I lay there restless in my bed, wishing I could just fall asleep. I glance at my alarm clock, 8:00 pm. My wife was lucky and got to sleep right away. Tomorrow’s black Friday and I’m going to try and be there early. I roll over under the covers and listen to the wind whip the leaves around in the cool, late fall wind. I was hoping I would be able to fall asleep earlier because I had a big dinner. Our thanksgiving was very rough. It’s always difficult when the entire family comes together, we don’t really get on well. I tried to think of the big meal and relax my muscles, and I could feel myself getting more sleepy. I tried to focus on the wind and on the crisp, cold air blowing through the crack in the window making me even more grateful for my covers. I don’t know how long it was until I finally drifted off but the last thing I remember was my watch beeping to tell me it was 9:00 pm. 

My alarm clock wakes me up from my peaceful rest at 3:00 am sharp and I drag myself out of bed. I made a deal with my wife that I would go wait in line at 3:00 and she would come at 6:00. I walk downstairs and grab the pot of coffee. “Oh no!” I forgot to make coffee last night. I grab the instant coffee we keep just in case of a situation like this. I boil some water and put it in. It tastes horrible, but I drink it anyway. After drinking coffee for years it doesn’t do anything to help wake me up. “I’ll just stop by a Starbucks on my way there” I mutter. I drag myself back up the stairs and get dressed. I slowly and carefully put my clothes on, so as not to wake my wife. She was already unhappy about waking up at 6:00 so if I woke her now, I would be in big trouble. Being quiet proved to be a difficult task because I was practically half asleep still and I kept almost falling over when my weak morning legs would give out. When I finally got my clothes on, I stepped into my bathroom and looked in the mirror. It looked like I was recovering from a hangover. I ran a comb through my hair and shaved the stubble off my chin. I glanced at the clock “3:30, I’m not gonna get there until 4:00 at least” I say to myself. 

When I finally got myself looking somewhat presentable I headed back downstairs and finished getting ready. I go over my mental checklist to make sure I got everything “keys, water, phone. I should be ready to go. 

I step outside and the cold air whips around me. I flip the collar up on my Adidas sports jacket and hurry to the car. I quickly get in and crank up the heat. I sit there for a moment warming myself. I hate winter. It’s always cold and miserable, and everything is dead and has no color. And then on top of all of that everyone expects you to be cheerful and enjoy it. Well I don’t, Christmas is just a big corporate holiday that makes you spend money on people, and if you don’t you’re considered rude. A tree branch banging against the side of the house snaps me back to reality. I put the car in reverse and back out of the driveway. It’s definitely cold enough for snow at this point but I haven’t seen a single flake. That’s another reason why I hate winter. It’s always cold but there’s never any snow. 

I crest the hill that divides our town into halves. From the top, you can see a view of the whole town, despite the hill being rather short. As I look around I see lights turning on in shops as they prepare themselves for the busy day that is ahead of them. In the distance, I see the illuminated sign that displays the Starbucks logo. It’s double-sided so it can face the town and the highway. That’s where it gets most of its customers. 

Our town is pretty reliant on the people who get off the highway. Our town is very big and is filled with large corporations who have so much money they could open a shop just about anywhere and not have to worry. It takes all the business away from our town’s locally owned businesses. 

I finally pull into the Starbucks drive-thru and I get in line. After what felt like a century I pulled up to the window. “6 dollars for a coffee” I exclaim “I’m being robbed”! I pull up to the sign and roll down my window. “What can I get for you today?” the machine says. The person speaking sounds just as unhappy to be here as I am. “Can I get a venti black coffee please?” I say. The machine responds with “would like anything with that”. I responded with “no thank you”. When I finally make it to the pickup window I look around for my wallet. It’s not where I normally put it. I check the glove department, I check the seat. With each place, I look more and more worry creeps into my head. My movements gain speed and soon I’m in a frenzy. I can hear the lady at the window asking me to please hurry up. The cars honking in the background do nothing to ease my stress. I check one last place and find a crumpled-up five-dollar bill and three-quarters. I check the floor and I find a dime and two nickels. I spot another quarter in the back seat and I unbuckle to grab it. The people around me are getting more impatient with every passing second. I grab the quarter, roll down my window and hand the lady my sad excuse for payment. She hands me my coffee and in an annoyed tone says “have a good day”. That was a nightmare I think to myself. My coffee isn’t even good. This is going to be a very bad day.

I pull into the parking lot of the best buy, the line of people stretching all the way down the front of the building and wrapping around it and out of sight. I’m a fast runner and I’ll probably be able to get ahead of some people by dashing for the entrance. There are no parking spots near the line so I’m forced to park further back in the parking lot. I step out of my car and the cold air is like a punch to the gut. I start walking to the line and my boogers begin to freeze. I HATE when that happens. I’m inadequately dressed, I’m wearing a thin underlayer with an Adidas sports jacket and some jeans. I blow on my hands to warm them up and then stick them in the pockets of my jacket. I wanted to check the time, which meant taking my hand out and checking my watch. While my brain fights the mental battle of whether or not to do it, I hear someone yelling that the back of the line is in their direction. I look up to see where I’m going and I realize the line is so much longer than I had thought. “It’s a best buy, how many people come to a best buy on black friday” I thought to myself. I realized that I had taken my hand out of my subconsciously, so I checked the time. 4:30am. I then stick my hand back in my pocket and tuck my chin into my jacket. I think of my wife who is all cozy in our bed and still sleeping. I would give anything to be back in the safety of my covers. 

I finally reach the end of the line and I try to think of something to pass the time. I begin to think of why on earth I’m here, standing in the freezing cold, waiting in line to spend a ton of money on something that will give a few people temporary happiness. I begin to think of why other people are here and what they think of this whole mess. I look down the line and see this guy who brought a camping stove and is making hot chocolate. I almost fell asleep standing in line but I was brought back into reality when someone yelled the store was opening. I prepared myself to run but found out very quickly that it was a false alarm. I look at my watch, only to find that it’s been close to 2 hours. My wife should have arrived by now so I looked around. I couldn’t find her anywhere so I assumed she was running late. I check my phone and find out that the store opens at 7:00 am. I also opened the text my wife sent me, it reads “sorry honey but jack isn’t feeling well so i’m going to stay home”. I feel so bad for my son, he has been dealing with a really bad case of the flu and… 

All of the sudden people are rushing all around me, what’s going on, is it another false alarm. I start moving with the crowd, our paces quickening with every step. I notice people rushing in, they must’ve opened the store early. I realize this is my chance. I start running but my muscles are frozen from standing in the cold for so long. As they start to warm up I’m going faster and faster. I was almost at the entrance when I found out that someone had broken the glass door of the best buy and everyone was rushing in. I start running faster, weaving through every gap between people. I’m almost there, but it’s getting harder and harder to advance. Everyone is being squished together as they all run for the narrow gap. I finally made it through and now it’s  starting to widen out, but just when I thought I was in the clear, I tripped. I don’t know what I tripped on, all I know is I went hurtling forward into the crowd. My leg hurt a ton, but my ankle was worse. I thought someone would come to my aid, but I was wrong. The staff was trying to control the crowds, and none of them could see me through the wall of people. Eventually people stopped parting with me and began to trample me. It was worse than any pain I had ever felt. This one lady with high heels came and it practically impaled me. She fell over but got back up in time. I could feel my life being squished out of me. At this moment, while thinking I was going to die, I thought again to the reasons I hated this day, and why I always avoided it. I realized that this is what the business wanted. Not for someone to die, but for people to be so blinded by the idea of items that are 10% off that they wouldn’t stop to help another person. Business wanted people to care about nothing except their sales. And while another human being was being trampled underneath their feet, they wanted something that would bring them temporary happiness. I watched helplessly, looking upwards at the people who were choking the life out of me, as the air got pushed out of my lungs. I grabbed someone’s leg and everything went dark. 

When I woke up I was in a hospital bed surrounded by those I love. I looked around, my ankle had a brace on it and my knee had a nasty bruise. I didn’t dare look at my chest, I could feel how bad it was. I tried to sit up and it was like a thousand knives stabbed into me at once. I instantly leaned back into my pillow. I was lucky to be alive. With a great deal of pain I turned my head and looked around. I saw a nurse talking to my family outside. On the table there was a card from best buy with big letters saying “were so sorry…” I couldn’t read anymore because a vase of flowers blocked it. I looked out the window and saw a nurse talking to my family. My son jack clutching at her chest with a look of anguish. Fear flooded my mind. I looked at the nurse who wore a very sad face. Finally I looked at my wife who was crying all over the place. I looked at the ceiling and felt sadness rush all through my body. I sat there drifting off to sleep, and I thought in my head, I will never have a bad day, like this one.