It was supposed to be a beautiful day. Sunny, high of eighty two degrees. It was May 17th, 2009. Children were playing in the park, Lifeguards were sitting in their stands, cops were out doing their daily patrols of the street.
It was a perfectly normal day in New Jersey. But for some, that perfect day was about to turn into a day that would be burned into their memory for the rest of their lives.
It wasn't a good memory either, the kind of memory that you could just throw back your head and laugh at with your friends five years later at a reunion. No. This was a memory that no one would wish to come across again.
That was the day that Dr. Gregory House got in his motorcycle accident.
Dr. House was on his way to work. As usual, he did not get a lot of sleep last night. He had spent the night throwing his tennis ball against the wall, tossing back Vicadon, and watching soaps on TV. Midnight Special!
As he normally did, he was going faster than he should have been. Speed Limits were always the least of Dr. House's worries. He went over the speed limit everyday, no problems.
That's when it happened.
A seven year old boy, Sean, was playing basketball on his driveway with his friends. He stood back at what he imagined to be a three pointer. He smiled, imagining the fans cheering his name. Gracefully, he leapt into the air, shooting the ball.
The ball managed to get as far as he wanted, but it hit the backboard and bounced into the street. Sean sighed, and ignored his friend's laughter telling them to 'shut up'.
He ran into the street, forgetting to look both ways. As he ran out, Dr. House was coming down the street. House's eyes widened at the sight of the young boy leaning over to pick up his basketball.
House's eyes darted to his right. A bunch of seven year olds were scattered over the lawn. He couldn't risk driving onto the lawn and running over a bunch of kids. He knew his only option was to steer left, into the oncoming traffic.
He had no choice, and besides the lane looked clear. That was his mistake.
Sean looked up to see House flying down at him, and his eyes widened. He was frozen in place.
When House saw the kid didn't move, he steered to the left. He looked over his shoulder to see the kid scurrying back to the lawn. House rolled his eyes. Kids
He turned his head back to see a silver Chevy Cavalier speeding towards him. House tried to veer his motorcycle, but another car was approaching in the other lane. He was trapped.
His motorcycle collided with the Chevy. The hood curled up slightly, and House was thrown from the bike. He rolled up the windshield, over the roof, down the back and onto the hard ground. He heard his helmet crack, as well as severe pain all over his body.
He could tell that he was bleeding from several places on his face. He knew he probably had internal bleeding, and possibly several broken bones.
He had a shooting pain in his leg, and he was struggling to stand awake. He saw a shadow pass him, blocking out the son.
"Sir…Sir…are you okay?" the voice asked. House opened and closed his mouth a few times, but no words came out.
"Hello 911? There's been an accident….I….I hit a man…."
House slowly closed his eyes, unable to bear the pain he was feeling all over.
"An ambulance is coming, man…. An ambulance is coming…"