I Was Just 5 Minutes From Home…. It was a normal Thursday, I didn’t have… | by Manavi Panwar | Aug, 2025

It was a normal Thursday, I didn’t have my college. The day was quiet, I was taking a nap with my dog. I woke up around 5:30pm and fell back to sleep for a little more time.
My mom called me and asked me if I could do some work for her, usually I deny but that day I was like it’s okay I’ll do it. When I fell back asleep I was having really vivid dreams and when my mom called I was half asleep and this random scenario played in my head where I was getting hit by something. As soon as I woke up I forgot about it, started getting ready, I always wear slippers but I don’t know why that day I wore my shoes.

I was leaving the house wearing my eyeglasses, but then I just came back and took them off and left without them. I left the house, I was supposed to go only 5 mins away, there was so much traffic that day. I was almost on the last turn that I had to take, there were cars lined up, I took a turn I crossed the car and suddenly… boom. I was on the floor aching with pain wanting to cry, all confused and shivering from head to toe.

I could see people around me. 2 of them picked me up, made me sit on a chair, 10–15 people surrounding me, someone gave me their handkerchief as it wouldn’t stop bleeding. Someone checking if my legs are fine, and if I’m able to walk. With my shivering hands I called my brother and told him, “I had an accident please come.” Luckily he was very close to that place, he arrived, asked me to get up, told everyone around that it’s okay he’ll take care. I asked him almost breaking down, “is my face okay?” He said you’ll be fine don’t worry. He took me to the hospital.

I was lying down there waiting for the doctor to check and clean my wounds. I was in so much pain, I couldn’t walk, my face was bleeding, my hands, my legs, there were bruises all over. The doctor started cleaning up my wounds, and then I saw my dad. By that time, I was on the verge of crying and then I just couldn’t stop my tears from falling. And I tried to wipe each tear with my shivering hands. The doctor did the dressing and then my brother helped me walk to the car. I sat in the car, saw my face in the camera, and my heart broke. The favorite side of my face was covered in blood and bruises. While my dad and brother took me to another doctor, my tears wouldn’t stop.

How did this happen? How do I look? Will it leave permanent scars on my face? And ofc the unbearable pain. I saw my mom, she continuously kept blaming herself and I kept telling her it’s okay not a big deal it was meant to happen.

We got home after getting all the dressing done and I saw my dog run up to me and sit beside me as if he understood everything. I told my friends, everyone kept asking are you okay, how did it happen. I kept my phone aside and tried to sleep, but my brain wouldn’t stop replaying the incident trying to figure out what actually happened. It was so sudden, everything happened in a matter of few seconds and I was just on the road. The first night, I remember being in so much pain I couldn’t even move an inch on my bed.

The next day, it started getting bad, my eye swelled up, all the bruises started paining so much. I was trying to keep myself sane, I kept recording all of it. The day went fine, later that night I watched a movie to distract myself, and little did I know I was going to lose my mind. Everything felt like it was not happening to me until I saw myself in the mirror. None of it felt real. How could it happen? To me? You’re telling me my face is now covered with bruises and I have to be okay with it? You’re kidding, it didn’t happen to me, it was all a bad dream right?

I wish it was. Started with a few uncontrollable breakdowns and later turned into full blown panic attacks. I was losing my mind, crying with all my heart trying to make sense of how everything happened. ChatGPT later told me it was “derealization” and post accident trauma which made sense but in the moment I clearly thought I will go crazy.

Sometimes life doesn’t give you a choice — it just forces you to stop, and all you can do is feel it.