Memoir: Ethan H.

Ethan Horbury:Memoir

It was quiet, I couldn’t feel or hear anything at all. I was confused as to why this was happening mainly because it felt weird to me, it was like i couldn’t move and the only senses that i still had were taste and sight. Taste. I can taste something weird, like metal. That’s weird, that usually only happens when i’m bleeding, I think to myself, completely ignoring the fact that i still can move, hear, or feel anything.

 Where did Matthew go?

Who is Matthew?

Wait where is he?

My mind is racing, now I’m getting  worried that something happened to him since he was nowhere in sight. I try to turn around to see if i can spot him but moving felt like trying to lift 1,000 pounds, it was very difficult trying to fully move so I decided to just turn my head and look for him and there he is! He was standing next to me looking very nervous and confused. Why was he looking at me like that? “What the hell happened!?” I see him mouth but am still very lost, I give him a puzzled look. He then starts pointing very strongly at my right leg.

Why is he doing that, I think as i go to look at my leg, still very confused. As my eyes reach my leg all of my feelings suddenly come back. It was like a rush of cold and hot air just hitting me in the face, it burned, and I wanted to fall back but as I went to go do that there was a jolt of pain in my leg, it hurt so much. Everything felt like it was on fire and i was so caught up in the pain that I barely noticed the pool of blood that was surrounding me and leading back up to the hallway where I had just come from. Turns out that I had a piece of glass lodged into my right foot, and it had been there since I taken off my shoes, just five minutes ago.

 

“ You ready?,” Matthew asked excitedly, it was our last show after all,” This is your big song!”

“Yeah, I better do good, I feel it, it’s gonna be great.” It’s our last show of the season and we are just getting to the end of act one.

“You’re right but, we have to get changed quickly, we’re on in ten!”

“Ok,” I say as I slip off my shoes and leave them in the left wing,”I wanna get changed fast though because then we have like eight minutes to relax and wait for our que.”

“True, I’ll beat you there.” He says as he gestures down the hall leading out of the wing all the way down to the changing room on the other side of the theatre.

“Sure,” I say knowing that I’m totally going to win,”Three…Two…One!” We dart off down the long hallway, I feel the cold hard concrete beneath my feet through my socks, and can hear the next scene being started, Good, have some time, I think to myself, reassuring the fact that tonight is going to be the best run of the show ever.  While speeding ahead of Matthew I step on what feels to me like a tiny little pebble but that didn’t stop me, I reached the dressing room first although Matthew wasn’t far behind and came in right behind me.

“Ha, told you I’d win” I say to him, playfully bragging.

“Blah, blah, blah, now can you pass me my costume.”

“Sure, here, catch.” I throw his costume behind my head and he leaps up and catches it in one hand.

“Boom, easy.” He says now playfully bragging about how good he is with everything.

“Nice catch Matth-, Crap!”

“Whats wrong, Im better.” he says still bragging.

“I think I stepped in a puddle, my right sock is soaking wet.” I say now trying to take it off my foot to get another pair of socks. While doing this i find it hard to get the sock off, like it was caught on something in my foot, but that is not possible because there is nothing for it to be caught on.

Or so I thought.

I sit on the concrete floor and then lift my foot up to try and assess the problem, but as I do i feel a sharp, burning hot pain shoot up my leg.

“Ow!” I silently scream, trying not to make too much noise.

“Oh no, Ethan, Crap… that’s really bad.” He looks concerned, I don’t know why.

“What? I think I just pulled a muscle, I’m good.”

“No! Don’t stand up yet, look-”

What? Why did he just suddenly stop talking? “Matthew?” I try to say but nothing comes out of my mouth, everything seems just frozen and I can’t move. Suddenly I realize that I can’t hear or feel anything. This is good though right? I can no longer feel the pain in my leg which is a relief, but I can’t hear matthew and he seems very concerned.

What the hell happened!?” I see him mouth but am still very lost, I give him a puzzled look. He then starts pointing very strongly at my right leg.

Why is he doing that, I think as i go to look at my leg, still very confused. As my eyes reach my leg all of my feelings suddenly come back. It was like a rush of cold and hot air just hitting me in the face, it burned, and I wanted to fall back but as I went to go do that there was a jolt of pain in my leg, it hurt so much. Everything felt like it was on fire and i was so caught up in the pain that I barely noticed the pool of blood that was leading up the hallway where me and Matthew just ran from. It was all unreal, how could this happen to me on a day like this? Directors from all these different schools and universities were here today to see an amazing show, but how is there supposed to be an amazing show when I can’t even walk or dance properly?

“You want me to get someone, we can stop the show.” Matthew says to me

“No, this is an important night for all of us, we need to keep going.”

“But you’re hurt, you can’t dance.”

“ I don’t care, like they say ‘The show must go on’”  We both laugh at the terrible joke that I made and everything felt fine and okay for a moment.

“Well you can’t keep walking with glass in your foot, it could get stuck more, that would not be good.”

I thought about my options and I finally came to a conclusion, even though I didn’t like it. “ I’ll pull it out, it’s going to hurt but I’ll do it.”

“Umm, no, wait, you might need to, wait don’t let me see… wait I wanna see.” Matthew says very uncertain.

“Ok… Oh god… Ok… 3… 2… 1!” I scream as I yank the piece of glass out of my right foot. Everything is numb and it didn’t hurt to much. I wonder how much time has passed  I think to myself. I have three minutes till I’m on. Without much thought, I wrap my sock around the wound that is gushing out blood and I stick my foot in my shoe and finish getting changed. As I take my first step I realize that it hurts like hell to walk so I’m going to need to limp. I limp down the hall with Matthew and get ready to go on stage.

It’s time to on.

Trying very hard to hide the pain I make my way onto stage while delivering lines, masking the pain and trying to hide my limp. Everything seems to be going well until it is time for my song. I start to sing and then the music cuts out. This is not supposed to be happening, not right now. I look at the technicians and they signal me to wait, but the audience seems to be getting annoyed. Without thinking I start to sing my song, with no music. The other people on stage soon caught on and started to follow along. Our song sounded so good and when it was over the audience roared. I have never felt so proud in my life for doing something like that. It was a great feeling.

 

By the time that the show was over my sock and shoe were drenched in blood and sweat, it was a big mess, and I was starting to feel more and more light headed by the minute. I did my best to go and say hello to all of the people in the audience, my friends, family, and just other people that wanted to take pictures but, it was difficult to act “okay” and “fine” while blood just slowly keeps pouring out of your foot and into your sock. It felt almost like I had continuously stepped in a puddle and then decided to put my foot in my shoe and then all of the water from the puddle created it’s own puddle in my shoe, and it smelled heavily of iron but i was the only one that seemed to notice it. I was then instructed to go and change which I did and then all of my other cast members soon became aware of my injury because we all have to change in front of each other and they saw me changing my shoes and all of the blood that was in them. Many people got worried but then told me that i did a good job hiding it and then carrying on with the show which, did make me feel a little better about the whole thing. As soon as i was done changing I came out to my parents and almost passed out. This got them really worried but I assured them everything was alright they also noticed that i was limping and questioned that but then again i assured them that i was totally okay. Matthew upon hearing this decided that I shouldn’t lie and then told them what really happened. So my parents forced me to take off my shoes and socks and they nearly fainted seeing the huge gash in my foot, this drew a whole lot of attention and people started to crowd me and then started to have the same reaction as my parents. During all of this commotion I ended up getting really stressed and then passed out, probably also has to do with the loss of blood too, and then woke up after what felt like two hours later in the back of an ambulance. I was taken to the hospital and had to get stitches to keep the gash from getting bigger.

Honestly it was one of the most interesting show nights that I had ever experienced but also was a very fun one as well. I had gotten a lot of praise by my fellow actors and directors for being able to still dance and act perfectly while having a huge gash in my foot, and that night’s show was praised as the best run of the entire season. This made me feel good and I only ended up staying in the hospital till about one in the morning and then got to go home. This was a once in a lifetime experience that I never wish to experience again.

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1 thought on “Memoir: Ethan H.

  1. I really like how you kept going even though you were hurt it show that you care for the things important to you over you personal health. I would like to know more about how you danced with blood in your shoes without it getting everywhere also how major was you pain i’ve had something simmilar happen to me and I didn’t notice for about 15 minutes and didnt feel anything until I looked down and saw a long trail of blood and the bottom half of a white dress become red.

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