Sit and Focus

A Story by Haley D

Flashbacks to a horrific childhood event

Sitting quietly in class can’t be that hard. All you have to do is sit, listen, and focus. Don’t let your mind wander to you past, just focus on the present. It can’t be all that hard. It’s only another hour and a half to any pleasant social interaction, it will be fine. Just sit and focus.

Sit and focus

Sit and focus on work

Sit and focus on the teacher

Today’s lesson is on physical actions and their impact on lives, but it includes a video. A video on car crashes. Car crashes.

Remember that crash? The one that left you with that scar on your back, that metal in your leg? Of course you remember. Let’s revisit it.

Thrashing metal, distant screaming, flashing lights, high pitched screeching, snapping bones, blood. So much blood. Red, silver, blue, these colors dart by my eyes like a broken TV screen. Showing the same scenes over and over on a disabled loop of horrors.

The truck smashing into the side of our four door sedan

The metal screeching as the sedan collapsed in on itself

The cracking of bones as they shattered under the extreme force

The wailing sirens and flashing lights of the police cars as they pulled up to the wreck

The warm feeling of blood trickling down my face

The screams that came falling from my mouth like a horrid symphony

It all resides in the back of my mind, building up like a skyscraper over time until one word, one image, one feeling makes the wall holding everything back come barreling down like an old dam finally breaking.

Don’t close your eyes, face forward, focus on the music flowing through the one headphone daintily hanging from your ear, hiding from the teacher under your soft battered hair.

Sounds and images from a single life altering event from years ago can’t haunt my teenage mind forever...

Can they?

Of course they can’t

It will be alright

But for now, just sit here and focus

Sit right here and focus