The Beginning of the End Of My Life

Chapter 1

I was dribbling down the court when the end of my normal life began. There were only a few people around me, most of them on my team for the scrimmage. I thought that if I ran a little faster, I could outrun my opponents and make a decent lay-up. Just as I started to pick up a little speed, someone tried to steal the ball from me, tripped over her own feet, and fell, hard, to the ground in front of me. I tried to adjust and run around her, but it was too late, and I tripped over her.

I didn't even feel the impact of the ground on my body. The whole point of my existence was focused on the white-hot spot of fire in my right ankle that was spreading its way up my leg, shutting down the rational part of my brain while the primal, animal part of it took over. My ears roared with white noise, and I could faintly hear screaming. It took me a minute to figure out that it was my voice.

Of course, I had to stop yelling to breathe, and when I did, the shouts turned to sobs. I realized that my face was wet. Small parts of me were coming back enough that I could hear voices again.

“Lizzy? Lizzy, what hurts?”

“Oh my gosh, I can't believe this happened . . .”

“Someone go get the nurse! And get her mom on the phone!”

I took a few rattling breaths and composed myself enough to murmur, “My ankle,” followed by some more sobbing and sniffling. I wasn't doing very well maintaining my tough girl status.

“Just hang in there, Mrs. Hill will be here soon,” said my Coach.

I nodded, trying to breathe evenly. It wasn't going well. A minute later, I heard hurried footsteps. They probably belonged to Mrs. Hill, the school nurse.

“It's her ankle; she tripped over another girl and we think it twisted. It made a nasty noise, too.”

“Lizzy?” said Mrs. Hill. I mumbled something back at her. “I'm going to have to examine your ankle. You're going to have to let it go. It may hurt now, but we'll get you fixed up; I promise.”

Let go? I hadn't even realized I was holding it. I unclenched my fingers one by one and drew my hands back. I regretted it immediately. My ankle throbbed, and all of the heat came back. I whimpered.

Mrs. Hill's cool fingers started tracing around my ankle. She slowly picked it up and rolled it over to see the other side, and the movement send spikes of pain up my leg so quickly that I think I hissed at her.

“I'm pretty sure it's either broken or sprained,” she said to Coach. “We need to get her to a hospital to find out which.”

“On it,” he replied, and then he got up and sprinted to his office for his phone.

“Lizzy? Don't worry, everything will be alright.” I could only nod and try to stop the tears from falling down my face into my ears. It was actually pretty annoying, so I pushed myself up into a sitting position, with Mrs. Hill's help.

Coach came back and told me, “I called your mom, and she's on her way here. She told me to just drive you up to the hospital and she'll meet us there. Okay?”

I could only nod. Speech wasn't my strong point at the moment. He turned to my teammates.

“Girls, practice is over for today. You can all go on home, and we'll get you information as soon as we can. Okay?” They quietly responded, and walked out slowly, most of them murmuring phrases like “get well soon,” or “I hope you feel better.”

Seeing as I couldn't stand up, or walk, very well, Mrs. Hill and Coach both put their arms around me and helped me up, careful not to let my hurt ankle touch the ground. I hobbled out to Coach's car, and they helped me into the front seat. Coach got it and drove to the hospital. It was pretty much silent the whole time.