g r a y s o n *
I stop in the middle of football practice, where we're doing running drills, and grab the chain link fence, breathing heavily after getting a sudden origin of sharp, intense pain. I begin feeling weak as I feel my entire body tighten up into a stiff knot. I begin to shake and grab the chain link fence tighter, hoping with all my might that someone will see me and know something is wrong. I can't move, I can barely move. I let out a small moan of pain and my best friend, Braxton, whirls around and sees me, immediately running over to me.
"What's wrong? What happened?" he asks me.
I point to my left calf, which has started to swell and has developed a bruise in the short three or four minutes I've been standing here. I don't want to cry, but I can't help it as a tear rolls down my cheek.
"Coach!" Braxton calls. I hear the panic in his voice and try to breathe through the pain, but end up nearly hyperventilating.
"I...can't....m-m-m-move..." I stutter out. "It h-h-h-hurts..." I explain everything I'm feeling to him in a shaky voice, pausing several times to breathe in deeply.
"I know, I know, I know," Braxton whispers softly to me as he comes close to my face and leans his head against mine. "You're burning up. Breathe as much as you can. Ssh, ssh. Adam! Call 911! Bryan, get Coach!" I let out a whimper and Braxton turns to me.
"Can you move?" he asks me softly, his head still leaning against mine.
"N-no," I stutter. I close my eyes and lean my head against the fence trying not to cry out in pain. I open my eyes briefly and see Coach running toward us.
"I saw him over here; he cried out in pain and can't move. He's on fire," Braxton says.
"Okay, hey, Grayson, can you move at all?" Coach asks me as the paramedics pull up.
Coach tells them my name and Braxton tells them what's going on.
"Hey, Grayson?" one of the paramedics asks softly. "Can you let go of the fence so we can lift you onto the stretcher?" I try to let go but nearly fall over. Braxton catches me. The paramedics lift me onto the stretcher, propping up my left calf. When they try to touch it, I get a wave of excruciating pain that's so bad I see stars and lean over the side of the stretcher to vomit, crying out in pain.
Braxton leans close to me, putting his hands on my face. "It's okay, I'm right here," he says softly. I moan in pain.
"Grayson, I know this is going to hurt, but we have to look at it okay? Just breathe. The sooner you let us look at it, the sooner we can figure out what's going on, okay?" One of the paramedics, I think his name is Dylan, says.
"Squeeze my hand, Gray," Braxton says. When I don't take it, he grabs it and squeezes it. Dylan and his partner, Greg, touch my leg softly. I wince in pain.
"Breathe, breathe, breathe," Braxton whispers in my ear repeatedly while squeezing my hand and now crouching beside me in the stretcher.
I let out a shaky breath of relief when Dylan and Greg stop touching my calf.
"You said he couldn't walk?" Dylan asks Braxton.
"Yes sir, he said he couldn't move," Braxton confirms.
"So, we believe it to be a muscle tear or sprain. Since he cannot walk, we're going to take him to the ER and get him checked out, okay? You may ride in the ambulance with him. I'm assuming you're the Coach? I would advise you to call his parents or legal guardians and let them know he is headed to the hospital,"
After Greg and Dylan get me loaded into the back of the ambulance with a little bit of help from Braxton, they lock the stretcher so it doesn't move and place the necessary straps. I'm able to breathe a little better now, but it's still shaky. I'm still in a ton of pain.
"Okay, we're going to go ahead and stretch your leg," Dylan says after Greg shuts the doors and starts the ambulance, turning the sirens on. "It is going to hurt, but in order to ice the injury, we need it to be in a stretched position." Dylan puts his hands on my slightly bent, propped up knee. I scream out in pain, which turns to a low moan and wince when he grabs my leg gently to stretch it. I see Braxton tense as he hears my pain, and seconds later he leans down over me and presses his lips against mine. Whether it was to comfort me or to shut me up, I don't know but it worked. He pulls back a few moments later and Dylan finishes stretching out my leg. Braxton grabs my hand softly and squeezes. Dylan starts putting ice on my calf. I begin to feel sleepy as my body still feels week and has overworked itself to try and rid the pain.
"Go to sleep," Braxton says quietly in my ear. "I'll be right here," He squeezes my hand tenderly and I nod as I close my eyes. He presses his lips to my cheek softly, rubbing a thumb across my hand as he holds it.
