Life is sweet. That simple fact rang through Erick's head as he near skipped past the Library Tower, listening to his iPod. Everything in his life was going great: great grades, great girlfriend, great job. Yes, life was sweet. He soon came to a bus stop, which he stopped at. Checking the time, he was alarmed to realize that it was far past 7:00, the agreed time for his date. Panicking, and seeing that the next bus was scheduled to come by in 30 minutes, he decided to run to the restaurant. Sprinting across the street, he looked to the right and left, but it was far too late. A sudden burst of pain on his left side, followed by complete numbness. 30 seconds later, as he lay on the street, hearing the shrieks of onlookers, he knew he must've broken his back. The driver of the truck that had hit him ran out and was hurriedly calling 911 on his cell phone. Looking down at his body, he saw that he was bleeding heavily from his left arm. Apparently, he had been slashed by the truck's sharp grill. Then, just as suddenly as the pain had come and gone, everything went black.