It was scorching hot outside. I was nearly 120 degrees in Southern India. “MOM!” I kept on calling my mom, because there were nearly 4,000 people on this one riverbank, and I was sure if I didn’t stay too close to her, I would get lost. My family came to India for some religious ceremonies. It was said that if we bathe in this river during these 12 days then we would get good karma. I wonder if that is true because so far, in this particular trip, I have been experiencing serious bad luck.
We slowly walked into this river, and it was cool and refreshing against the hot weather. The water was flowing slowly, making us float back and forth. We had to dunk in the water nine times to make sure all of our body touched the holy water.
“Grandma, you have to dunk fully in, not just half of your head!” It seemed that my whole family was scared of beaches or any type of moving water, except for my sister and I. All of a sudden, giant splashes of water hit me on my face and I quickly turned around. Someone was SWIMMING in the water, kicking his feet rapidly. He was splashing everyone one around us, and finally my parents decided we were in the water for enough time. “YES!” I said very loudly. My sister and I floated towards each other and high fived happily. Even though I loved India, staying around this boiling environment, was enough I had to bear for one day.
We all walked out of the water and sat down to dry up. Drying up won’t take too long due to the steaming weather. In a few minutes, we were walking up the trail towards the parking lot. The crowd was too large in this area, so only taxis and motorcycles were allowed from the river bank. It seemed that there were no taxis anywhere, so we had to go on a motorcycle to find a taxi. On the way we stopped for ice cream, so I guess I was happy we came here for one reason. We reached my brother Neal’s motorcycle and my heart was beating faster for some reason. Even though I love riding on vehicles where you felt fresh air from the wind outside, I still feel uncomfortable riding on something that could easily fall down.
Neal got onto the front seat because he was driving, I was in the middle, and my Grandpa was in the back. Neal was driving and then I could feel my Grandpa wiggling in the back. “What are you doing now!” I was feeling my heart race faster. “Do you want us all to fall down!” I said angrily. I was feeling more and more tense. I calmed myself down telling that everything will be okay. Then we started going up this dirt ramp. I could see little rocks on the ramp. Next thing was just a flash. I felt like the whole world was spinning in circles. I could feel the motorcycle rolling down the ramp, that all of sudden felt steep as a cliff. Everything happened so fast, but I could still feel it replaying in my mind in slow motion. We fell to the side, and all of a sudden I felt drowsy. I was blinking very slowly, and finally I closed my eyes completely.
I woke up to the morning sunlight. I could see some flowers and smell chemicals mixed with hand sanitizer. I could hear my mom talking softly. I all of sudden had a spark in my body, and jolted up from my hospital bed. My sister, let out a tiny scream when I woke up suddenly. I could see that my mom’s face was dry under the eye. She must have been crying. “Wait, where am I!” I shouted. A lot of thoughts were racing through my mind. I was breathing heavily when I could feel my memory slowly starting to come back. “Where is Grandpa, is he okay!” I felt drowsy, but I forced myself to stay awake. “Aria, I will tell everything that happened after you fainted, but listen, and PLEASE no questions!” My sister seemed like she told this story a billion times, so wasting any more time will annoy her. “So, after you fainted, the police that were near the river rushed to the accident, and someone called the ambulance. There were dozens of people around us and everybody was helping Grandpa up, but he wasn't unconscious. Neal was fine, and he helped everybody get Grandpa into ambulance truck.”
I slipped out a little chuckle because I remembered that my Grandpa always hated motorcycles, and I had a little part of me that feared them, and guess who was in the accident?
“Two minutes later someone yelled that you were still stuck, and everybody came to get you out. Grandma was crying, and Mom was horrified when she realized that you were still there and no one came until now to come get you. We all rushed to the hospital, and Grandma, Mom, and I came in a police car to the hospital. We stayed here the whole night and Mom didn’t sleep for a minute. She kept on praying, that you and Grandpa will be fine.” I lifted my head and saw Mom’s red eyes with dark circles underneath it. “You know, your hand swoll up like a pufferfish, so the doctor thinks that the back wheel and gas tank  fell on it.
I looked down and was shocked to see a giant blue cast and some skin bulging out that was red and bruised. I was thinking of when this would heal, and if it would heal by the time I return back home and in time for school.
“The doctor, said that you broke your arm, and Grandpa got a crack in his knee.”
I was shocked to hear that my day has taken such an unexpected twist. I opened my mouth and even though it hurt I had to get the words out. “Guess, it is just my bad luck.”