Firework accident

Hello,

I'm hoping it is going to be a relief for me to get this off my chest, so here goes it... I went through a traumatic experience this previous fourth of July (July 4, 2017). I could drag this out because lord knows I remember every single detail, but for the sake of sparing you all the gore; I was at a party with about 20-30 people at it. Granted, the age range was around 16 - 22 years old, so plenty of alcohol was involved (I'm 18 btw). In addition, everyone had brought some sort of fireworks with them, so we had a decent supply of fireworks (a large part illegal, professionally-used fireworks). However, we are not completely idiots so only sober people were allowed to use and set off the fireworks, a safe distance into the street (everyone was outside on the driveway/lawn area).

As we set off each of the fireworks one by one, we got to one that didn't appear to have a fuse - and we weren't about to disassemble a bomb to find the freaking fuse, so we put it in the discard pile. We had people watching the pile of unused fireworks so that no one could just drunkenly walk up and set one off, but no one thought to watch the discard pile because they were all already used, except for one.. Anyways, a really drunk guy - lets call him Sean - decided that he was going to 'help us out' and find the fuse, so he took the fuseless firework out of the discard pile. A little while later, he found the fuse and decided to walk to the front of the crowd and light it, expecting to have enough time to throw it in the air. It went off instantly and Sean ended up losing most of both of his hands that night. Besides Sean, another guy - lets call him Ethan - got shrapnel in his eyes and is still recovering his full vision to this day, and me and my boyfriend got small cuts and abrasions on our skin. Luckily no one else was hurt.

Everyone but a handful of people left the party after the firework went off - they were terrified and still suffering from ringing ears (a bomb did literally go off 30 feet in front of them). Of course, Sean, Ethan, my boyfriend, and I stayed as well as a few others. Everyone was inside caring for Ethan, leaving me and Sean outside (no one but me realized how hurt he was). Anyways.. I was able to get Sean on the ground and apply pressure to his hands/stumps until the ambulance arrived. The paramedics said if I wasn't there, Sean would've lost both of his arms and possibly his life.

I'm still dealing with the aftermath of this, but it is looking up I guess. Thanks for letting me share.

Sincerely,

Zeus