"Plausible Death" by Corey C

     It was a very warm Wednesday afternoon in late November, like a lot of days in Fontana, it was
nice and the breeze was light. I was only 10 at the time and very close to turning 11, as my
birthday was on the 14th of December. I remember back at that time I used to go out a lot with
the kids in my neighborhood. It was really fun going out and seeing them every day because we
had a lot of things to entertain us, simple things, riding bikes, the stupid pokemon cards we used
to collect and even just walking around outside and talking. This day I had gone over to my
friend Ezra’s house, and everything seemed to be fine until it started to get later into the
afternoon. Me, Ezra and his little sister decided to go outside and just go to sit down and talk to
each other. Their dad had let their dog out to come out and play with us. We didn’t really play
with the dog until a bit later after he was let out. The dog was a Rottweiler and was very friendly
although I did have a tiny fear of him, I had disregarded it while I was with them. The dog came
out to lay on the grass very close to where I was. Without thinking I quickly got up pushing
towards the dog which was a huge mistake on my part. The dog quickly attacked and I had
clenched my neck and curled up my shoulder and the dog had bit the right side of my lip and
arm. Blood was all over the ground as I was bleeding profusely. The little sister was screaming
as their dad hurried her over to go get my dad as he tried to bandage what he could and take care
of me for a bit. My dad grabbed me and took me back to our house to get in the car and we
rushed over to urgent care. While on the drive there, he of course, asked me questions about what
had happened to me. My shirt was torn down and blood was everywhere on me. We went into
the UC and explained what had happened. Quickly they led me to a room because of my critical
condition. I was there for about an hour and a half. During that time, I was injected with 3 shots,
2 in my arm and one in my face, it hurt a lot and it felt like a bee stinging me. They told me that
the hole in my arm was 1 inch away from the bone and that the tissue from there was torn out
completely but it would grow back eventually. After being stitched up which consisted of 5 in
my shoulder and 7 in my face I was finally able to leave and go back home. I still felt really bad
and I was shaky. I was still able to have a little bit of the taste of blood from when I was first
attacked. I was told that the dog had to be quarantined and had to stay in the backyard for 2
weeks while tested to see if it had rabies. Fortunately, the dog didn’t have rabies and the county
decided not to put him to death based off of this incident. I learned from this experience that
even the most friendly animals can turn on you if they perceive a threat. I learned that day that I
could have died if he were to have bitten me in the neck. Which still to this day makes me sit and
wonder, what would have happened if I had never curled up in fear?...