Tears of My Broken Arm by Sunny lee

“Gotta hurry, gotta hurry,” I said to myself as my fingers were flying through the pile of puzzle pieces. I tried to make my right hand move as fast as I could but at the same time, my left arm was suffering in great pain.

Oh hey, are you wondering what happened to my left arm? Sorry, let me scroll back and show you how it happened from the beginning.

‘Ding ding!’ the school bell rang. “Students it’s recess time! Have fun and remember our class rule number one, be safe!” announced my teacher, Ms. McCawley, as we dashed out the door like angry elephants. My friends and I were always the first to get on the old squeaky swings. “Let’s see who can swing the highest!” my friend Lucy said.

“I bet I could beat you down easily,” I shouted back as we both started swinging.

I kicked hard off the ground. I swung my legs back and forth powerfully as I tried to reach as high as I could on my swing. But suddenly, a wind started blowing hard like a tornado was nearby. It suddenly felt like the wind was controlling my body on the swing. I started swinging out of control. My hands were starting to sweat and I started losing my grip on the swing’s rope. I felt myself slowly sliding off my swing. I swung up really high and ‘BAM!’ I flew off my swing and landed straight on the cold concrete ground with my arm first and face second.

“Ohh… I feel sore,” I groaned, as I nearly passed out. The TA (teacher assistant) came and took me to the nurse office. The nurse checked my crooked arm and called my mom. “Hello? Sunny’s Mother? Your daughter has been injured and I’m afraid she will have to be taken to the hospital.”

She paused as I heard my mom reply on the phone. “What? Injured? Hospital Okay I’ll be there in 10 minutes!” The nurse hung up on the phone as I slowly fell asleep in the clinic’s bed.

“What did you do to your arm? How bad did you hurt it that now you have to go check in the hospital?” my mom shouted, jolting me awake. She was angrier than worried when she took me to our car and drove me to the hospital. After the doctor checked my arm, I was shocked because of the four terrifying words he said, “Your arm is broken.”

For a minute my mom and I stared at each other, until for some reason that reminded me of something. “Mom! What about the puzzle competition? It’s in 3 days!” I was ready to burst into tears now. I regretted getting on those swings. I hated the wind that blew me off my swing. I also hated my friend that just had to get me competitive in something as stupid as just a little swing contest. And I suddenly recalled what my teacher said before we went to recess, “Student it’s recess time! Have fun and remember our class rule number one, be safe!”

“Be safe…” I whispered to myself. I started feeling so mad and angry and wanted to give up on everything. The doctor said he had to put a cast on my arm, because if he didn't then later on I wouldn’t even be able to move my arm and the bone would get dislocated badly. I had to listen to the doctor, what choice did I have?

The next day I was depressed. My mood went straight down, like a roller coaster. Whenever I went out of my house I felt like everyone was staring at my arm. By the time I got into the school area, everyone was gathered to ask questions about it.

That day was bad enough, but it got worse when I came home. My mom had just finished a phone call and looked at me frozen. “What happened?” I asked.

“Your friends were talking about it and the news spread to the people who organized the puzzle competition. And they said that you couldn’t join anymore. They said according to the rules of the competition, it stated that each contestant must be a condition where they are able to compete fairly with the other contestants, which includes being able to use both of your arms.” She slowed down towards the end. By the time she finished speaking I was already on the floor crying.

When my mom called me down for dinner, she was all happy and jumpy. I asked her why and she said, “I almost forgot to tell you! After you went up to your room I felt sad because I knew you were really excited for the competition. So, I called the competition judges and talked to them, a very long time actually, and they said that they would allow you back in the competition.” That made my ears twitch. Did I hear her wrong? In a moment I was out of my chair dancing around. I dashed into my room and started timing myself doing different piece puzzles because I never knew how many piece puzzles they might give me to do. I started from 2000, then 5000, then 10,000 and so on.

The 3 days passed and now I was in the puzzle stadium, shaking hands with the other players. My heart was beating at the speed of light. All the other player’s hands and fingers were all big and long. Everyone was at least 12 years old. And I looked at my hands, all short and small. And I was only 6 years old. I only had one comfortable hand to use, and it wasn’t even my dominant hand. When I was just calming myself down, the whistle blew and the competition started. Everyone threw open the 10,000 puzzle piece box and started matching the pieces. I started to think “Oh my gosh I think I should just get out of here.” But my fingers became more and more comfortable and flexible. My fingers were flying through the pile of puzzle pieces and my work. In about 15-20 minutes I was done and I raised my hand. The judges came and made sure my pieces were all in the right place. I sat, more confident then ever: I knew I was the winner. I looked up and around myself with a big smile. But when I turned my head back, I started thinking something was wrong.

The judges looked frozen and were slowly shaking their heads at each other while the other contestants, and the whole audience, focused on the judges and me. There was a large pause until one of the judges finally made a sudden movement. They held my arm up and blew the whistle. I made it. Even with a broken arm. I beat everyone. I was overjoyed when the judges handed me my trophy. I waved at the audience and held up the trophy with both arms, feeling confident. My left arm felt a sharp pain when I lifted the trophy, but come on. I won this. Did it really matter anymore?