The alarm startled Karen as she jolted awake. 7:50… Oh no, she thought. I’m late! Karen threw the covers off and quickly ran to her bathroom. She splashed some water on her face and quickly brushed her teeth. She attempted to do a quick ponytail and put her contacts in. She changed out of her warm pajamas into a red t-shirt and faded jeans, grabbed her keys, and flew out the door. Frantically starting her car, she buckled up and pulled out of her driveway onto the road. I can’t be late again, she thought, my mom is going to kill me.

Karen then realized she had forgotten her uniform for her soccer game she had later that night. Oh well, she thought, I’ll just go home during lunch and get it.

She decided she was going to play the best game of her career tonight, because her coach had contacted some college scouts and they were coming to watch. Ahead of her the stoplight changed from red to green. Awesome, luck is definitely in my favor this morning! She floored the gas pedal and sped up to get through the intersection. She was so busy thinking of getting to school, that she never saw the semi truck run the red light. All of a sudden, Karen felt as if she had been hit by a train. The world was spinning, there was a strong aroma of burning rubber and then there was glitter everywhere. The sound of metal colliding, breaks squealing and glass shattering was all that Karen could hear. What’s going on? Karen thought. Just as fast as the chaos had started, it stopped and everything went black.

The beeping machine was annoying her. She couldn’t put her finger on it though, what was that noise? She finally opened her eyes and was surprised. Where am I? She thought, What is this place?

She was in a white room with horrible plaid curtains all around her. She was covered in all kinds of tubes, and there were many different strange machines around her, all beeping and somehow hooked up to her. Whoa, she thought, what had happened?

She then felt an itch on her foot. She wanted to itch it so bad, it was frustrating! But when she tried to move her arm, she cried out in pain. Everything was so sore! She tried once again but the pain was too much to handle. All of a sudden everything came back to her. She remembered getting up this morning and driving to school. But she didn’t remember ever making it to school. She then remembered spinning around, the glass glittering in the sun, and the siren noises. Karen then realized that she had been in a car accident.

She then frantically began checking her body to see if she was intact. Okay right hand, one, two, three, four, five fingers, and okay that’s good. Left hand, one, two three four, five fingers, and okay so my arms and hands are okay. Left leg, my foot is still there and I can wiggle it, that’s good. And okay right… where is my right leg? She closed her eyes tight in disbelief and opened them again. It’s not there! She thought. My leg is gone.
Immediately her vision was blurred because of the tears filling her eyes. “Nurse! Doctor! Anybody, help me!” She yelled as loud as she possibly could, “Help! Help!” All of a sudden, she heard a door open and an older man in purple scrubs ripped open the curtains.
“Karen, what seems to be the problem?”

Karen laughed at this remark. “Oh, whats the problem? I have no idea where I am, I don’t know what happened to me, and my leg is gone!” She screamed as hot tears welled up in her eyes and streamed down her face.

The nurse looked at her with a sad look and proceeded to tell her that she had been in a car accident where a drunk driver ran a red light. She had been airlifted to Virgina Mason Hospital in Seattle and she had been in Intensive Care for two weeks. Karen was speechless. Seattle was 6 hours from where she lived. Two weeks?! Did her family know where she was, where were they? What about her leg, what had happened? She then saw her mom’s head peek out from behind the nurse.

“Honey are you awake? Oh thank God you’re okay!” Her mother cried as she rushed to her side.

“Mom, what’s going on?” Karen sobbed.
Her mother just looked at her with sad eyes and stroked her hair. “Everything is going to be okay sweetie.” She said.

Karen realized she was officially depressed a week after she got home. Once all the flowers and all the visits stopped, all she did was sit in her room and stare at the stub of what used to be her leg. All she could do was look at the pictures on her wall of her team and all the action shots of when she was playing and think about how pointless her life was now. She couldn’t even go up and down her stairs without someone helping her, and everyone keeps telling her to make the best out of the situation and be an inspiration. Everything was so worthless now. She wanted to curl up in a ball and lay on her bedroom floor all day. Soccer season was long over; in fact the school year was almost over. There was three months of physical therapy while in that dreadful hospital, and she had already missed most of her senior year. No prom for her, who would want to take a girl with one leg to prom? She thought. All this because of some drunk idiot who ran a red light. Karen wanted to sleep forever.

A knock came on the door. “Honey? Can I come in? I have someone here who wants to see you.” Her mother said as she poked her head in through the door. Karen sat up and wiped her tears from her eyes. Her mom opened the door all the way and a middle-aged man walked in.
Karen didn’t recognize him, and she looked at her mom confused. “Sweetie, this is Ryan. He wanted to come talk to you and tell you something.” Karen’s mom said. “I’ll leave you two alone.” She then walked out of the room and closed the door.

Karen starred at the man until he cleared his throat and started to talk. “I don’t think you know me but… um, I’m the man who hit you.” He said.

Karen was startled. “Why are you here?” she asked him.

She was so appalled by this random stranger. Who does that? She thought, drives drunk and ruins someone’s life?

His eyes well up with tears. “I’m so sorry,” he said. “I made such a big mistake and it affected you so much and I needed to say sorry.” He then put his face in his hands and sobbed.

Surprised, Karen didn’t know what to say. She had thought of a million things that she would say to the horrible monster that had hurt her, how she would make him pay because he was such an awful person. But all she saw in front of her was a man who had made a mistake and was just as broken as she was. “I wanted to let you know that I stopped drinking as soon as the accident happened” he said once he had stopped his weeping. “I just can’t live with myself.”

Karen then said something she never thought she would say to the man who ruined her life. “I forgive you,” she said with her voice shaking. All of a sudden, she felt a weight lifted off her shoulders. Yes, she was still in this situation, but she wasn’t bitter anymore. She knew that she was going to be okay.

Ryan then looked up and into her eyes and gave a sad smile. “Thank you for forgiving me” he said.

She then gave him the biggest smile she could and said, “Everything is going to be alright.”

After the man left, Karen’s appetite returned. She hobbled out of her room to get some food, but stopped once she was at the top of the staircase. It was time for her to do things on her own and stop feeling sorry for herself. She sat down on the very top step and used her upper body strength to lower herself to the next step. Karen continued to do this until she found herself sitting on the floor of her living room.

By the time that she had reached the bottom her stomach was growling angrily. Pushing herself up, Karen stood and hopped into the kitchen towards the fridge. Nothing in the fridge seemed that appetizing to Karen. Opening the doors to the pantry Karen spotted a bag of popcorn. She tossed it in the microwave as her mouth watered profusely. Karen was overjoyed to hear the popping and smell the sweet, buttery scent being released from the microwave.

The next morning Karen sat up in bed eager to return back to her life before the accident. She called up her old soccer coach and asked if it would be okay if she returned to practice. Her coach was delighted and couldn’t wait to see her. The entire day Karen spent watching the clock in anticipation of practice.

When the clock finally stroked 3 it was time to leave. “Mom, we have to go now,” shouted Karen eagerly. They got into the car and Karen was so excited that she couldn’t stop tapping her foot.

As they pulled up to the soccer field Karen because nervous. I don’t want my teammates to take pity on me, she thought to herself.
Swinging the car door open, Karen took in the aroma of fresh cut grass. Oh how she’d missed that smell. She stepped out onto the grass and instantly fell. How embarrassing she screamed in her head!

Karen’s teammates rushed over and created a crowded huddle around her. Becca reached out her hand to help Karen. Although Karen really wanted to stand up on her own, she didn’t want to hurt Becca’s feelings so she grasped onto her arm. As soon as Karen was standing she tried to balance, but it was too uneven and unstable. She asked for Becca’s help and Becca graciously put Karen’s arm around her shoulder for support. Together they walked over to the sideline where Karen would watch practice. Becca made sure that Karen was okay then returned to her warm ups. The longer that Karen watched practice, the more upset she got. Karen stood up with tears welling in her eyes and headed for her mom waiting in the car. As Karen tried to make her way away from the field she heard someone shouting her name.
When Karen turned around her coach was standing behind her. “Karen, where are you going? She asked.

“I want to go home; I’m not ready to be here.”

Karen’s coach wrapped her arms around her and squeezed tight. “You don’t know how proud of you I am Karen. You’ve been through so much but your passion for the game is still there. You can not give up.”

Karen took a minute to take in what her coach had told her and realized that she wasn’t looking at the big picture. Everything happens for a reason, and that we can never know how much strength we really have until we are faced with something bigger than ourselves. I have to be strong not only for me, but for my team. Karen returned to practice with her coach and sat patiently until the end. After practice was over all the girls ran over to Karen and told her how glad they were that she was there, and that they really missed her. Karen let them help her through the grass to the car.

As Karen and her mom headed home, Karen stared out the window. The sun was shining and the grass was a deep shade of green, it was such a beautiful day. A smile formed on her face and she knew that everything was going to be okay.