The Day The Race Stood Still

It all happened too fast to realize what was going on. First a series of loud noises then a
collision of debris and dust. The repercussion was so strong that it knocked me to the ground and
caused a loud ringing in my ears. From the thought of confusion I let the dust settle so I let the
dust settle so I could see what was going on. It was a horrific sight, everybody from the race and
the were either running around or lying on the ground. It was if I was watching a bunch of ants
scramble after their hill got stepped on. That's what i felt like, a small ant in the middle of a hug
problem.
Turning my attention onto the crowd I spotted a woman with the face of complete terror
huddled around her children. Three of the four children were crying uncontrollably. The fourth
had to have been eight or so, but seemed to be in a calm state with all that's going on. That's
when I noticed the blood trickling down his face which had to explain why he wasn't crying, he
was in shock. Quickly I looked away and to the right of me I saw a man wandering through the
street. Him searching around made me come to the conclusion that he was looking for
something. He kept turning people around and squinting at them which then led me to believe
that he was searching for someone. Rubbing his eyes from all the dust the man was precautious
where he stepped. Once he came by me I noticed the man had a wedding ring on. Maybe the
search was for his wife. My guess was right as i saw him lift up a woman's head who was lying
face down and let out a blood curtling, NO!.
Not being able to look at the man's cry of desperation I bowed my head and started to tear
up. The tears came down my face in thick bundle of dust. As it reached my lips I could taste the
bitter gunpowder that dispersed into the air after the explosion. The revolting taste made me lift
my head up and spit out what tears made it into my mouth. That's when i saw a man on his knees

looking up at the sky. His hands were folded together and in between them was a cross necklace.
There was a wound on the man's hand that was flowing blood onto the Jesus piece of the
necklace. The decolet moment was like a visual representation of Jesus himself on the cross. The
man had to have been a reverend because he was wearing a white collar. As he was kneeled
down his mouth was making words I didn't understand. Anybody could guess that he was
praying, but to know what he was saying is another thing. In this time of darkness a prayer
couldn't hurt so for a quick second I bowed my head and joined along.
That's when I heard all of the sirens and I opened my eyes to see the repeating flashes of
red and blue. The ambulance, fire trucks, and cop cars could only get so far due to the
destruction. They all stopped five feet in front of a light pole that was laying in the middle of the
street. I could tell they thought about driving through it, but a few feet away was a woman lying
down, motionless. All of them got out and decided to lift the light pole which was a bad idea
because there were exposed wires popping all around it as if it were tango dancers. All but one
noticed it and she was struck in the arm causing her to jump up and land on her head. In those
few seconds that it happened she began to have a seizure which no one could do anything about
until it was over. After the terrifying event both firefighters and paramedics began to place her on
a stretcher. As they put her in the back of the ambulance they then started to backup and drive
off, which led me to think that they were looking for another route.
Knowing that help was going to be a while I stood up to see what I could do to help, not
self aware of the injuries on my right leg. There were two deep lacerations, one on my upper
thigh and the other placed on my calve. It must have been from the flying shrapnel. Without any
hesitation I ripped off two pieces of cloth from my shirt and tied both of them above my wounds.
I tied the above my thigh first because it was close to a major artery that could pump blood out of

my body in minutes. After carefully wrapping more cloth around the open part of the wound to
keep me from getting an infection, I tried again to stand up. The loss of blood made me weak at
this point and any effort I gave was useless.
Just a few seconds before I was about to give up a hand came down in front of my face.
My observation of the short and stubby hand keep me from grabbing on. Surprisingly the man
whose body matched his hands had no trouble lifting me up. I guess not all heroes wear capes.
His choice of clothing really made me wonder why I didn't notice him earlier. His neon colored
clothes made him look like a Bic highlighter. From all the screaming and yelling I didn't bother
saying thank you, but gave a meaningful nod showing my appreciation. He then gave me a water
bottle from one of the concession stands that was knocked over. After nodding again from
receiving the water I limped over and grabbed as many bottles as I could to pass them out to
those who needed it. Each water I passed out seemed to be used to wash off blood or dust rather
than for drinking. One person used it as a comfort device and never even opened it. Saying
nothing, I just kept on moving down the trashed filled street.
Thinking that another bomb could go off at any moment never came to me. I just kept
doing the same routine, passing out waters and eventually taking a break to rest and and check on
my leg. Soon the ambulances, firetrucks, and police cars found a way in and started giving
people the help they needed. Those with worse injuries than others were taken care of first and
sent straight to the hospital. These were the people caught in the middle of the explosion and
from what I heard was in between two trash cans on either side of the street. Others were looked
at by paramedics on site until they could be moved.
Shortly after help arrived a paramedic by the name of Todd came up to me asking to see
my leg. His eyes widened when he saw the wounds, but made it seem like it wasn't that bad to

keep me calm. Apparently the cuts were so deep that they could only be taken care of at a
hospital. Since the ambulance was packed full he got a cop to drive me up there. I was grateful
that the cop urgently wanted me to get patched up at the hospital, but his driving almost got us
into four accidents. The last thing this city needs is more injured people. Although the ride was
quite like a roller coaster I couldn't help but think of how lucky I was to still be alive and
breathing.