Second Creative Writing Challenge: Task #9 - Second Chance

Mike was trying to shake off the deep depression he was immersed in, he found no comfort in anything as he sat at the bar to drink a glass of his favorite whiskey. His wife had left their home with their two children; the relationship with his wife had become very stormy, Mike thought she had cheated on him with another man and all the facts indicated that his suspicions were correct. Visits of the depressed man to the bar were increasingly frequent, he would leave work and go straight to sit in the high chair in front of that bar where the bartender served his numerous drinks of dry whiskey.

A week later Mike waited for the bar to close, then he went to another local bar and bought a bottle of liquor, he drank it while driving home listening to loud music, he nearly crashed several times; he finally arrived home totally drunk, everything around him reminded him of his wife and children. He tossed the decorations of the room to the floor and shouted insults at his absent wife, then threw himself into the furniture where fatigue and alcohol whirled up in his system.

Mike began to arrive late at work, which brought him serious problems and warnings of dismissal from his boss, his colleagues noticed an unusual behavior in Mike. The stench of alcohol in the morning was perceived by his friends, even though Mike tried to hide the smell by chewing gum and drinking coffee. His careless manner of dressing evidenced an almost toral abandonment of his personal care, Mike stopped shaving and from time to time did not comb his hair. All these factors made the inevitable happen, Mike was fired. After two discussions with the bartender for not wanting to leave as soon as the bar was closed, the business owner forbade him to enter. Mike was looking for any other bar where he could drown his frustrations and sorrows in alcohol.

Alcohol intake became a vital necessity for Mike, if he spent more than two hours without drinking he would desperately sought to drink whatever alcohol he could find, money was scarce and he went from drinking whiskey to drinks that had much more lower quality. He had sold anything of value to his home to pay for his vice. His friends tried to help him, there were some visits of Mike to groups of alcoholics anonymous but the therapies did not work, the break up had shattered his will to continue living.

One day in the afternoon Mike was in his car totally drunk, this time, his condition was very serious, he tried to hold the steering wheel firmly but his senses were totally distorted, he looked at the road and saw the vehicles passing by his side, his vision was blurry and he could not keep his balance. He heard a crash and then everything darkened, he could barely see some things on the road that went around and around, then he fainted. Mike woke up and tried to move but the pain would not let him, he was lying in a hospital bed, he was monitored by devices that followed his vital signs, next to him a doctor and two nurses that tried to calm him and they succeeded by middle of a sedative, yet Mike was aware.

After a few hours, the doctor told him what had happened to him, his car had overturned, had turned several times and was left in the middle of the road. The emergency crews managed to arrive in time and rescued him from inside his shattered vehicle, but that was the only thing that had happened, in the accident his vehicle had impacted with another car and there was a woman with two minor children who were seriously injured and confined in the same hospital, those were his ex wife and children, Mike received such a strong impact when receiving that news that he almost fainted, began to scream desperately and had to be sedated again. Mike was beginning to regain consciousness and this time he was totally still, he wanted to die.

The lights in the room were off and as he listened to the light sound of the apparatuses, his mind was filled with memories, then the pain and sorrow caused sobs and tears in his eyes. He felt guilty about what had happened and he wanted to die, he tried to call the nurse because he desperately wanted to know about his ex and his children but he was so weak and sedated that he could not do it.

He was submerged in his pain and unable to do anything, there in the gloom of the hospital room... He could only drop his head to one side, there he looked through the blinds of the windows as light entered through the small thin slits, then began to feel something strange, it was as if the light became more intense and blue. He thought something was happening in his head because of his condition, what Mike felt was something reassuring, so he let himself be carried by that feeling, then he began to to perceive as a kind of presence, formless and without matter but occupying the whole room. Mike was a very unreligious man, yet the experience was such that he could not help but think that he was surrounded by a divine presence, then in his dream he thought, "Lord, forgive me, save my wife and children, change my life for theirs," then Mike lost consciousness again.

After a few hours, Mike opened his eyes, he had dreamed of his children. In front of him was the doctor and two friends, Mike immediately asked for their loved ones, and then the doctor said some words that Mike would never forget, "they are miraculously out of danger". Mike felt as if his soul had returned to his body, he convinced himself that it had truly been a miracle, and that his strange experience had been an opportunity that something divine and supernatural had given him. He told all that happened to one of his friends who had stayed the night with him and was the one who gave him information about the condition of his ex and his children who improved quickly, then his friend in the middle of the confession said "Mike, maybe it was a miracle, but look, you have not died neither your ex, nor your children" then Mike looked at his friend straight in the eyes and said, "you're wrong, the Mike of before really died , I have been reborn and I swear to be a different man".

---

Source of Image 1
Source of Image 2