LIMITLESS

doktorkwakwak asked: Thank God you survived such an accident. Keep safe always!

I’m thankful as well! I treasure every moment of my life now. Thank you!! :) Same to you as well! x

Brush with death.

It has been a week since I was involved in a multiple-vehicle collision. So for those of you who are not familiar with what happened, let me share you my story.

Last Thursday, May 03, 2013, I woke up thinking it would be just one of those ordinary days. I fell quickly into my routine.

Get up. Turn off the alarm. Take a bath. Get dressed. Drive to work.

Nothing seemed odd or out of place.

At around 2:00PM, I learned that my best friends were in Alabang Town Center. One of my best friends, Iris, rarely goes to the south. And I would not allow myself to miss this opportunity of seeing her. So I made sure to meet them after work. We all agreed to meet at Kate’s house at Sucat.

Before leaving the office, I was asking one of my office mates which route to take in order to avoid traffic. I asked him if it would be better to take the BF Homes route instead of taking SLEX. But knowing the impatient me, I abhor traffic and all the things that come along with it. So I preferred to take the SLEX route.

I left the office at around 4:10pm.

I was coming from Alabang and was driving towards Sucat. Because I wanted to avoid traffic, instead of passing thru BF Homes, I opted to take the shorter route. I took the Filinvest Exit from Alabang and was driving towards Sucat Exit via SLEX. While I was near the Skyway ramp entrance, I noticed that the right most lane (which is the straight drive towards Sucat toll gate) had cones due to the road repairs. So instead of taking the right most lane, I took the right lane, take note, where most slow cars drive. As I was about a kilometer or two from the Sucat toll gate, I was lightly touching the break and was preparing to change lane towards the exit (with signal lights as this is my pet peeve). I finally went to a full stop just before where the cones ended. I was at the rear end of an elf truck. Then suddenly, I heard a loud crash. All of my things in the passenger seat, my bag, my Macbook, iPhone, all fell down to the floor. The things that were in the dashboard flew all the way to the back. Because of the force of the impact my car was pushed front and a bit to the right, where the elf truck was located. I was in shock. I was screaming. I did not know what was happening. I knew that I hit the elf truck, that was all I knew. Panic. I went down the car and found a humongous truck hit my rear. Tail lights were broken. The rear windshield shattered. I called my parents first. Even called my office mate who I thought was within the area. Then I called my best friends. I was scared like fuck.

This is the elf truck that I hit by accident.

The truck who almost killed me.

The tin can that is now my car.

What the fuck is happening???!

The next few things that happened are kind of a blur. I went to the police station near Bicutan exit. Gave my statement. I was about to have a panic attack. The police were also getting the statements of the other two drivers. I am thankful that the driver of the elf truck did not want to file any charges because he knew that I hit his vehicle by complete accident. The most annoying part was the driver of the truck who hit me was saying that he was in the fast lane. Last thing I remember, the right lane is for slow cars. The overtaking lane or the fast lane is in the left most lane, where trucks and buses aren’t even allowed to drive in.

Accidents happen to everyone.

I consider this as my second near death experience. My first one was when I fell off a cliff in Baguio when I was around 9 years-old. I couldn’t remember anything before and during the accident when I was millimeters away from having open brain surgery. But I guess this time, it was more surreal because I can vividly remember each second of the accident. The car that I was driving did not have any airbags. I am so happy that I always instinctively put my seatbelt on. The police ruled out that it was the fault of the truck driver. He was going too fast. The Skyway police even said that if the truck was a bit faster, I would have been crushed by the impact.

On the night of my accident, I was not able to sleep well. Both my mind and body were still in great shock. I staring into the ceiling hoping that sleep would come, but all my efforts were futile. Suddenly I was crying. I was too scared for my life. I did not know what to do. So I got up my bed and crept into my parents’ bedroom. I snuggled myself beside my mom hugging her tightly, shaking and sobbing all at the same time. I really thought that I was going to die.

I remembered that I was laughing my heart out at the office. Maybe I was too happy? As most of you may know, I was never a religious person. But there was this instance that I went with my mom to church. I usually get bored in Catholic ceremonies, and I rarely listen. “When you’re near success, the devil will do things to you to bring you harm and put you down”. Somehow, it struck me. And these words echoed in my head during the wee hours of the morning when I was trying to fall asleep in my mom’s arms.

Through this terrifying experience, I found out how some people will try to do anything just to escape from their responsibilities. It took almost a week for the truck’s owners to contact me and my parents. I am vey happy that they will be shouldering the damage done to my car. The estimate of the damages caused to my car in Honda is approximately P200,000. I am very grateful to have lawyers as parents.

Lessons learned: ALWAYS DRIVE DEFENSIVELY. ALWAYS WEAR YOUR SEATBELT.

Keep safe everyone!

Flashback.

Gray ashes fall. Puff. Smoke.

It has been the second stick she has consumed in this intermitted cigarette break. She feels for her trusty lighter in her pocket. Ponders if she should go for one for stick. She tries to shake off the voice in her head telling her she should get it going. She laughs it off and indulges herself.

Flick. Light. Puff.

She takes her time. Savouring her last stick. Familiar faces. Friends pass by. She never really goes unnoticed anyway. There is something sort of, quote unquote, enigmatic about her — she never fails to draw people in.

Hurriedly, she ditches the remainder of her cigarette and jogs off to class.

Helvetica. Times New Roman. Serif. Sans Serif.

Balance. Contrast. Gestalt. Emphasis.

3 hours of design class fly by.  Something that is very unusual of her for she easily gets bored.

“That went well!” she says to herself smiling.

She rummages through her bag for her cigarette case. The minute she steps off campus grounds, she lights a stick. Relax. She tries to remember how many she had for the day. Hmmmm. She thinks she lost count.

“I mean, who the fuck cares, right?” she smirks.

She walks towards her usual hangout spot. From afar, she could see that her friends have already claimed their table. When she reaches them, she gives off her signature smirk as a greeting.

Cigarettes. Lighters. Bottles. Pitchers. Glasses. Ice buckets. And more smoke.

The usual companions that she has, aside from her friends.

Inhale. Puff. Clink. Drink. Repeat. Slowly, everything starts to feel hazy. This is her daily routine.