We just wanted to be healthy pt1
The summer after I turned 18 my family worked at the local Burger King (mom my two brothers and myself) my younger brother and I decided it was time for us to get into shape. We went to the store and purchased bikes with all sorts of accessories (mirrors, lights, nice seats, gloves, and other fun toys) we put everything together and it had gotten late. We left the house wanting to see how our lights worked and made it maybe 6 houses up the road.
We heard them coming, my brother shouted "car" and I remember telling him "they will see us. That is why we got the lights"
I hate that sentance with everything I have.
I heard three cracks, loud like snapping wood, almost dull, my brother yelled out and another crack and he went quiet. There were three more while I tried to turn to see what was wrong. The next two hit me and I fell to the ground. Two more cracks and I watched the tail lights of a small black four door drive away.
It seemed like an eternity ad I laid there in the road. All I could think was my little brother was dead and I was going to follow him.
Suddenly my brother started swearing and I heard "they fucking shot us". I realized at that point the bullets had not been real. They were frozen paint balls. Had they not defrosted a little it still could have killed us.
My shoulder was broken from the fall and my brother could not see out of his left eye. The police told us that with the description we had of the car there was little chance we would see justice
Pt2
It took a few months for my shoulder to heal. (We never touched the bikes again) and I thought it was behind us.
Then my mother got a call.
Someone in Texas (we lived in Pennsylvania) had called our local police to report a crime. The idiots had been bragging about the incident on MySpace (I feel old)
We went to court with dozens of others whose property had been vandalized and heard them try and defend themselves. They thought we were amish.
How could that be a defence. They took a plea bargain and went to jail.
Over the years my mother will get a call telling us that once again one of them have been released from jail. (My brother was a minor and she will probably get those calls for the rest of her life)
I thought I was ok. I mean I wasn't really harmed. But with years of stress and other incidents I have been diagnosed with ptsd. I still cry when I think about it. Loud noises freak me out and I can't stand people being behind me. Mostly though I cannot even look at a bike without wanting to puke.
I realize the worst part of all of that was the 30 seconds or so that I thought my brother was gone. I still have nightmares of me standing over his grave.
@PixelOpal That sounds terrible! I think for most traumatic events it's that moment that's imprinted: the moment of your mind going to the worst possible place, that moment your brain snaps in fear/adrenaline. That moment just resurfaces for no reason when you're about to fall asleep, when you're doing groceries, just trying to get on. The triggers don't necessarily bring you back to that moment, but they place you in a physical struggle of your brain trying simultaneously to gauge danger and suppress the thoughts so that you don't go crazy. Then that moment will pop in days later to remind you you can't suppress something that really happened to you.
I just started seeing a therapist specifically for PTSD. I'm going to try to inform me he needs to push those limits. I can't talk about my trauma without completely breaking down. I need to stop suppressing. I'm guessing you might need to as well. I feel when I read you and I want you to know you're not alone or going crazy. You're having a normal reaction and I'm glad those jerks hopefully learned their lesson. I'd forgive them tho, they sound like immature idiots who had no idea they were deeply hurting anyone. Now they know.
@PixelOpal I'm so sorry that happened. Some people are truly awful creatures.
I think we would have reacted the same. I was in a bicycle accident when I was 13 and I haven't touched a bike since. Loud noises scare me. I can't be in the same room as a toaster about to pop up.
Im glad you two are safe. I wish the idiots who shot you guys would get extended sentences since frozen paintballs are lethal.
Oh wow. I am so sorry that happened! I'm glad you saw some sort of justice. And what the devil kind of excuse is "Amish"? That doesn't make it better, that makes it a hate crime! What the what! You are so strong to bring this up to the world.
