January 15

It was another grey winter afternoon, full of the rush of the second day of the week. So many tasks were waiting for me at work; once I arrived and immediately took to them I never looked up to see the time until-

BOOM

It was all in a matter of seconds that I leapt from my place and ran – along with other colleagues who were present – toward the opposite wall from where the deafening and heart-stopping sound of the explosion came and the first thing that occurred to my strangely still rational mind was: This was here…oh no… and I began to pray that the people I knew would tread that road were safe and immediately took my mobile to call them.

But the lines were dead.

My hands were shaking. Everyone was on their feet looking at each other with terror on their teary faces. Soon enough we heard the sirens of ambulances and fire trucks approaching.

The bomb had exploded on the corner of the lane that leads to a highway – just a block away from where I work.

It’s not an unusual event anymore, it’s been happening since 2005. But of course, none of us civillians would believe that we can be on site when it happens next – until it does.

A friend asked me what it was like to hear the bomb go off so near, and how I felt during the ordeal. I told him I was horrified but the feeling faded after a few minutes, and dramatically seconds after it happened, during which my mind calculated that I’m safe and alive and okay. Actually, I was much more terrified – and for a longer time – of other things in life, like during a simple and "fun" rollercoaster ride I took about four years ago. Back then I even thought that I was living my last moments and it didn’t make me feel safer that I had company, or that there were other people on the ride also.

So all that fear and shock and fuss – it’s all pointless drama, because it was over in a second. At least for those who were lucky like us.

It's the realization that I was only a few meters away, or one and a half hours away from death that is horrifying on a more profound level. It makes me stop, relive the moment, and reflect on my life. I won’t be living forever, but this wasn’t the first time my life was spared…And I am yet to find out why…