Bike at dusk

When I was eight years old, I was biking with some friends late on a free saturday. The sun had just dipped over the horizon and I was third in line on the darkened sidewalk, underneath a canopy of thick leaves. Bugs were already sticking to the sweat on my skin and I was pushing hard to keep up with my friends, my lungs burning with each breath of humid summer air. Suddenly my shoelace got stuck in the bike chain and I stumbled to the ground, scraped up my knees and bloodied up my palms. Not to be deterred, I reached back and furiously tried to untangle my shoelace from the bike, but was unsuccesful as my friends bike ahead without noticing my accident.

Then I started to panic. I was in an unfamiliar neighborhood, my buddies had left me alone on the sidewalk with blood trickling down my scraggly legs, and my attempts to get untangled only seemed to be making my problem worse. I thought, I would never get out of this! The howling dog that I hadn't heard before was probably on its way over to bite my arm off, leaving me deformed. Maybe it would eat my leg, and I'd be stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of my life. After struggling for another minute, I gave up and slumped on the sidwalk in front of an empty house with darkened windows.

For what felt like eternity, I sat there and picked at the gravel in my palms. The last remnants of daylight finally gave way to darkness and the scattered clouds shone pink from the city lights. Small bugs crawled on my skin, probably waiting for me to die so they could devour my carcass. How long would it take for them? Would bigger bugs come and eat me? Neighborhood pets, would they come and feast on my bones? Then out of the blue my two friends came back, from the same direction the left me from. One shouted out as he sped down the sidewalk, "Are you coming?!?" I responded, "Uh, yea... hold on!" and somehow magically was able to untie my laces from the bike in one easy attempt. They flew by me on their bikes not noticing my earlier fall. I jumped on my bike to follow them as fast as I could as we headed back home.