~Ding~

~Ding~

~Ding~

~Ding~

Slowly opening my eyes from the sound of the alarm set on my phone, I turn towards my night stand and pickup my phone.

“Too bright!”

Immediately closing my eyes from the bright glare of my phone, I turn my head away as a reflex action. Turning of the alarm of my phone, I lazily get up from my bed. Looking at the clock hanging by the wall it seems I still have enough time margin to take things slow.

Making my way towards the bathroom, I freshen myself up for the day that is to come. After cleaning myself up I make up way down stairs towards the kitchen by dragging my feet. People used to always complain whenever I used to drag my feet whenever I used to wake up in the past, it seemed it was loud enough to wake up the others from their sleep. Well now there is no one to complain it seems.

Upon entering the kitchen, I see my usual music box which I use every morning. As I prepare my simple breakfast of eggs and juice I turn up the volume of my music box as loud as I can. This could be one of the few habits of my teenage years that I still haven’t given up on.

Turning the music loud isn’t going to be a problem as I live alone in my 1-bedroom, bathroom and kitchen flat. Simple it might be but for a single person living like me it was more than enough. I’ve never been good with girls and I might have a few girl friends over the years but things never worked out in the end. By now, for a 40-year-old man like me, chances of love and romances have dropped down even more.

By now you must be wondering who I am. Well its obvious by now that I am the main character of this story. It still isn’t late for introductions by now. To introduce myself I would only use one word and it would be Ordinary because that’s what I am.

My name was ordinary. My face was ordinary. My body was ordinary. My live up till now was nothing but ordinary. My everyday routine was nothing but ordinary. I lived a truly ordinary life. My job was ordinary. My ambitions and goal for the future were also ordinary. My skills and knowledge were ordinary. I was nothing but ordinary.

I was an orphan from a very young age. I don’t even remember how my mother or father looked like. I’ve spent my days in the orphanage among other unfortunate children in similar situations like mine. The condition of the orphanage was one of the worst. With lack of government funding and greedy staff, the children at the end of this hierarchical tree got nothing but scraps. Surviving on those mere scraps, the children of the orphanage did their best.

As soon as I got the chance, I left the orphanage and found myself a steady job and cut any link towards the orphanage.

It seems because of my time in the orphanage I’ve come to value stability, as we barely used to be able to even eat, which has lead me to live this ordinary life I am living right now. Such a life was never a bad thing as I appreciated the little things in life I’ve never had but at times was another side to me which wants to do something MORE.

I’ve always felt like there was another side to me which wanted to break free. All my friends from college who did various thrilling, blood pumping things like sky diving or mountain climbing while I sat here making my life as stable as I could, were a source of envy for me.

That side of me wanted to do something daring, something extraordinary. Something different. Even a man like me wanted adventure and thrill. Something different from this mundane life where I felt like a robot doing the same usual action daily and going through the same actions every day.

I’ve only realized this side of me when I’ve wasted the major part of my life doing nothing but ordinary.

Just like every day, it seemed like today was going to be an ordinary day for me. However, that was not the case for today as I break my cycle of 40 years of ordinary life today while I do something extraordinary.

Is this the feeling people usually call as “life flashing before your eyes” just before your death?

Death had suddenly come to me.

From an unexpected place and time.

In front of a large truck.

I remember that I was walking down the street towards the train station when I found this girl crossing the road. Everything was normal until now but from the corner of my eyes I saw a speeding truck heading down the street with no intention of stopping.

If it was the ordinary me I would do nothing at such a time but the other side of me that wanted to do something extraordinary didn’t allowed me to stand still.

‘ ~Ahh~ it seems I can’t stop myself even if I want to’ I thought to myself

I felt like a third person looking at myself as I ran towards the girl and pushed her towards the other side of the street. Even though it ensured the girl was now safe but it meant I did not have enough time to move myself.

Time had moved slowly. Things that I had left undone appeared on my mind one by one and disappeared.

My boss from my part-time job, my friends, my recent client. That reminds me, I haven’t submitted my report yet……

And lastly everyone from the orphanage. Its weird to think about them at such a time.

I think they would end up thanking me for my life insurance.

I had written in my will for my life insurance to be donated there. Even though I know most would be pocketed by the orphanage director but it was merely for my own satisfaction. Truly a hypocrite I am.

I still wanted to live with more thrills in my life if possible.

When I though so, I heard a voice of someone screaming, and every bone in my body was broken.