Stitches

For more than a year, EVERY day seemed like it was Halloween. It began seven years ago, when I was riding a bike during recess in kindergarten. I fell on the left side of my forehead, and ended up with a vertical gash just outside of my eyebrow, between my eyes. Yikes! There was soooo much blood gushing from the wound!

My mom took me to the emergency room. The doctor said that I should get stitches. I was scared and nervous. The doctor’s assistant showed me what they were going to do to me with a model doll. They stitched the doll’s head with a needle and thread. It looked very creepy and frightening!

Uh oh, now it was my turn! The doctor put an eye mask on me and spread some sort of numbing medicine on my head so I wouldn't feel the pain as much. He slowly stitched the first stitch, which didn't hurt that bad. Then the stitched the second, which stung a little more and finally the third one. OUCH!!! The third stitch stung the most! It was 100 times more painful than the second stitch!

It was finally over, or at least I thought it was. I looked in the mirror and saw a big vertical scar with three horizontal stitches sealed with surgical superglue. Great, just what I wanted, a big scar on my forehead.

After a week,  I scratched my forehead a couple of times. It was really itchy for some reason. I kept on scratching and heard my mom call me up for dinner. I washed up and ran to the kitchen.

When I came up, she immediately screamed, “What did you do to your face?!?!?! What were you thinking?!?!?! You look like Frankenstein!!!”  I pretended to be clueless of what she was talking about. I explained that I scratched my forehead just a few times. I kept on insisting that there was no problem.

“It’s my face and I can do whatever I want with it!!!!” I told her.

I looked at the mirror and to my horror, my mom was right (as usual), I really did look like Frankenstein!!! My stitches were ripped off leaving deep openings where the stitches use to be. Oh, I wished that I never scratched or “ripped” (as my mom says) my stitches. If only I didn’t fall off the bike...Yes, it’s my face now... If only it was just a dream, but it was not...

Every day for about 2 and a half years, it was Halloween. I walked around with a scar every day looking like Frankenstein. It took a few years for the scar to heal and gradually fade. Every once in awhile, when I forget sunscreen and stay in the sun too long, the frankenstein scar will magically appear. So, no matter how hard they itch, never ever scratch your stitches.