The Game Begins
The car flew down the highway; the trip to the away match seemed to be taking longer than it had done in previous years, despite the new bypass being finished and in use. It arced over crevasses and cut through mountains, yet it seemed to wind forever into the distance. It was a night game, and as it was nearing seven o’clock on a winter evening, the sunlight was all but gone. Alexandro Corsa was sitting in the car, only half-listening to the radio. Every now and then, he picked something up from the conversation that was being transmitted hundreds of kilometres from Sydney through the air, but on the most part, he was exploring his own mind. The ideas that flew through his head were not worth mentioning except one. He had visited the playing field before, in previous years, with other teams. But this time, there was something different. A dark sense of fear tingled through his body – he had never felt anything like this before; the feeling, though interesting, was unnerving him.
Thinking back, he realised his entire day had seemed a little, well, odd.
Then again, I’m always nervous before games . . . I wonder how much of an embarrassment I’ll make of myself tonight.
He switched his mind back to the here and now once the street lights of the small town flickered over his eyes. Turning a sharp left, they drove towards the ocean and playing field. For a moment, his sense of tremendous foreboding dispersed, but seeing his team waiting together by the side of the field sent a cold shiver down his spine.
He waved his father goodbye, grabbed his water bottle, shoved his hands into his pockets, and walked over to one of the fields that was not in use, making it perfect for some pre-match warm ups.
“Ready for the game?” asked his coach, who asked exactly the same thing every week.
“I think so . . . Yeah, I think so,” Alex replied apprehensively.
That was such a stupid reply. Nice one.
“Come on,we want to beat the others, don’t we? And we’re not going to do that unless we’re warmed up!” called Josh, one of the better players in the team.
Everyone’s better than me. Of course I think they’re good!
Josh was a show-off, which might have explained why he was not the captain and Joel was.
“Come on, Captain, you’re the one who’s supposed to be leading us, remember!” Josh added.
Joel had been talking to the officials, but rudely interrupted he spun around and asked, “What he said?”
The rest of the team laughed.
“Watch it. Don’t think I’m not paying attention!”
Joel returned to his busy conversation with the linesmen, but he stopped occasionally to instruct the team on the next drill. Very soon, no one was taking him seriously; the older members of the team, or those who had known him previously, never seemed to be listening with much interest.
While fetching a runaway ball, the shadows seemed to grow around the unlit field; the only light was from the lights on the field that was in use. Darkness swallowed the ball up, sending the strange thoughts back to the front of Alex’s mind. This time, however, despite being at the other end of the field, Ryan was feeling it too. He was another member of the team, one of the younger ones. This team was a sixteen and seventeen-year-old mixed team and consisted of mainly the older age group. Alex was also young but still remained older than Ryan, even if it was only by two months.
The thoughts that ran through Ryan’s head were very similar to Alex’s, in fact far too similar.
I’ve got to stop playing video games.
