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8

After days of crying Alyssa finally put a post out on social media. She got on their joint account, her personal and Kingston's personal account.

She writes. I regret to inform you all. Kingston Gray passed away July 28th after passing in her sleep. After her almost 1 year battle with ALS. She will be remembered as a wife, daughter, friend, wrestler, and mentor. I will be taking a break from social media for a little while.

She ends the note and post it to the three accounts and shuts off her phone. I drive back to Chicago and enter my apartment. I turn on the news only for them to be talking about Kingston's memory. She immediately shuts off the tv and starts throwing stuff. She takes the vase on the bedside table and chucks it at the wall, chucking the feeding pump next. She breaks everything she can get her hands on before falling to the floor sobbing. Julie walks into the destroyed apartment after hearing the ruckus through the thin walls.

She walks cautiously through the room trying to avoid all the glass as she makes her way to her teammate who is curled up on the floor in a ball. She can only comfort her as she takes in the state of the veteran keeper. The sunken in eyes, thin boney wrist, the dread lock that her hair was turning into. Everyone knew Kingston's disease progressed fast, Alyssa put everything on hold to take care of her, but she also put herself on hold. Everyone had seen it but they didn't have the heart to tell her to shower or to eat as most of them couldn't bare to look at Kingston out of respect for her. They all were trying to hold onto the strong, cocky, wrestler not the boney shell of a human.

More members joined Alyssa and Julie as they had walked past the opened door. Everyone hugging each other as the death of Kingston affected all of them heavily.

Alyssa didn't know what to do. She had dropped everything to take care of her and now she was gone. How was she supposed to continue when everything reminded her of the wrestler.

The pitch reminded her of when she proposed to her, the national team reminded her of how she met her. Her family's house reminded her of the time they went home for thanksgiving and Kingston Schooled her family in cornhole. Everywhere you looked you would see pieces of the wrestler.

The death was felt throughout the nwsl, and the uswnt as well the Olympic team. The wrestling team and coaches couldn't say a bad thing about the former pro besides she ran up the light bill by staying after hours.

The head of the Olympic Wrestling team Thomas Hardwick wrote a letter that was shown on espn over and over it read:

The passing of a friend,athlete,competitor, and leader. Kingston Gray was a once in a life time athlete. She stayed late in practice every day. She would show up before the equipment staff and wouldn't leave until the janitors left. One month the electric bill was like $400 over the normal amount so I asked the team why. You know what Kingston did. Ran to her bag pulled out her wallet handed me 400 bucks and sheepishly said sorry.  Kingston was funny- hilarious even. She was sweet and wanted the best out of everyone. She was a true leader in all forms of life. She was as tough as nails and I know she fought that stupid illness tooth and nail. ALS is a silent killer and we lost a true genuine person. With that said US wrestling federation will now host a Kingston Gray Memorial tournament. All proceeds would go to ALS research in hopes for a cure for this terrible disease. The letters and message so have received since learning of her passing have brought me to tears and to hysterical laughter. Please keep telling the stories and easing awareness of this awful disease.

It was a death felt through the sports community. One that wouldn't be forgotten anytime soon.

The most heart warming message was written by none other then Adeline Rotter-Focken. She posted on her Instagram and Twitter a note she had written. It read: the passing of Kingston Gray has affected me deeper then I would've ever imagined. I'd wrestled her for just over 7 years. She was a competitor, an athlete, and a leader; both on and off the mat. She made everybody around her want to be better. I'm competing with her for so long I watched her grow up, we weren't friends but the respect I hold for her is of the highest level. Kingston was nice, loving, compassionate, hilarious  ( especially when she tried to speak German, she couldn't) she always strived to make everyone better. She was the toughest person I've ever met and the sweetest. With this said all of my medals are being auctioned off and all the proceeds will go to ALS awareness. With all this said I will be taking a pause in my training and competing to reevaluate my life plan after wrestling.

It was sweet and thoughtful, light hearted and funny while being serious.
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And that is the end of this book. I glanced over a lot of topics but this was a relationship at a glance sorta book. I used it to get over writers block and to help reconnect with my creativity while also bringing light to ALS.

ALS is truly the worst disease, with no treatments, and no specific test. With only a 10% chance of living past 10 years after your diagnosis and most people dying within 2-4 years after being diagnosed. It's a silent killer.