4 Hello again

When I said "I bet my left foot I'll never see her again," I didn't expect to almost literally lose my foot the second time we met.

It was not her fault, really. In fact, it was my fault. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

It was about a week after we met in the university library. The weather forecast said it would be sunny. So, of course, it rained like there was no tomorrow.

I was out of town running some errands. I was on my the way to the bus stop to get back to the city when the rain came crashing down like a wet blanket.

I quickened my footstep. As I walked past a construction site, I heard workers shouting at each other to cover up the machinery.

Normally, I would take shelter somewhere and wait for the rain to subside. However, I was anxious to get on the last bus home.

As the wind blew rainwater straight at my face, I kept my head down, squinting my eyes, trying to see past the veil of water.

When I was at a three-way junction, just one block away from the bus stop, something heavy fell on the ground on my right. Instinctively, I moved to my left and stepped on the storm drain grating. Then one of the grating's bars - the one my foot was on - gave way and my left leg plunged down the drain.

"Seriously?!" I said to no one in particular. I tried lifting my left leg up. I couldn't. Somehow my knee had passed between the two bars just fine when it was falling down, but could not do so when moving up.

I looked left and right, squinting my eyes, trying to locate anyone I could call for help. The road was empty. The freaky weather had chased everyone off the streets.

Reluctantly I took out my phone. I had to call someone. But there was no reception.

"Cheer up, Owen. It could be worse." I muttered.

It was almost like the universe took my words as a challenge to its ability to screw me over. The moment the words left my mouth, I saw a semi barreling towards me.

The vehicle was swerving left and right without slowing down. Its trailer leaned to one side then the other. When it got closer, I could see the driver. He was honking loudly, trying to warn people to get out of the way.

Then I realized, he was going to either turn left or right. The bright red tractor unit was probably gonna miss me. The trailer, however, woud most likely hit me hard enough to sweep me of my feet. Or in this case, off my foot. My left one wasn't going anywhere.

The driver saw me. I could see the panicked look in the his eyes as he shouted and gestured with his hand. He probably was wondering why the hell this idiot wasn't moving, but he could do nothing.

I felt time slowing down. The truck moved toward me at a torturously slow pace.

I frantically tried to free my leg. Nope. Still stuck.

I glanced up. The vehicle was getting closer.

8 meters. I can see a brown smear on the front bumper. Probably a deer.

6 meters. The driver turned right. The wheels slid on the slick ground then found purchase and turn vigorously, propelling the tractor to my left. The trailer, well, trailed after the tractor and was on a trajectory to swat me.

I imagined what would happen to my leg. It would most likely snap like a twig. I'm not sure if the doctors would be able to make it whole again.

But they'd have to extricate my broken leg from the storm drain first.

And I'd have to not die from blood loss, shock or infection.

Ah… Seemed like losing one foot is the least of my problem.

I closed my eyes and braced myself.

I heard heavy footsteps approaching me. With a loud "Crunch!", I felt the ground around me tremble. All of a sudden, my left leg was a lot lighter.

Then something wrapped around my waist, lifted me up, and moved me out of the trailer's way. I opened my eyes and saw the heavy trailer slid past the spot where I stood half a second ago, climbed up the curb and collided with the wall.

Someone then sat me down, letting me lean on the wall. And they were shaking my shoulders.

"Hey!" A voice called out to me. "Are you alright?"

"Uh…" I tried moving my limbs. I could still feel all of them, so I'm probably alright. "Yeah. I guess." I was still staring at the spot I was at a moment before. There was a gaping hole where the storm drain was. Next to it was something that looked like a large sledgehammer. The grating was gone. Then I realized it was still stuck on my leg. The driver got out of the truck and ran toward us.

"Don't try to stand up! Your leg's bleeding." I looked at my leg and realized it was cut by the grating's broken bar. I should probably get a tetanus shot later.

There was a sound of cloth ripping, and something was tied on my thigh. Oh, I was being bandaged.

My mind cleared a little, I focused on the person helping me. It was a girl, still bending down and tightening the bandage.

"Thank you. How did you…?"

"Ah…" She stammered "I… I was running some errands when I saw you getting stuck there." She looked at the semi. "I wasn't, like, following you or anything!" As soon as the words got out of her mouth, she grimaced.

"Uh. Okay. Thanks a lot for… helping me."

She looked up at me. I saw the face that had been occupying my mind for the last week.

"Oh? Hello again." It was all I could get out.

She was soaking wet, like me. Her wet hair hugged her face. Droplets of water were falling off her chin. As she squinted her eyes to look at me, I could see every single one of her eyelashes, which had tiny drops of rain clinging on them, like morning dew on willow leaves. Time seemed to stop for an eternity.

I was in love.