The Will to Fly

Within my life, I have nearly died a total of twenty times. The first time was when I was born. The doctor's heard no heartbeat, but luckily, my mother was far enough along in her pregnancy to be induced. I was birthed with my umbilical cord tied tight around my neck. I was airless for around five minutes. To this day, the doctors are surprised I have no brain damage.

The second and third…. and fourth time I nearly died I was around the age of six. Well, five and six to be exact. I was a bit of a daredevil of a child, and I always had a dream to one day grow wings and fly. Most people would have learned not to jump off buildings the first time they break a leg. It took me three attempts, multiple broken bones, a few skull fractures, and my parents blocking off all access to the roof to get me to stop. The fifth time I nearly died; I attempted to fly was from the tree in my childhood home's backyard. That tree was cut down within the week after that attempt.

The sixth and seventh times, I was eight years old. I was riding my bike in the streets near my home. Normally, this would be safe, but the daredevil in me always wanted to ride out in front of cars as much as possible. I was hit twice before my parents sold my bike and tried to get me to play video games or do anything else instead. They just wanted me to stop endangering myself.

The eighth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh times were all car crashes. I was ten in the first, eleven in the second, and I was seventeen in the last two. My grandparents weren't always the best drivers, and as they started getting older, their reflexes weren't the same. My parents took away their licenses fairly fast after I nearly died from internal bleeding in the second car crash. Little did they know I would actually die in my first car crash, but I came back to life after a minute. Honestly, I don't really remember my second accident all that well.

The last nine times I nearly died. I was training for my job as a stunt double. I was always the man they called when they needed someone to do an extremely dangerous stunt. I was the only one willing enough to make it look realistic, and everyone in the industry knew that I had no fear of dying, just a fear of not being able to do what I love. And I truly loved the feeling of flying through the air, no matter the consequences.

And yet, in spite of everything, my heart's still beating. I'm still breathing, and the doctor's are even questioning how I can even still be alive. The people at my job are encouraging me to quit, or to do anything else. But honestly, I still haven't truly lost my death wish. I still want to fly, and no one is going to stop me until I get what I want.