.lightning.

They say lightning never strikes twice, but that is a myth. Lightning doesn't often strike twice. It's a once in a lifetime thing. It doesn't happen often, lightening usually gets it right the first time. It can make you forget who you are. It can burn you; blind you, stop your heart, and cause massive internal injuries. But, for something that happens in only a millisecond – if even that long, it can change your life forever. Even if it feels like the shock is coming over and over again.

Eventually the pain will go away, the shock will wear off. And you start to heal yourself. To recover from something you never saw coming. But, sometimes the odds are in your favor. If you're in just the right place at just the right time you can take a helluva hit. And still have a shot at surviving.
People get struck by lightning and they usually die. Lightning struck me. It struck me hard. It struck me when I was least expecting it to. When you're hit with 30,000 amps of electricity you feel it. I felt it. I felt the volts rush through every inch of my body. Over and over as I lay limp. Clueless as to what had just happened.

Lightening struck and I felt like I died. I saw my life flash before my eyes. My life as I knew it and my life I was making. I saw flashes of the place I had come to know as home. Flashes of the person I had hoped would be in my life for…well life. I saw images of my near future slowly fade to white. Bright lights in all directions and a pull to walk towards them. Is this the afterlife? Is this the end of it all? Can I finally give up struggling and just let you take me away? It seems I was in this in-between place for ever. Lost. In a daze of confusion. Helpless and hopeless. Where was I going. What was I going to do. How do I start from ground zero and build myself up again. How do I stop my internal injuries? How do I save myself from death?

An ambulance has arrived and the EMT’s are working on me. Fighting to save me. Fighting to give me a second chance at life. I still feel like I am dying, like I am on the border of death and life. Every day is a struggle. They check my vital signs, check my slow pulse. Making sure I am still hanging on...making sure there is a sign of life as faint as it is. They say I need to fight harder to survive. I need to find the want in me to make it through. They can’t do that for me. As each beep on the electrocardiogram sounds, I wake up a little more. With each little beep, I gain a sense of what I have learned. What I will never repeat. What I can take from my past. What I will trash and never look at again. What I will hopefully gain, what I will look back and cry over. What I will look back and frown over.

I got struck by lightning.
They say everything will be ok.
I’ve been given a second chance at life.
I am fighting to survive. I am. I am a fighter.