This happened when I was in my 20s. It’s been awhile, but I still remember what happened vividly.
A drunk driver ran a red light while we were walking back to our place, for a night of “Funtime,” from the movies one night (We lived, literally, right down the road from the theater).
I shoved her out of the way and ended up walking up in ICU, not having time to get out of the way after saving her from the impact. I didn’t see her for three whole days after waking up. The pain itself was incredibly unpleasant, and it still hurts me to think about it, but what happened next came as an even harder blow.
When she finally showed up, she had her new fling on her arm and showed up to tell me we were over with. When I asked for an explanation, she just smiled, brushed the hair from my face, and said, ‘”Because I can’t see myself dating a cripple, and with two leg casts, an arm cast, and the speed he hit you at, things don’t look so good for you, y’know?” You should be happy for me, though! I get to move on, and so do you!”
I couldn’t believe my ears.
I asked her, “So me pushing you out of the way of a crazy drunk driver… that meant nothing? You could have been killed, had I not acted when I did… Hell, I’m lucky to be alive, after that collision!”
She just shrugged and smiled, “That was your choice, I just benefited from it. Nobody forced you to shove me out of the way…”
Then she decided to drive the knife home.
“Oh, I know you’re in the hospital, and everything, but Matthew needs to move his stuff in, so your stuff is in a box up by the street. Be sure to get it before the trash man comes tomorrow. or he’ll think it’s garbage. Ciao!”
With that, she bounded out the door and out of my life. Turns out while I was kept under until I stabilized, she had called my job to tell them I had to quit.
By the time I got out of the hospital and ambulatory rehabilitation, I had no belongings, no food, no roof over my head, and no job.
There is a happy ending to all of this, though. I rebuilt my life, and am now happily together with someone very special to me. Life is hard, but men are like steel. What doesn’t shatter them, tempers them, until they can become of the highest quality.
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