Fantasies 2

0_7

A Month Later...

Reed.

"Bridges is taking it to the in zone! Nobody can stop him! He's at the seventy-five yard line...UCLA wins! 27 to nothing! This has never been done in college football history!"  

"Bridges takes college football team to another win."

"You know I wouldn't say I did it myself. We're a team and as a team, we win. We bring home the gold." Darius smiles.

"That night the crowd was going crazy, it was my big break. Something I looked forward too. Then the unthinkable happened. I was...shot." Darius' voice echoes. The gunshots going off and the screen fades to black. Multiple news reporters show on the projection screen afterward.

"College student, Darius Bridges was shot...."

"UCLA student Darius Bridges was shot four times down the street from an on going party."

"He was a close friend of mine. We grew up together, planned our whole lives out. We were going to attend college together, get married to women of our dreams and have kids. The life he lived though, wouldn't give him that. He got caught into the drug game, and abusing prescription pills. I wanted to bring him out of that, and show him a better way of living." Darius explains.

"It didn't turn out that way did it?" Darius shakes his head no, tearing up. The scene cutting to a news reporter again.

"Paramedics rushed to a brutal scene this morning. UCLA student Darius Bridges was shot four times last night. An unknown gunman shot dead beside him. Both were taken to a hospital where a Christopher Nixon was pronounced dead just hours ago. Bridges is in stable condition, fighting for his life right now. Sources say..."

"I was in a coma for about a month in a half." Darius mumbles, sitting back in the seat.

"What was going through your head at the time, when those bullets hit you son?" Dr. Bridges questions with a concerned look on his face. Darius just stares at the floor, silent. You could tell he was hurt, distraught but he didn't mind talking about it.

"This is it, I'm going to die..." 

"But you didn't die Darius. God had another plan for you." Dr. Bridges explains, Draius nods as he holds the bridge of his nose and sniffs.

"What do you want people to know about Darius Bridges?" 

"That he was afraid, paranoid and distraught. He's now outspoken, full of courage and taking his life back."

"I'm Rev. Clark Bridges, and this is the healing process for Darius Bridges whose life started out with fame, popularity and good fortune. Yet soon turn tragic. He's not the only young man that has endured a tragedy while living in the streets of Chicago. It's hundreds of them living right here in the streets of Illinois. Join me, my wife and team as we talk to the young men and women of healing. This is, the Healing Tour." The audience claps as the screen fades to black, my neighborhood then shows on the screen.

"I grew up in the hood of Chicago. My mother was a full time waitress, my father was a construction worker. It wasn't easy." My voice says.

"I wanted to go to college to be a journalist and also manage a business. At 18 I became a video video vixen in order to pay for tuition." I blink repeatedly, flipping my hair over my shoulder.

"What was that life like for you?" Mrs. Bridges questions, tilting her head. I raise my brows in deep sighs.

"It was an emotional roller coaster. I popped pills and drank alcohol."