I almost got killed... by a roof!

A couple of years ago, my coworkers and I used to travel a lot... work issues, of course. Since all of us have family members in the cities nearby, we thought it would be cooler if we stayed at our respective parents' house instead of paying for an hotel. So girls would stick with girls, and boys with boys.

My parents live in a small border city, so every time we had to go there for a business meeting, Gina (a coworker) and I would stay at my parents' house; we would have awesome breakfast, cable TV, video games and a laundry room. Pretty neat.

There was this one time that we had to travel to the city where Gina's parents lived. So, we got there, left our bags and headed towards the meeting.

I remember that day very very vaguely (because I was tired... REALLY TIRED). Back then, one of my functions as a video editor was also working with the camera. And I'm talking about a BIG camera (well, "big" for me because I'm rather small and skinny). So, imagine a 23 year old skinny girl, with back issues (I have ankylosing spondylitis, but don't worry, I'm fine), holding a big video camera on her shoulders... Not cool!

I know the camera view is facing the other way... It's just more dramatic this way, right?

Anyways, after the big event finally ended, we headed towards Gina's home. It was close to 10pm, and she decided to take a bath right after dinner. So, since they only had one bathroom, I had to wait for my turn (I always, ALWAYS shower at night... my hair looks cooler in the morning that way). So, right after she finished, she went into her room and put the lights out, and I headed towards the bathroom.

I really can't remember how long the shower was, maybe 20 minutes (sorry world). Regardless, it was really late and everybody was fast asleep.
I put my pj's on and quietly opened the door to head towards the guest room. But... it was dark... REALLY dark. I couldn't see a thing. Good thing was I had a good memory and remembered how the corridor looked like; I knew there was a low table and a couple of chairs, a dresser and a lamp. But I also knew that on that table, there was some glass jars and a couple of ceramic figures (an angel, I think).

Do you remember one of my older posts that said I was clumsy? Well... this time was definitely not going to be any different. I was going to be tested.

I quietly picked up my dirty clothes and towel, and walked very veeeeeeeeery carefully between the very veeeeeeeeeery dark room.

I know what you're thinking: "TURN ON THE LIGHTS!". Well, I thought so too, but this wasn't my house, so a) I didn't know where the switch was; and b) I didn't want to wake anybody up.

Anyway, I continued my way through the corridor, almost reaching the room. And then........... *CRASH!*

WHAT HAD JUST HAPPENED?!?! I DIDN'T TOUCH ANYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!! I looked everywhere amidst the darkness but couldn't see anything! What did I just break?!?! And more importantly HOW DID I BREAK IT?!?!

You can imagine what happened next... EMBARRASSMENT.

Gina came out of her room and gave me the weirdest look ever.

Gina: What happened?
Me: I AM SOOOO SORRY!
Gina: What was that sound?
Me: I DON'T KNOW!
Gina: How can you not know?
Me: I HAVE NO IDEA! I SWEAR! I AM SO SORRY!

Then Gina's mom came out of her room.

Gina's Mom: What happened? Is everyone all right?
Gina: I don't know, mom.
Me: MA'AM! I AM SO SORRY! I-I-I don't know what happened!
Gina's Mom: Mariel, calm down. It's okay.
Me: NO! NO! NO! What ever I broke, I will pay for it! I promise! Please don't be mad!
Gina's Mom: Mariel, calm down. What did you break?
Me: I DON'T KNOW!
Gina: Well, it sounded like something definitely broke.
Me: I'M SORRY!
Gina's Mom: It's okay. Let's look around.

I felt awful. You have no idea. AWFUL. I couldn't believe it; first time they open their doors for a crazy girl to sleep in their house, and the crazy girl breaks their stuff. FAAAAAAAANTASTIC!

I obviously didn't move an inch. I was stumped. Shocked. Embarrassed.

We looked around the entire corridor, and nothing. Every jar and ceramic piece was there.
But what about the sound? And what about the pieces behind me? There were broken pieces of... of... of something, just a few inches behind my feet.

Gina's Mom: Everything seems to be fine.
Gina: Yeah, but what is that?

Gina pointed towards the pieces behind me.

Gina: Where did that come from?

It wasn't until I saw Gina's mom confused expression that it occurred me to look to where she was staring: the roof.

THERE WAS A HOLE IN THE ROOF! A FREAKING HOLE IN THE FREAKING ROOF!

Gina's Mom: OH MY GOD! Thank the Lord you're fine!

She hurried to hug me. I had no idea what just had happened.

Gina's Mom: I am SO sorry! We had some construction workers doing a job on the roof and they must have left this part unstable. Can you imagine what would have happened if it had fallen on your head?

And then it hit me (hahaha, lol, I just made a pun).

Sorry.

Hypothetically hit me: if I had been standing just a few inches behind, the cement would have cracked my head. And that would have been it; I would have most probably died or be left pretty stupid.

So, yes, THANK THE LORD I was fine. Just shocked, confused, still embarrassed for waking people up, and thinking about how short life was... but other than that, fine.

I can only say that I was very lucky that time, and that I thank God for making me walk the way I did that night.

Only thing is, I have never been invited to stay over at Gina's parents' house again.