The PJ Carnival

I was lying on my back, wearing my pajamas; a blue t-shirt and grey sweatpants; looking up towards the stars – the sticker stars – I was on my bed. Today is the Pajama Carnival.

The Pajama Carnival is an annual carnival where people gather in the City square wearing their pajamas. The decoration last year was a huge bed without a mattress and all people were in that bed dancing with their pajamas on. It was like a fence around them but when you looked from above it was actually a bed.
I have no idea who was the inventor of the Pajama Carnival and for what purpose. I think people are trying to discover feasts or make carnivals up just to have fun. Anyway, who would blame them; no one hates the carnivals, or days off.
I had a huge fight with my friends so I decided not to go to the Pajama Carnival this time; instead I decided to enjoy the personality tests and the silly applications of Facebook.
I stopped staring to those plastic stars and started surfing Facebook. I took several quizzes till I found that one that caught my eye; “Prove your braveness”. I opened it; the first question was picking a random date, and I picked today’s date. “Happy PJ Party! Your braveness proof for today is to sleep with your PJ in the middle of any street for just five minutes.”

Luckily, at the Pajama Carnival the streets are somehow deserted; all people go the Carnival. I went to a nearby street, “they are just five minutes” I thought, and even the street I picked rarely cars pass by it. I knew it was silly but I wanted to prove to myself that I can do anything, plus, I was bored. I went to that street where the lights were really low. I set the timer for five minutes then I laid on my back…many thoughts came up into my mind. I remembered happy moments; I started to laugh, and my laugh gradually got higher and then the timer rang. While I was getting up I saw that car coming, and then..
I was lying on my back, wearing my pajamas; a blue t-shirt and grey sweatpants. I was just lying there, looking towards the stars – the real ones. I was on the street.
I tried to stand but I couldn’t. I heard someone talking to me in a broken voice asking me if I am still alive. I was in pain. I stood up; oh oh but my body was still on the ground. Am I dead?
I forgot the feeling of pain; I may even have forgotten the meaning of the word “pain”. Being hurt was no more my biggest issue; my real and only one was to discover if I am still alive or not.
I saw the man crying and calling someone, and he was saying “I killed someone!”
I said WHAT kill!! That’s when I knew that I am really dead now. After a while and several calls the ambulance came and my body was carried away. The police arrested the man in his black pajamas.

I wanted to cry but I couldn’t… I am dead and I can’t even cry over my body. I went with my body to the hospital; they grabbed my mobile from my pocket and called my dad, “Oh no, stop please I am still alive!” that was what I was trying to say. After ten minutes I found my parents hurrying in; they were also in pajamas’; not for celebrating the Pajama Carnival thing, but because they were in a hurry. My mom cried hoping it was a nightmare and my dad stood still doing nothing, then he fainted.
Moments passed; the moments where everyone was crying because I am gone.
Today is my funeral. All people were in black; a day in pajamas’ and the following day in formal…what a life! After the funeral passed, I found one of my sister’s friends talking to another one telling her that the guy that crashed me is going to be executed very soon.
I felt as if a rock fell over my body… it was my entire fault. I was the one who was lying in the middle of a dark street.
Adam and Ali were there at my funeral; it was the first time for me to see Ali like this… he was crying. It’s really sweet but what killed me again was that the last time I saw them we had a fight. Adam was high I guess, but he looked really upset. Oh Adam you quitted for a whole year now, please don’t go back to these poisons because I am dead…
I went to the station where the man that crashed me was. I found him crying, screaming “I have a lonely daughter, her mother died and I don’t want her to live in an orphan’s shelter! I didn’t crash him I swear he just appeared suddenly; he was sleeping on the street!!”
The officer started to get frustrated; he said, “What would make a guy like him sleep on the street? Does he look like a homeless one to you?! Just admit it; you crashed him because you were driving fast”.
The man said, “I swear-“, the officer got angry and shouted “take him to jail!”.
I felt sorry for him. I was helpless; I turned the life of a stranger to hell because of a stupid application! Face book must be blamed!
But hey, am I lying to myself?! I am the only one to be blamed!!
If I just could turn back time…
I decided to go to Adam and Ali. I have to tell them to tell the officer that it was my entire fault.
I went to the place we used to gather at. Ali was saying to Adam, “I can’t believe the last time we saw him we had a fight… if I knew this was going to happen I would have never had a fight with him. I would never have a fight with anyone!”
Adam was just nodding.
I said “hey guys I am still alive!”, Adam moved his look fast to me – I thanked god that he noticed me – and then he said, “is he really dead?!”, and he looked back to the ground…
Oh they can’t hear me! I am dead and helpless. I hurt people when I was alive and I had the choice to fix this but I didn’t, and now I am dead and hurt people again and I want to fix things but I can’t. Why is death so hard?
I felt like a rock was setting on my chest; I can’t move it and when I tried to move it, it cut me more. I can’t talk to anyone. I decided to pray; Allah will be next to me, he is the only one that can help me now and he is the only one that can hear me.
Dear Allah, help me fix this; help this man go back to his daughter, help Adam quit smoking weeds again, help me remove that feeling of regret…Then suddenly my mouth tangled and I lost my voice; I couldn’t speak, and then I started fainting…
I was lying on my back. I felt a twinge in my hands, the one similar to what I felt when I made the excrescence operation. That was when I knew that I am at the hospital.
I opened my eyes and heard my mom shouting, “He opened his eyes! He opened his eyes!”
After a few seconds the doctor came and told me that I have been in a coma for three months. He asked me what my name was and I said, “I turned back time”.
“Welcome back Ramy”
“The man… the man that hit me it was not his fault”
“The one who crashed you is a lady. She is a 19 years old girl”, the doctor said.
“A lady! …is she going to jail?”I asked. They said yes because she was driving very fast. I shouted, “No! No! It was my fault; I was the one who slept on the street!”.
They told me she was at her home waiting for the trial.

The doctor said I could leave tomorrow. After an hour of happiness, and cries that I am finally awake, Adam and Ali came. They said they were glad that I have woken up. I asked Adam, “Are you back to weeds?”, he replied, “hell no!”.
The second day I was released. I went to the police station directly and told them it was my fault and they should release that lady.
It was the happiest moment in my life when I left the office; I felt the heavy rock I had over my chest removed finally; I felt free. I wished I could be a bird to fly up high and higher celebrating my freedom…
Then I saw a young boy running to get his ball, his mom screamed. While I observed this, I found myself lying on the ground. The lady was hugging her son and crying and I heard a man saying while pointing at me that I saved the kid.
Now I am dead.
It was too quick that I didn’t feel any pain, but according to my experience in death that was the best I would have ever wished for. I died as a martyr.
One day I died as a criminal and the other day I died as a hero.