I Was So Ill Walking Was Impossible Until a Fellow Passenger Practically Supported Me to a Restroom.
At the age of my late teens, my daily commute meant taking an packed public transport. The vehicle was always jammed and was consistently completely full once I boarded.
During a certain commute, I began feeling incredibly sick when the coach lurched around every turn. I repeatedly told myself to hold on another few kilometres so the bus could got to where I needed to get off, so I could then rush hurriedly to the closest washroom to be sick.
The bus was approaching the street towards my stop and it dawned on me I would not be to hold on. Suddenly, it was like a fog descended upon me. The world became white and really quiet; as if someone cut the sound. My mind raced, “I will lose consciousness”.
Luckily I was toward the front on the bus, allowing me to take a few steps toward the driver and asked the driver to open the doors, telling him I was going to vomit. The driver opened the doors and I weakly exited out onto the street.
I was determined to avoid being sick in front of multiple lanes of cars, so I gathered myself and endeavored to make my way to the park across the road, where I thought I’d at least be able to discreetly hide among some shrubs to be sick. However I apparently fainted. I sensed my physical self, yet I couldn’t walk or see properly, so I began inching my way to the grassy area.
“Everything alright, love?”
Right then, someone picked me up. I felt a strong arm supporting me and heard a man say, “Everything alright, love?” I managed to tell the unknown man that I needed to vomit. So he virtually supported my weight over to a nearby building and placed me inside the women’s restroom. He wanted to know if I needed him to wait for me but I declined.
After a short while, I regained my composure enough to sit on the restroom floor and from outside the door I heard him ask, “Are you feeling better, dear? Do you need anything?” I was incapable to stand up at that moment but did manage to express my gratitude and following a brief period regained the function of my feet. I returned home passing the following days getting over what was later diagnosed as a horrible case of gastroenteritis.
I never glimpsed the stranger’s face – merely his legs and the big container for tools he held – yet he rescued me, when I was at my most vulnerable.
Frequently, society has a way of making you guarded, hostile, and combative. His was the sort of gesture that undoes that protective shell. He was proof that our default setting is to be kind, a quality I adore about humanity.
