Invisible

Near Miss (Brexley)

The weather was especially awful today. Instead of fluffy white snowflakes and soft snowdrifts, the sky was dark and bitter, and spitting sleet like an angry cowboy with a mouthful of tobacco. Whoever was in charge of the climate must've been in an incredibly foul mood today; especially since it was Friday. Normally, today was the day everyone was running around, playing in the snow, and generally being carefree, since school was out for the weekend. Today, however, people were holed up inside, drinking hot cocoa and rueing the weather.

But not me. I was outside. Like an idiot. Even though it was making me feel undeniably awful, I still loved it. I loved it, because anywhere was better than home. At least, right now. Because if I was home, I would be alone. And alone was the one thing I hated the most, above all else. Even though I was still alone on the street, I felt less so, because there were still people around.

I had asked for a snow day today. Unfortunately, this was one of the rare days where asking for a snow day didn't work. Normally, if I asked for a snow, the next morning, the world would be blanketed in white. I liked it better than this awful nastiness.

I was walking home from school. I would've rather been on my skateboard, but I wasn't allowed to take it to school. I'd already been busted three times for riding it on campus, and was told that if I brought it again, it would be confiscated.

I hefted my backpack, grunting against the weight of all the textbooks pushing down on my shoulders. I stepped out onto the street to cross the road, but before I could take another step, I felt a strong arm hook around my stomach, and throw me back to the sidewalk.

A massive truck blared past, right over the spot where I had been just moments before. I landed on my butt first, then my backpack hit the ground. When my back hit my textbooks that were inside my backpack, the wind was knocked out of me, and I was gasping for breath.

I looked all around the person who saved me, but saw no one. I mean, there were people around, but no one paying attention to me like someone who had just saved my life would.

Must've been my guardian angel, I thought, and stood up. I brushed off my soaking wet butt, and continued the walk home, only I took the detour home that avoided any of the main roads in town.

I have always had someone, or something, looking out for me my entire life. I don't know what, or who, it is, but I was always safe. Someone always had my back. Sometimes it was something little, like snow when I asked for it, or a gust of wind at my back when I was skateboarding. Sometimes it was bigger, like the time when a person who had been stalking me slipped and fell on a patch of ice in the middle of summer, (and he had to go to the hospital), or like what had happened just now.

And I was so incredibly thankful for whoever it was, because it was good to know that someone always had my back.