It started as a normal weekend day. I woke up to the sounds of my phone vibrating. I strain my eyes to read the contact name only to see my best friend’s familiar name on the screen. He invited me to hang out with him and some of our other friends later in the day. I soon rush to take a shower and dress quickly running out the door unaware of how my day is about to take a turn for the worse.

When I finally arrive at my friend’s house as a group we decide that because its chilly outside and the suns about to go down soon we will make a fire in the backyard of my friend’s house. We then invite some more people over to join our bonfire later in the night. My friend named Kyle owns a trampoline in his backyard a few feet from the fire pit. My best friend John dares me to perform a front flip on the trampoline and if I do he will give me five dollars because he thinks I can’t do it. At first I’m hesitant but then I reluctantly agree. I carefully step onto the platform where I begin to prepare myself for my acrobatic feat.

I experimentally jump up and down a few times to test the strength of the trampoline. Once I feel that I confidently know the amount of force I need I begin my final and last jump. My eyes go from focused to a swirling blur as my feet and arms swing together in unison and my feet are now suspended upside-down for a half second before I realize I jumped to hard and am now on my second revolution. On my decent back to earth I fatally realize I’m not about to land on my feet. I slam my head into the outside bar of the trampoline breaking my fall but also breaking my face in the process.

When I recover and open my eyes to my surprise I’m covered in someone’s blood. I was so disoriented I failed to realize the blood that I could feel running down my arms and face was my own. I can hear a faint sound of laughter from my friends before they realize how seriously I’m injured. My tooth went through my bottom lip slicing it to where it is hanging by a thread. My two main front teeth were bent back so far they felt as if they would fall out any second. The first thing I did was look up to my friend’s mom who’s helping clean off the blood and ask “does it look cool?”

By the time my mom arrives I’m already accepting the fact that I’m going to lose the top half of my teeth. When we arrive to the hospital I receive five needles to numb my mouth before they sew back up my lip. After the extraordinary pain of the stitches the doctor puts a splint of the top half of my mouth to save the other teeth and I pass out when I get home promising myself to never set foot on another trampoline again as long as I live. I was not able to eat solid food for the next two weeks and I loose over ten pounds. I go back two school half a month later and my life has never been the same since.