So, I figured I'd share a photo that probably will never mean as much to anyone but me, but hopefully, you can take away something positive from it. It's not too long of a story, and there might not even be a lesson in it, but I could've easily died and that's really all that matters to me.
Let's go back to last year, mid-November. I worked for my school's IT department. It's located on the top floor of the school's library, sort of crammed off to the side. I typically worked later shifts and walked home right afterward. It was about an hour before the end of my shift, but I needed to use the bathroom, so I left my computer station and walked to the bathroom. It's just down this sort of back hallway connecting the library and the emergency exit.
Anyway, the bathroom is empty, since I'm on the top floor later in the evening, and while I'm doing my business at the urinal, another person comes into the bathroom. I can hear him taking footsteps, walking over to the urinals as well. I can hear his winter coat scraping against itself.
You know how you get those silly thoughts in your head? Like, imagining something from a movie you've seen happening? Well, as stupid as it seems, I imagined
this scene from Austin Powers. It seems so weird that that's what I thought of, but I was in a good mood that day.
Whether or not that prepared me for what happened next, I don't know. But, I can still remember him sighing and then an arm going around my neck. His right arm, pulling me back a bit. I can remember the glint of metal, coming from the left. I reacted as fast as I could, grabbing the man's wrist and getting slashed down my own in the process. After that, it's all bits and pieces. I remember trying to make him drop the knife. I remember falling to ground wrestling him. I remember grabbing the blade of the knife with my hand so he couldn't stab me. I remember biting his finger as hard as I could. And I remember getting my tooth ripped out in the process.
And then, I remember being free, and standing up, looking at this guy that had tried to stab me just a few seconds earlier. Seconds? It felt like minutes. Because during that time, I thought of only four things: What my life was like before this, what I wouldn't get to do, is this how I die, and don't let him stab me. That life-flashing thing is real. That happens. Or at least it happened to me. And I wasn't even stabbed. I walked away.
I remember his exact words. "Why did you bite me?"
I remember backing away from this guy. I remember looking at him to make sure he didn't get to me as I yelled for help. Screamed it, really. And seeing someone run immediately. Telling him the guy tried to kill me. Showing him the slash marks all over my hands. Telling him he has a knife.
So, I don't know if this picture COULD mean much to you, but this is what my body did on it's own. It took on a guy with a knife, when there was no other option. It reacted faster than many people. It grabbed a knife blade on its own accord, just to help me. And it won. With minor injuries.
That's after a couple days of healing. I had many more slashes where I'd grabbed the knife, and I also had a few slices on my right hand too, but nothing as severe. I can feel where those cuts were right now. Like a cold stinging at the base of my thumb. And my teeth still have a gap until I can get that fixed, but you wouldn't know unless I showed you.
I still have a huge scar, going down my right wrist, plus another on my right pinky. I'm always scared people will think it's self-inflicted. But, I'd never do that. Not when I can do things I'd never think I could.
So there. I've shared my photo and that story.
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Topic: Bay12 Photo Share! Let's share photos and cool things. (Read 1666613 times)