by Heather Jones

Created on: October 02, 2008

June 9th, 1989 is a day in time that I will never forget. I was 8 years old. I had five brothers and no sisters. My brothers had

many friends. I wanted to fit in so bad. They had a club. It was an all-boys club. No girls allowed. This was unacceptable to me.

I had pledged to them that I would do anything just to be included. You see, I wanted to be cool like them. In my eyes they

were the coolest. So in the beginning they used me poorly. They had found this old abandoned building. I had swept it and

decorated it to the best abilities of an eight year old girl. So all my brown-nosing abilities was about to be paid off. Or maybe

not?

On June Ninth,my brothers and his friends had a not so great idea. Although at the time, it had seemed a perfect, maybe even

a irrestible idea. They made me a deal and I took it. It was simple. The plan was to jump on the train as it passed. We had

lived not even a block from the tracks.

The train had seemed so fast. To me it was speeding down the tracks. I remember my heart beating so fast as the ladders just

zoomed past me. I had gained enough courage to jump and had managed to land on the step/bar of the ladder. Unfortunately

I could not keep my grip. My body was slipping. I don't recall many details of the rest of the story. I remember bits and pieces.

I remember the sirens and the blood that freely stained the tracks and the area arround me. I remember my pants and boots

being cut off. Five train cars had ran over my feet. I was lucky to be alive.

I was rushed by ambulance to the nearest hospital only to be rushed to another. Every bone in my feet was crushed. All the skin

had to be replaced.I had a total of five toes amputated,plus half a foot. I was told I would never walk again. I was hospitalized

for almost a month. Operations and skin graphs became an normal event for me.

A year later I did learn to walk again. A very hard task to manage. I did it though. Peer pressure had wrecked alot for me.

What had seemed so cool just didn't have that same appeal anymore. I did learn alot that summer though. I had learnt that

nothing is ever that important to risk your life for.

I pay every day for that choice I had made so long ago. During my elementary years I was not aloowed to play in p.e. classes.

Yes,I could walk,but could not run with the rest of the children. That alone had left me out of many activities. Swimmin was then

and still is today, an very embarrassing event. The stares alone could turn you to ash. So yes,if you were to ask me if I had

learned my lesson. My only reply would be yes.

My advice to anyone would be,always think before you act. The imprint that this train accident has left on my soul is huge.

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