Brother from another mother

Car crash

It's amazing how many thoughts a person can have in the span of a few seconds. Mike can remember all ten he had before he crashed his bike and was hit by a car. Not an experience he particularly wished to recall...or even have happen again, but as he lay sullen and aching in the back of an ambulance it was the only thing that would replay in his head as he tried not to think of how Harvey would react once he found out what happened. And he would find out, Mike had no doubt about that, the man seemed to have a six sense for whenever something went wrong in his associate's life...or more when he did something wrong.

Mike narrowed his eyes and shook his head as he dislodged the mental image of Harvey and went back to replaying the stupid incident. His first thought had stupidly been: What!

Honestly, he was sure that the word itself had played out on his face as he pedaled down forty-second street. He had heard the screeching of breaks and the blaring of a car horn behind him. Automatically, his head turned to see what all the fuss was about. It had been a mistake on his part to look, for all the time that he's lived in New York, road rage should no longer capture his attention. It was at the time of his momentary distraction that he failed to note the opening of the driver side door of a parked car not even ten feet in front of him.

Oh shit!

Had been his second thought as he had turned back around to see the protruding door and the leg of said door's owner. He hoped like hell he wouldn't barrel into anything because he knew he was going too fast to stop in time, but that didn't mean he hadn't tried. Oh...how he tried.

This isn't going to end well.

Oddly enough that thought had actually sounded like Harvey as Mike frantically grasped for the brake and swerved. Really that should of have been the end of it had he been pedaling on the sidewalk and not on the street, but as it was things just got worse from there.

Idiot!

Was the next thought as he realized a second too late that he had swerved too far out into the street and the momentum of his sudden stop was going to send him flying from his seat. He still wasn't sure if the criticism had been directed at himself or the horrorstricken door owner – who could see what was about to happen and had sat uselessly in her car. Thanks so much.

His next four thoughts were...well not very nice...and he'll leave it at that.

It was strange to say, but at the time it felt like everything had moved in slow motion and at fast forward speeds all at once. He knew what was going to happen, only milliseconds before it did and still he hadn't been able to change a damn thing. His entire body had lurched to the right and into the spin of some very demented summersault. His stomach caught the right handlebar, sufficiently knocking the wind out of him as his leg jarred against the bike chain.

I'm going to die.

The only saving grace from this whole episode was that traffic had momentarily been slowed by the event that had distracted him in the first place. So, as he was launched over the handlebars, the taxi that came to cushion part of his back had practically been parked as it waited for the car in front to move. He winced as he remembered the way his body had slammed onto the corner of the yellow hood and how his shoulder bag had smashed his side before he had rolled and hit the front bumper...in the same spot the handlebar had damaged before mercifully he landed on the street.

I was actually on time, though.

Had been Mike's last thought as his head touched the ground and he realized he would be okay. It was seconds after this that concerned faces appeared in his purview and incessant questions were pitched forth. He idly recalled that he hadn't been able to breathe for a few minutes and had blacked out. When he had opened his eyes again a pair of paramedics was hovering over him. Yeah, he was so going to be late again.