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The Accident

Losing a Piece of My Heart

By Anthony LaMontPublished 2 years ago Updated 2 years ago 5 min read
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The Accident
Photo by Blake Cheek on Unsplash

The good die young. I had heard this simple phrase numerous times before. Hearing these words meant nothing, prior to the events that shattered my life as I knew it.

It was a blistering-hot summer afternoon, June 27, 2004. It was a day like any other day; my friends and I would find something to keep us entertained, before ending up at my house for the remainder of the day.

Everything started out normally with our daily aimless routine.

When I returned home, however this day became the nightmare that I will never forget.

I was met at the front door by my youngest brother Aaron, who seemed very hysterical. I knew he wasn’t lying when he shouted, “they’re searching for the twins in the lake!”

The tears I saw streaming down his face, told me something was terribly wrong, and there was no way he was making it up.

Apparently my four younger brothers Jeremy, Edward, Antonio, and Aaron were out swimming with two of their friends, Carl and William. They had been swimming in an old lake I hadn’t heard of prior. Lake Mench, I still have not been to this place, but I will never forget the name.

To the best of my knowledge, the boys had been playing at the lake all day and were soon going to make their way home after a race in the water. Unfortunately, they could not foresee the grave danger they would soon face.

After finishing their race, everyone congregated on an old, unstable and worn dock. They were jumping around celebrating and congratulating Edward on his win. In the midst of their blissful celebration, the dock split in half sending everyone flying back into the water, separating them in the process.

Once everyone besides Edward resurfaced Jeremy, his older twin brother, dove under to rescue him, and he was successful in helping Edward reach the surface again. He never rose from the lake again, and everyone remaining began to panic while trying to help revive Edward.

The story sounded very unreal to me as I walked back out of the door. I wanted to rush to the hospital to make sure this was not taking place.

I asked my friend Louis, “can you please get me to the hospital and make sure this isn’t real?” He nodded and replied, “let’s go.” I asked for my best friend C.J. to accompany me, so I was prepared for the worst.

“What’s going on?” He kept asking, while we were on the highway. I couldn’t respond. I was still trying to make sense of it all. I had no answer for him.

Eventually we arrived the hospital, where we were met with more questions than answers. The doctors had little to no knowledge of the situation.

I would ask questions and get responses such as, “he just arrived,” or, “we’re stabilizing him.”

Nothing added up to me. I remember being told there were two of my brothers in an accident. I was growing very anxious and agitated. “What’s taking them so long?” I kept repeating. “Just try to relax,” Louis would calmly say. “You don’t know if it’s that bad yet,” they reassured.

I did what I could to ease my tension, but the waiting room was very cold, and I could not sit still. My friends did everything they could to make me laugh. They would make silly remarks such as, “don’t hit the doctor Incredible Hulk. He’s just doing his job.”

The only thing that finally made me laugh, is when my friend Turtle made a phone call home demanding, “my plate better be ready when I get home! They dragged me here.” I felt bad for doing so.

I began to feel less stressful when my parents and other close family began to arrive. We all embraced and consoled each other. I thought it was best for me to go home and be with my younger brothers.

My friends and I began to make our trip back down the highway. The temperature was in the mid 90s, but it felt like winter to me. I was freezing cold and felt numb.

As we were midway through our trip back home, we are stopped by Louis’s mother, Ms. Dooley wanting to express her sympathy. I finally burst into tears as she embraced me. She held on to me saying nothing, and I was appreciative of not being asked a lot of questions. She was on her way to the hospital to console my family, and I wanted to go home to my brothers.

Finally, I make it home, Antonio and Aaron are still in a frenzy. I ease their worries by telling them both twins made it to the hospital. I want to know more about what happened, but they were already visibly shaken, so I thought it would be best to wait until they were completely calmed.

Large crowds of people start to show up soon after I arrive. My mother would call constantly with updates. “Jeremy has arrived,” she gleamed.

After a half an hour search for his body, he was still holding on with a very faint heartbeat. My spirits had risen. I had grown optimistic. I relay the news to everyone and the somber mood minimally lightens.

An hour passes by and I get another update from my mother “Edward is stabilized and being airlifted to Butterworth Hospital,” she proclaimed.

“What about Jeremy?” I asked. She paused before delivering the words I can still hear her saying today.

“Jeremy didn’t make it,” she wept. I felt my heart drop the second she said it. I remember the time being 5:40 pm. I will never forget that moment.

Although many years have passed since this unbelievable tragedy took place, I still remember it vividly. I can still taste the salt from my tears. I can still smell the gas and burning rubber from our car on the highway. I can still feel my heart drop, every time I think about that day.

I can also say that I have learned a lot from this. We don’t know how blessed we are with the gift of life.

Looking back on this fateful day, I learned to appreciate life. No matter what I lacked, what people thought, or what I could not do. I learned to appreciate being able to see another day.

grief
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About the Creator

Anthony LaMont

he/him

Colossians 3:1

Creative Writer | Aspiring Director

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