Game Over.

A Story by maddie

Thomas celebrates after being granted a full scolarship to the University of Utah. But will he go too far?

With adrenaline running through my veins I quickly glance at the scoreboard. It is the fourth quarter with eight seconds remaining; we are down by one point and there are college scouts watching. I hear my best friend Troy yell “hike”; I look past the crowd of brightly colored jerseys and sprint forward as fast as possible. I turn around in time to see the football about a foot away from my face. I catch it with seemingly effortless ease and continue sprinting full speed towards the end zone. A large crowd of defenders from the opposite team swarm around me attempting to tackle me but I am too fast for them. I manage to avoid every defender and make it to the end zone creating a touchdown putting me and my team up by five points just as the final whistle blows.

My whole team runs up to me hugging me and hitting me on the helmet while the spectators on the bleachers are cheering. I feel confidence and joy walking off the field when I see a college scout approaching me. He pulls a business card and a brochure out of his shirt pocket and says “You should consider the University of Utah”. “We are willing to grant you a full scholarship” he continues, “If you are interested”. “Thank you” I reply, “I will definitely consider it”. “We would be glad to have you” he says after handing me the card and brochure. We exchange smiles then he walks back to the crowd of spectators.

I confidently proceed to the locker room with my team and coach. There is an uproar of clapping upon my arrival. My coach tells me how proud he is of me and any college would be lucky to have me. I thank my coach and teammates for making the play possible. After all the emotional speeches, the quarterback and my best friend Troy asks me privately to come to a party at his house tonight to celebrate our win. I agree to go to the party and start to walk over to the parking lot to try and find my girlfriend Laura.

I find Laura in the parking lot and give her a ride back to her house in my clunker. In the car we make plans for Troy’s party tonight. We decided I would pick Laura up before the party and we would go together. I drop Laura off at her house and proceed to my house a few blocks away. When I arrive I tell my parents about the college scout. They were thrilled to find out about the scholarship. My dad was so exited he let me drive his truck to the party. In a very good mood I take a shower and then leave for Troy’s party.

I drive up to Laura’s house in style with the combination of my dad’s truck and my extreme self confidence. I pick her up and we drive off to Troy’s house for the party. I see Troy’s driveway crowded with kids who are drunkenly throwing up and making out. Laura and I are both disgusted, neither of us are the type to drink in excess. We try our best to avoid the intoxicated kids and enter Troy’s house through the front door.

We mix ourselves a couple of drinks and socialize with some friends. While we are talking, Troy walks up to us. He seems really excited about something and a little bit drunk. “Hey guys!” he says. “Come with me up to my room, I have a surprise for you.” We all agree and follow Troy upstairs to his room. Troy’s room is fairly large and seems empty in comparison to downstairs because there are only about five or six of us total. Troy begins prying through his underwear drawer and pulls out what looks like a sheet of stickers.

I am confused at first, but then I realize what that sheet of sticker really was. “Is that acid?” I ask Troy. “Yeah” he replies, “What else would it be?” I have a small panic attack on the inside; am not the type of guy to do drugs, I am kind of afraid of them actually. I want to walk away but I don’t want to seem like a coward in front of everyone so I just smile. Troy begins to put a sticker on each of our tongues. He pauses when he gets to me; “good game” he tells me and puts two stickers on my tongue. The stickers dissolve fairly quickly but I don’t feel any different than I did before. Troy starts to get frustrated after about twenty minutes because we still haven’t started to trip yet, but I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

Eventually we just give up and go back downstairs for more drinks. Although everyone else is disappointed that the acid didn’t work, I am thrilled. As I am sipping a Cuba Libre and chatting with my friends, a goat beside Troy’s staircase catches my eye. I look at it with confusion and ask “Troy, why is there a goat by your staircase?” “What are you talking about Thomas” he replies. “I don’t have a goat in my house.” All of the sudden the goat’s eyes turn red, fire comes out of its nostrils and it runs up Troy’s stairs. I go ballistic and sprint up the stairs attempting to catch the goat.

I find the goat in Troy’s room jumping on his bed. I smile “Stupid goat” I say “You thought you could hide from me.” I seem to have angered the goat because its eyes turned red and fire jets out of its nostrils again. The goat makes a hideous laugh, leaps off Troy’s bed, flies out Troy’s window, and lands in a tree in Troy’s front yard. This made me envious of the goat, so I decide to try it. I begin by emitting a horrible laugh and then get a running start to fly out of the window. I leap out of the window and spread my arms and begin to flap them. I did not get very far before I start to lose altitude, and soon the whole world is pitch black and I only hear the goat’s awful laugh.

The laugh slowly gets fainter; suddenly the world changes from pitch black to bright and sunny. I am standing on clouds and I see a colossal golden gate opening. I stare at the gate in disbelief and walk through it. Inside the gate is a beautiful green meadow that expands as far as the eye can see. There are blooming wildflowers and butterflies fluttering about, the sight of the meadow is so exquisite it takes my breath away. I tour the meadow to find my grandfather observing the vibrant butterflies. I stare at him with bewildered, my grandfather passed away two years ago after a long battle with cancer. I hesitantly step towards my grandfather when I feel a sharp pain in my chest.

I blink a few times and see a doctor’s worried face above me checking for a pulse. “Where am I” I ask in a feeble voice. A smile stretches across the doctor’s face, “You are at the hospital” she says “you are a very lucky young man.” My parents, Laura, and Troy all run up to me and hug me with glassy eyes. “We were so worried about you” my mother says in a broken voice, “The doctors had to revive you.” I start to get a little emotional when a nurse walks in with a concerned look on her face. “I am afraid I have some bad news for you Thomas” she says. Immediately a knot tightens in my throat. “The impact your body made with the ground was almost fatal” she continues. “I’m sorry Thomas but you are paralyzed from the waist down.”

I can feel my heart rip into little pieces. My potential football career is now impossible. There is no way I will be able to play for University of Utah now. Life will never be the same for me again. From this point forward, I am only half a man.