The Player | SPORTS ROMANCE | 18+

Chapter 8

TITUS REYES

"Come on, T! Cheer up! It's a beautiful day and you've got some fans to meet!" Tiberius yelled at me from over his shoulder as he jogged ahead in the direction of the field.

I groaned at my brother's words and continued to drag my feet the rest of the day.

Like every other day this past four months, I had woken up in a terrible mood, and being back here on the field was the last place I wanted to be, but my brother was very forceful when he wanted to be. He had all but yanked me out of bed, forced me into his car where he drove us here. To our old high school.

Even though school didn't start back up for the year for a couple more weeks, football practice had already started for the seniors to get a head start this high school season.

Warm feelings of nostalgia should have filled me, to return to the place where my love for football had started, but I could focus on nothing but the pain of what I had lost.

My eyes sharpened as the field came into view where the seniors were already running drills. My heart hammered in my chest at the sight of them and my feet came to a complete stop.

I couldn't do this. I couldn't get onto the field. Not onto the place where my life had changed forever.

Flashbacks of that night played before my eyes. Perhaps if I had done something differently, I wouldn't have suffered the fate I was suffering through today. Maybe if I wasn't so desperate to break the record, I wouldn't have been hurt so bad. Or perhaps even if I had been positioned differently, or I was standing in a different way, I wouldn't have suffered such extensive damage to my shoulder and spinal cord.

Maybe then I could still be a dad someday.

Sensing that I was no longer following him, Tiberius sighed heavily and turned around to face me.

"You can't keep doing this to yourself, T." He said as he approached me, a disappointed look on his face. "You're going to become depressed."

I pursed my lips and nodded to show that I was listening, but he didn't know that I was already depressed. Not because my arm would never be as good as it used to be, but because of the mental toll the accident had really taken on me.

But how could my brother know if I didn't share it with him? How could anyone know?

"Talk to me, T." Tiberius urged, the desperation clear on his face. "Tell me what's going on. Tell me what you're going through. How am I supposed to know if you don't tell me?"

"I can't." I whispered and turned my head so I wouldn't have to look at him. Seeing how upset he made me only made me feel worse about myself.

"I know what you've been through is hard, but you need to put yourself out there again. You can't keep hiding away at home. You're supposed to be in New York with your team. You're supposed to be training with them and getting ready for the upcoming season."

"I can't." I repeated, hating the way my voice shook.

"Why not? Tell me why not so I can understand. Please, brother."

"Do you know what it's like? To come so close to being a vegetable?" I forced out the words, my voice so low that I could barely hear myself. I was surprised my brother could ever hear me. "My shoulder was broken, and I couldn't move for a week by myself because of my bag. I had to pee down a pipe into a bag, and a nurse had to feed me because I couldn't do it myself. Do you know how dehumanising that is? Do you know how that feels?"

"I don't know what that's like." Tiberius whispered; his eyes wide as he stared at me. "I can't begin to understand what you must have gone through. I'm sorry you have to go through all of this. That Sheldon Hudson is a dick!"