone walk out of their house. Luckily I hear that Bay is asking him to get his mom for help.

I’m so thankful Bay knew that guy. His mom shortly comes running outside to help. She asks Bay to help pick me up and sure enough they get me on my feet. I’m bleeding a lot and in a ton of pain. They help me walk to their house, my arms around theirs. When I regain a little consciousness, I’m sitting down somewhere off the road. She runs in the house to get a bag of ice for me. I hold the bag of ice wrapped in paper towels to my mouth, which is where I feel the worst pain.

She puts me in her car, puts Bay next to me, and then drives me to Bay’s house. Asking Bay for directions along the way. After we get there I hear her mom come out of the house after she’s been told what happened by the other mother. Bay’s mom heads towards the car to look at me, helps hoist me out of that car and into her car, probably afraid that if we walk too much I’d faint, and takes me to my house.

She knocks on my front door, and my dad answers. She tells him what happened and then someone helps me to get into the closest bathroom downstairs. Bri’s now at the front door crying, I’m in the bathroom, and Kyra, my youngest sister, is running upstairs to get my mom. I’m cut on every knuckle on my hands, my knees, and have blood all over my hands, and dripping down my legs from my knees.

I’m still not completely there and I overhear Bri. She’s sobbing at this point when she says it, “I don’t want Alanna to die.”

I start imagining the worst of the situation and I ask my dad, “Am I going to die?”

He laughs and says, “No. You’re going to live. You’ll just be in pain while we fix your mouth.” removing the bag of ice that I’m still holding away from my mouth to look at it.

“It’s not all that bad. You’ll just probably go to the dentist a lot more.”

I scarcely nod my head understanding him and let out a sigh of relief.

Bri comes inside sometime and Bay and her family leaves. My mom comes down sometime after I’ve drank water and have been cleaned up. I’m fully aware now and have a fresh bag of ice wrapped in a washcloth pressed to my mouth. She tries to ask me questions, while my dad calls the dentist, but my mouth hurts too much. I only nod, shake my head, and use gestures with one of my hands to answer her questions. I hated that the result of my dad’s phone call was that the emergency dentist was going to take 30 minutes to get there but I guess it’s better than an hour.

It took a lot of dentist work to fix my two front teeth. I met the dentist once, sometimes twice a week, to fix my teeth. It was annoying, and I hated it but it was worth the wait and the time. Did I have embarrassing moments along the way? Yes, I did but I’m okay with that. I may not be able to eat one of my favorite foods anymore, corn on the cob, which was heartbreaking for me, but that’s okay. I learned to move on and now I don’t mind it as much. It was an experience that helped me be stronger, in my opinion.