Volleyball

Prologue

The sound of baby crying had me stood up from the blue plastic chair. I approached to the door quietly and a nurse came out of the room. She saw me, gave me a smile and squatted down to be the same height as me. "Your sister is beautiful," she said.

So I have a little sister, that's what I thought. But I didn't say that. I only smiled back to the nurse. "Can I come in?" the 9-years-old me asked. She nodded, stood up and walked away.

I pushed the door open right the time where Mom was holding a little baby that happened to be my little sister. Mom was lying on the bed with pillows piling and forming like a mountain. The doctor said something to the nurses there, something I couldn't hear and I didn't understand. But all I did was walk closer to Dad slowly. My eyes were locked on my little sister. She cried in Mom's arms and somehow she got carried in Dad's arms now. That was when I heard a long beep from a machine. The long beep and my little sister's cry fought each other to be the loudest.

Now my eyes were locked on Dad who was panicked. The nurse took over my little sister from Dad's arms and Dad came to me, carried me, walking out of the room.

I did not know what happened...until the funeral of Mom.

***

9 years later

People say sports make your body fresh, healthy and sweaty. They say sports make you learn for your Science exam easier and faster. They say sports make you get into your university you've been dreaming of. They say sports make you become popular between your friends in school.

One question: Do sports make your heart start loving someone so deeply?

That's definitely what I felt since the first time I knocked off the ball in her head. It was an accident.

It all started with this sport which you hit the ball with your hands or arms called volleyball. To other people, it might be just another sport. But to me, it was the only thing that fed me until today and it was the thing that brought me to the real love I'd doubted existed.

Everything starts from little unexpected things in life that can bring us to the top of the mountain.

Volleyball was my life, my everything.

***

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VOLLEYBALL © DEANDRA ARDYA 2013