Church service had just ended and as usual people talk to each other before leaving the church. Soon as church finished I rushed through the crowd of people to get to the piano, so I could play it. But I was stopped by Bro. Banton, who normally tells some funny jokes but, on this day it just wasn’t funny so I put on a fake smile, fake laughing and as soon as he turned around I was gone. As I tried to find my way up to the piano, a couple of people stopped asking me how my sister and I were doing and when my mother was coming back from Jamaica? My mom was away and I enjoyed every minute of it. She really needed a break and I needed one from her. But this May 2nd 2010 I wanted her right by my side.




Finally, I got to the piano then started playing a song with my friends Shane, who was on drums, Kareem, who was on the guitar and Travis who was on base guitar. All three of us were trying to better ourselves on each instrument so we decided to have practice after church. As I still was playing my god brother Dornell came and as usually just pushed me off and started laying the piano. But, I couldn’t complain because he is better and I am actually take lessons and trying to study how he plays. So I went over to talk to my pastor as I always do after church ends. My pastor and I have a father-son relationship so anytime I talked to him I wasn’t nervous like some of the young people my age in the church.


My aunt came over and asked me if I was staying and I told her yes,
so she gave me money to get home. Since my mom was away my aunt stayed with us.
As everyone left we decided to start practice and we asked Dornell to stay and teach each of us something. Dornell, who was 20 at the time, is very talented when it comes to music. He could play each instrument very well and decided to teach us. As practice went along we were playing songs, Dornell went to each instrument and taught each of us something.
To end off our practice we played a song while Dornell and Eresha sang a song. Eresha is Dornell’s girlfriend and a very good friend of all of us. We were playing god until we ruined the ending of the song.





We were getting ready to leave the church and we prayed before we left the church to close out practice. We finished praying and locked up the church. We were each trying to figure out how to get home. I had money to get home so I decided to just get on the bus but Dornell just wasn’t going to drop home everyone else and leave me. Dornell was driving he dropped Travis then he dropped off Shane who lived a block away from Travis and turned on Snyder Ave. Dornell was on his way to drop me home and we were stopped at a red light right before kings highway. As we were waiting at the red light Kareem and I started arguing. It wasn’t really a heated argument it as just something Kareem and I do all the time by cracking jokes on each other. Dornell and Eresha were laughing in the front and the light turned green. We waited for the other cars in front of us to go. Just as we came up on Kings Highway, BAM!!

A taxi ran the light and hit us right into the street pole and the pole fell right on top of us. The impact of the car hitting into us was loud and horrible sound. All four of us who were in the car were badly injured. I was knocked out unconscious because as soon as the car crash right into us my forehead banged against the glass and bust my forehead open. Injured and bloodied Kareem struggled climbing out the broken car window. When he got out the car he called his mom and our Pastor. Just as he was about to call the police he passed out. All of us were bloody, Dornell was unconscious as well as the steering wheel was pinned down on his ribs, he lay there in a bad position. Eresha was awake but couldn’t get out and was worried about Dornell. I was just in he back laying there on the with my head titled over as if my I was dead. The ambulance, police, and firefighters rushed to the scene as people rushed out there houses worried. Dornell, Eresha, and I were trapped in the car and the firefighters had to cut each of us out.

I was unconscious for quite a while; I woke up in the emergency room. When I opened my eyes I saw doctors standing over me. It was as if I was in one of those hospital shows. When I woke up I didn’t even know what was happened. It was as if I lost my memory for a second. My head felt as if someone was continuously beating me with a rock. I touched my face and was shocked by the rich blood all over my hand. I struggle to turn my head because I had a cast around my neck. I carefully turned my neck to the right and saw Dornell and turned to the left and saw Kareem and a couple of tears came down because of the pain I was feeling and the way my friends looked in the emergency room. I didn’t see Eresha so I thought she was worse than all three of us but how worse could be because we were in a horrible state. But, I found out later on that she was just behind me. I looked outside the emergency room and saw a bunch of people I knew worried and scared but I just couldn’t tell who they were at the moment. Then I just passed out again. I was out for a couple of minutes when I heard someone calling my name. I honestly thought I was dying and god was calling me because I a white light but it was just the hospital light high above me.

Kadeem! Kadeem! I heard it again and recognized the voice. It was Kareem asking me if I was all right. I answered, “Yes I’m alright but what happened?” Kareem said, “ We got into a car accident.” I knew we were in a car accident but up till this day I still don’t remember how the accident happened.
Then I heard Dornell calling he and me apologized to both Kareem and I for the car accident, even thought it wasn’t his fault. I looked outside the emergency room again and the familiar faces I saw before I passed out was our friends and family. First I saw my Pastor who just looked down and in pain I lifted up my hand and carefully waved at him. Just to signify that I am going to be okay, at least I thought I was. Then I saw my sister and I waved at her and she began to cry then my aunt took her to sit down.

Later on the doctors took me to another because somebody had been shot and they decided since I was the youngest to take me out. That’s when my sister and aunt came into the room to see me. I asked my aunt for a mirror and when she gave it to me and I looked at myself I couldn’t believe how bad my face was. Most of the blood had dried up and I saw the gash on my forehead. My sister began to clean me off. As time went along more people came in but I kept falling in and out of asleep because I had a very bad headache so I needed to close my eyes. Then Shane and his mom came to see me and he was just speechless. Shane and I were like brothers so to ease the feeling a bit I asked him who won the Lakers or the Jazz, because if I had been home I would actually be watching the NBA playoffs. He looked at me as if I were crazy and said “ you just got into a car accident and your worried about a basketball.” Just then a doctor came in to put in my stitches. First he injected my wounds with a needle and blood started to trickle down my face. When he was putting in my stitches it felt weird because I could feel my skin being pulled together.


After being in the emergency room for so long the doctors took me upstairs to my room where I would stay for a couple of days. Then they took Kareem upstairs into the room I was staying and we shared the room for 4 days. Over the course of the days My sister and aunt stayed with me everyday, and Kareem’s mom also came to stay with us. Also, Our pastor and other people came to see us. After the 4 days and we left the hospital, when I got home I realized that this car accident has really had an effect on me both physically and emotionally. Physically because I’m still trying recover from my injuries( leg, neck, and back) and since the accident its been all about physical therapy and doctor appointments. Emotionally because it makes me see life in a whole new way and this experience has made me feel as if I have a purpose in this world hence the fact that I survived such a horrific accident.