Gorgeous ~ Kyra Cooney-Cross

Treacherous

The final whistle from the referees is blown, Evelyn can feel her knees sink into the worn grass as tears fill up her green eyes. She couldn't believe it. She was a goalkeeper. It was her job to stop the ball from going into the net and she didn't. It was her fault that the USWNT got knocked out of the World Cup so early. Why would Vlatko put her in, she is only 21, Alyssa was so much more experienced then her. All that was running through her mind was how didn't she stop that ball. She was so close. She doesn't move from where she has dropped down. The loud screams of the crowd begin to drown out. She feels her teammates place their hands on her back rubbing her sweaty match jersey, but she doesn't look up, she doesn't want to look up. All she would feel is the guilt of losing when she looked up into her teammates eyes.

"It's ok Ev" she can hear someone whisper into her ear as they rub her back.

Evelyn looks up to see Krisite Mewis, her eyes also filled with tears.

"It's all my fault" Evelyn chokes out between her sobs.

Kristie bends down to become level with the goalkeeper and tightly hugs her.

"It's not your fault Evelyn, you did everything you could, you brought us to penalties, you brought us out of the group stage" Krisite whispers into the young girl's ear.

Kristie helps to bring the goalkeeper to her feet and hugs her again, squeezing her tightly.

Evelyn then whips her flow of tears on her jersey and finally begins to look around the stands at the fans. She was proud of all of the traveling fans and proud they were still cheering loudly even after they were knocked out so quickly. She makes her way over to the barricade giving small waves to the young fans. She was once in their position traveling to the USWNT games with her mom and dad. This stopped however when her mom passed away from breast cancer when she was 12. This took a toll on her dad as he began drinking, slowly distancing himself from Evelyn, started coming home later and later until they wouldn't come home for days. She learned how to take care of herself at the age of 12, learned how to take the bus by herself, and learned how to cook. Her dad never fully recovered from the loss of his wife, and the girl hadn't seen her father in 2 years.

She looked into the stands and saw a young girl that looked exactly like her younger self. Decked out in USA gear, her blonde curls tied up into a ponytail. She looked closer and saw the jersey she was wearing, a goalkeeper jersey with Garcia and 18 on the back. She walks over to the young girl who looks no older than 7. She unstraps her gloves and tosses them to her. She watches as her grin grows and exposes a toothless smile. At least someone can find this experience happy Evelyn thinks to herself.

The roar of the crowd dies out as she makes her way back into the locker room, their team huddle out of the field was over and now the team was quietly packing away everything to go back to the hotel. In all her 3 years on the national team she had never seen it this quiet,, not after they lost in the semis at the Olympics. Even Pinoe and Sonnet were solemn unlike their normally comedic selves. The bus was also quieter than normal with everyone in their own little world with their headphones on. This was the team that got knocked out the quickest, the 4 time winners knocked out so quickly. 

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First part posted! Not sure how regular the updates will be and I will also try to make them a little longer.