The Answer

The Answer

         I grabbed the headphones in front of me. A deep silence occupied my mind as I slipped them over my ears. I swiped through the list of songs on my phone until I found the one fitting for my mood at the moment. Pressing on the screen, a slow, bass-filled beat began to play. I stood up and walked to the door to the outside world, letting the music fill my entire body. I stepped out onto the cement porch of the house, my steps and breathing beginning to synchronize with the music as the feeling of a brisk summer night settled into my skin. I could feel the gravel shifting beneath my feet as I walked. I had no particular destination in mind.

         Lately it seems as if that was the norm for me. Never having a plan, never having a destination, always going in circles, going with the flow. There was nothing wrong with that to me, but it was a different story with my parents, as they were always hounding me with:

      “What are you doing with your life son!? What do you want to do!?” they would ask.

      An “I don’t know”, would always be my response.

      They would then sigh loudly and cease their pursuit of the answer until later, temporarily giving up.

         Truth be told, I had multiple ideas for what I could be doing with my life, always bouncing around in my head. However, none of them would completely solidify in my mind. Looking up from the ground in front of me, I saw a couple of kids playing in the street. I was about to turn my head back to the ground, but something caught my eye. It was a rather large red blur, hurtling its way toward the children. Time slowed to a crawl as my mind went blank. With my legs reacting as if on their own, I sprinted toward them, yelling so loud my voice cracked.

         “Get out of the w--!”

         The kids turned their heads toward me, seeming confused and annoyed that I interrupted their game. Adrenaline rushed through my veins as I continued to sprint. The children, however, returned to their game. Jumping over the curb, my headphones fell off, causing the sounds of the real world to return to my ears. The car was only 10 meters away from the kids and closing in, but I was still at least 15 meters.

         ‘I’m not going to make it’, I thought to myself, my blood running cold.

        ‘No, I will make it! I have to!’ I screamed at myself inside my head.

        I was running so fast that it felt like my feet weren’t making contact with the ground, like I was floating. My view rapidly switched multiple times from the speeding car, to the children in those next few moments. To this day, I am still not exactly sure how I did it. My friends and family keep telling me it was the adrenaline, but I always thought there was something else at play.

        As I sprinted, everything to my sides became blurry, my eyes completely focused on the children as I planned on how to grab them so I could move them out of the way. Within seconds, I was in front of the children, their faces showing an intense shock. I hugged their midsections, hoisted them onto my shoulders, and jumped with all my might.

        Everything went dark at that moment.

        I blinked my eyes open as light returned to them. I was leaning against a tree near the road the kids were just playing on. The kids were shaking me awake.

        “Mister! Mister wake up!” the little girl ordered as she shook my head.

        I groaned as I moved my head to face her. Relief washed over me as she seemed to be unharmed.

        “Oh good you’re alive!” the girl said.

        “Why would he be dead stupid?! None of us were hit!” it was the other kid, the boy.

        “I don’t know! He wasn’t moving for forever!” she argued.

        A third voice rang out.

        “Abigail! Mikey!” it was an older woman’s voice, I had assumed it was their mother. “Are you okay?!” she yelled, running toward them from her house.

        The children stopped arguing as they heard her voice.

      “Yeah! We’re okay, this stranger saved us from that car! It was so cool! One moment he was way over there and then ZOOM he was in front of us and then we ended up over here by this tree! He was SO FAST!” the boy rambled on. The woman had reached us as he was talking.

      “Oh thank goodness”, she said, picking up her children into her arms. Tears were gliding down her face as she spoke to me.

      “Thank you young man, for saving my children.”

        It was then, when I noticed my own tears were falling.

        It was also then, that I knew the answer was to my parent’s question.