How I watch a man die.

Yesterday was a supposedly normal day for me.

As usual, I took my time to prepare until I'm left with 10 minutes to make a dash for my tuition class. Just as I was approaching a stairway down, I heard a strange, loud noise. It was such a frightening noise that I decrease my pace and walk down very cautiously. I didn't know what to expect, and I was strangely afraid even though it was broad daylight (about 4.20pm).

There he was, a man probably in his fifties, lying down on the ground. That was nothing near what I was expecting. He was making an irregular breathing sound. Every attempt was harsh and difficult, spurting out saliva. I observed for another 3 seconds or so to see if he was snoring. (I have seen an elderly man done that and he was merely sleeping) I was the only one there, and I panicked. I grabbed the nearest kid and anxiously asked him to go get an adult. I waved at everyone I see to get them to help. A lady walked down and I got her to call the ambulance. She was so calm and even a little smiley. Strange.

I watched as the man's interval in breathing prolonged. Life was draining out of him, but nobody knows how to do CPR. His tongue was rolled up and he urinated on himself. I heard that when a man is dying, he can't control his muscles so thats why he tend to urinate/defecate on himself. His face was purple. And eventually those attempts of breathing stopped entirely. He was lifeless. His chest didn't move at all. Even when a man started to pump on him chest repeatedly with instructions from a medic on the phone, it was just too late. He also used his fingers to unroll the tongue.

In that short span of time waiting for the ambulance, I texted Adam to come down (because his phone can't receive calls) I typed "staircase!!!" without even telling him which one. Even though I thought I was calm, I started to have tunnel vision (thats what Adam told me -.-) I felt myself starting to black out and I had difficulty breathing. The tunnel vision happened 3 times. Its just that I have never experienced a man dying in front of me before, hence the panic attack. I didn't expect myself to behave that way.

The paramedics came, and in the midst of doing their CPR and stuff, I couldn't wait and watch any longer so Adam walked me to the tuition center.

Because I was half an hour late, tuition only lasted an hour and he came to pick me up for dinner. We went to Ion to buy soooo many boxes of sushis and also had proper meal at the foodcourt. Pretty satisfying and great way to distract me from thinking of that incident. I couldn't get the image off my mind. I remember that he was holding a piece of furniture for hooking clothes on the door. It must have been such a normal day for him, heading out to get some necessities and on the way home got hit by a heart attack (or so it looks that way). I wished I could have done something to help. But I was afraid to even go close to him. It was that frightening to even look at. His eyes were opened and bloodshot.

Sigh.

But anyway, I went for Cheryl's Birthday Party afterwards with the girls. Didn't stay for too long but it was good seeing them again. Felt like it was too early for home so I decided to meet Bun Chin and Li Ting for drinks. Haven't met those two for yearsssssssssssss. I love squabbling with Bun. We simply cannot stop.

Li Ting, Ashley - Band Senior (Clarinet)

Bunchin (Wayne) - Band Senior (Trombone)

The night was good, met a few new friends, had supper. If anything that can help with my trauma, this definitely did it. Looking forward to hanging out with them again soon.

Pictures for Cheryl's birthday soon! After Jer uploads.

After today, I should really live each day as it is to the fullest. You never know when death is going to strike you. So go on, make mistakes, learn from it, but most importantly be happy!