Yours, Truly

27- Play

I lay in my bed bundled up and staring at the wall. There's a knock on my door but I don't answer. I hear the door open slowly.

"Hey sweetie, dinner's ready if you want to come down," my dad says.

I don't reply, I just continue to stare at the wall.

"Alright, well, it'll be down here if you get hungry," my dad takes my silence as an answer.

I've been in my bed for three days, only getting up to shower and use the bathroom but I refuse to look in the mirror each time I walk in there. My dad told me the boys stopped by a few times but I didn't answer so they talked for a while and left.

My game is today and I don't know if I wanna go or not. I don't want to let my team down but I barely have the energy to eat. But I will. I wanna leave this Earth making mom proud.

I turn and groan at the pain in my back. I ignore it and go take a shower. Once I get out of the shower I get dressed in my jersey and grab my cleats. I walk downstairs slowly and into the kitchen. My dad jumps out of his seat and clears his throat.

"Uh I don't think you should play today honey," he walks up to me.

"It's the only thing I want to do," I say quietly.

He rubs my shoulder and nods because he knows I will do it anyway. He grabs his car keys and leads me to the car. I get into the passenger seat and put my duffle bag in the back.

We drive to school and the field headlights are turning on one by one. I get out of the car and walk to the field. I walk up to my huddled-up team.

"Kayla!" they cheer.

"So glad you came," the coach says and hands me a ball.

As we practice, people start to fill the stands for the last game of the season. The game determines if we go to sectionals. I sadly look around if Chase is here but I catch myself and turn back to practice.

The opposing team shows up and begins their practice too. I look back at the stands and see Nick wave at me. I run off the field and hug him.

"Levi and Parker are here but I don't know where Chase is," he starts.

"I don't care where he is but tell Levi and Parker I said hi and sorry," I tell him.

"Sorry for what?" he says.

"It's a long story," I tell him.

"Your dad told me, are you sure you want to play?" he says.

"Yea I'm sure, I think I'm fine," I tell him before walking back onto the field.

The referee blows his whistle and gathers us. He calls me and the other team's captain to the middle.

"80-minute game, 20 minutes over time, and you're allowed two time-outs," he blows his whistle again.

I walk to the coach and tell her. We spend 5 minutes talking about the game plan and the whistle that blows once more signaling the game is beginning. I walk into the middle of the field and do the kick-off.

I play a good game til over time. The whistle blows and I go to the bench. I breathe quickly and heavily, holding my chest. Nick walks down to me and rubs my chest.

"I think you should stop," he says.

"No, I'm good, I just need water," I grab my water bottle and take a big drink. Something feels off but I think I'll be fine. "See? I'm good," I get up and go into a team huddle.

"What next?" number 5, Tia, asks.

"Tyler should make the winning goal, she's worked the hardest," the coach says.

"Thanks but I'm a midfielder, I won't be able to get to the goal," I say.

"We can switch a few positions," the coach says.

The whistle blows and back to the game we go. I run onto the field and get ready. The kickoff goes and I run to our goal and wait for the ball to come towards me. We need to make this one so we don't end up with a tie. The ball comes my way and I get ready by going closer to the goal.

It gets passed to me and I run at the goal. I back up a little and run at the ball so it turns into a curve ball which it does. I score. I scored!

I start to jump in excitement and my team runs around me and cheers along with me. I laugh and smile and finally feel accomplished. While smiling I look into the bleachers and see Chase smiling and clapping toward me. I don't stop smiling cause I realize I missed him the few days I wasn't at school.

The cheering eventually calms down when I start to get dizzy and not like I always do but like a sick dizzy. My smile slowly falls off my face as I hold my head in pain. I look back up at Chase whose smile seemed to fade because he can tell something isn't right.

My vision starts to blur and I see stars. I stand still but begin to stumble a little and before I know it, I pass out and fall onto the wet grass of the soccer field. I hear gasps and the sounds of feet around me.

I hear Chase's voice and I can kind of see his face above mine before everything goes black.

Completely.