Lookout Lake-Personal Narrative

I remember when I was young and I had to decide what color of popsicle I wanted and it seemed like it would be the hardest decision I’d have to make. These type of decisions get easier as I became older, but I remember when I was young and had to make a pretty fast and life saving decision. My childhood best friend Ethan and I thought it was the perfect day to go out for a cooling dip at Lookout Lake. We got on our Bermuda trunks and raced out of my beat down, old, white ranch house, all the way across our small town to the docks. The best place to hang out was at our hometown lake; the cooling freshness of the water and how the trees slightly glossed over us as we swam kept us from the blazing sun. The beautiful oranges and blues of the
flowers were in full bloom around the lake and the sand fizzed at my feet with the remnants of the sun beating down on it. Ethan's legs pumped faster from underneath him, seeming to lift him ahead of me. The powerful kicks of sand seemed to make me realize we had almost made to the lake.
“Hurry up slow poke,” Ethan shouted.
“You better be careful.” I sneered back.
“Whatever, Alex just hurry it up, we don't have all day!” Ethan impatiently replied. He turned to me so that his back was facing the road and excitedly waved me over to him, I started to jog faster to catch up with him. A red beaten up truck filled with male teenages, it zoom down the road heading directly to Ethan. A rush of adrenaline coursed through my body and I went into fight or flight. I took off in a full sprint towards Ethan, but the truck was faster. “Watch out!” My voice boomed. I could hear my sneakers hitting the pavement and I can remember the sound of the truck inching closer to Ethan. I wasn't thinking, but I shoved Ethan's body with the power coursing through my veins, out of the way of the truck. However the truck caught up to me before I could escape with Ethan, I was too late. The truck caught my foot under the grip of one of the wheels, I could almost hear the sound of my bones crushing. The feeling of the trucks weight moved from one side of my foot to the other. My screaming of agony brought the driver of the truck to a complete stop, the young men came storming out of the truck to see if I was okay.
“You’re not hurt are you?” One of the boys asked. The smell of alcohol on his breath made the air around me reek of even more pain. The red t-shirt he wore was soaked in the scent of smoking tobacco.
“Please call my mom!” I desperately whimpered the few words I was able to croak out. I would have asked if they would've driven me to the hospital, but seeing as how they basically almost killed me, like idiots, I didn't think that would be such a good idea. In the middle of summer I get trapped in the heated of air of my home, me of all people. Running, walking, or swimming isn’t an option for my crushed foot and I. I was scared that my summer would be wrecked, but I was pleasantly surprised to find Ethan making his way to my house every other day that summer. He and I would play cards and listen to the radio for the perfect song to come on, so we could play it over and over till we had to find a new song.
***
As we moved slowly into adulthood, the time came to make more decisions, but I always seem to go back to that moment. Ethan became a more physical person that kept fit and ate healthy, but me not so much. He’s tall, blond, and girls seem to always find a way to touch his monstrous arms, to many he looked like a model. As for me, I was and average height guy with flat black hair and a pretty average face.
“Hey Alex, you want to come with me to hike by Lookout Lake?” He asked me.
“Haha, funny you think I want to go outside and walk. Nah, I’ll pass” I chuckled back.
“Suit yourself,” He said as he swung his army green backpack over his shoulder and walked out of my bedroom. Later that night, he flew my door open and jumped on the couch, I could tell that something was wrong. Normally he would be happy and energetic, but he would never just go and sit after a hike.
“Aye man, you good?” I questioned him.
“I'll be fine, I just scraped my leg up pretty bad on something, it hurts like the Devil,” He said in a groan. “Do you want me to take you to the doctors?” I asked scrunching up my eyebrows. “I'll think I’ll live,” He smirked at me. I ran to the bathroom to grab him a bandaid and some warm water. His leg looked like something crawled up through the dirt and ripped it apart. How could he not want me to take him to the doctor? He is mental. The next day he started to act odd, he was randomly coughing up this white looking ooze, but not mucus. His skin was a pale shade of almost greenish blue, what was wrong with him, was it the cut? No matter what it was I knew I should help him. “Hey bud, you sure you don't want to see the
doc?” “Nope I'll just take it easy for a couple days,” he replied. I just shrugged it off like it was nothing, I mean why would I care if he gets the flu or something like that, he’s not going to die.
Ethan's leg looks like the rapture is happening inside of it, puss and been flooding out of massive wound.
He’s still refusing to see a medic which is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard in my life. Grabbing my phone tightly in my hand I dialed the number of the a man I knew who could help, even if I wasn't sure Ethan wanted it. The guy I chatted with over the phone came over to our house to check out the problem. As he was walking in, he slammed in shin into the couch and, got a small cut. After a while of looking at Ethan's leg the man suggested that he should go get it look at. As expected Ethan refused to go see the doctor. The man that came over called me to say that he got infection too and so did his wife. They went to see the doctor and he said it was unlike anything he had seen before, they couldn't go home because it would become deathly infected within hours and it would spread very
quickly. Knowing Ethan got this three days ago I'm really flabbergasted that he hasn't died if it was supposed to be that deathly but, he is in a lot of pain. I can hear his cries in the middle of the night. I don't know if I should just sit back and watch my best friend slip away from life in pain of if I should go against everything he wants and give him to the doctors.he said that he was going to die either way and he would rather die with his friends and family. When i look at the green red glossed scab all I can think of is if it is the right choose on his part. Even his sister that came to see him got the infection. He’s being selfish he is willing basically kill family just because he is scared of the doctors. I know what I have to do, I need to do. “Hey Ethan, are you well enough to go Lookout Lake?”
“I can try but, I'll be in agonizing pain. I'll give it a shot Alex” Ethan and I strolled passed the streets we used to play as kids. His body rag dolled on to the ground.
“Ethan, are you okay.”
“No, call 911”. His body laying on the ground where I once did. This was not the way I wanted to get him to the hospital but never the less he was going to get help.