A Reality

The boy shouted, “Down-Set” while he moved his hands closer and closer until they were fully enclosed by the center’s crotch. The quarterback's hands were in the ready position to receive the ball through the center’s legs so that the play could begin. Then in the next second the quarterback shouted once more, “Hike” which signaled the center to whip the ball from a vertical position to a horizontal position, through the legs, and into to the quarterback’s hands to start the play. The play that the team was running was called, “99 Jordan” This play was a “Hail Mary,” but with a different name.

A 16 year old boy named “Michael” then called for the ball while running his route. Then the quarterback released the ball high into the air while Michael was still running. He ran and ran until the ball was ten feet away. By then he was in the middle of the endzone and the ball was 10 feet away. He leaped and dove into the right corner of the endzone and grasped the ball, then proceeded to cover it up to secure it. Michael dropped into the endzone with the ball firmly in his arms.

He could hear the crowd roaring, but there was one voice that he heard most and that was his 12 year old brother, Tommy's, voice. He went to every one of his games and cheered him on the most. Tommy was cheering in excitement for his older brother that just won the semi-final states game for the Panthers.

Michael attempted to get up from the end zone but was pummeled back down by the swarm of student and players that ran over to congratulate him for his amazing catch.

After five minutes, he managed to get up and he ran the opposite way than the team was. He was running toward his brother for some reason. He approached Tommy with a big smile. Michael gave his brother a huge hug and whispered into his ear softly, “You’re going to play like me one day.” while he was running away to catch up with the team. Tommy laughed and said “I hope so!” Tommy has always looked up to Michael and Michael knew that he had to set a good example and help him out with his football career.

Later that night when Michael finally arrived home after a long night of celebrating his catch and win Tommy was already upstairs in bed sleeping. Their mom and dad were downstairs still awake and watching T.V. when Michaels mom said to him, “You know that was an amazing catch and what you said to your brother was so nice. It’s also good that he is looking up to you and you’re helping him with his future football career.”

His mom was very happy about this and Michael replied “I hope I can help him so that he grows up and becomes a good football player.” He followed up by saying, “Goodnight I’ll see you in the morning,” and made his way upstairs.

He was greeted by Tommy running up to him and hugging him screaming, “I love you so much and thank you for helping me with football.”

Michael hugged him back while saying, “I love you too and anything for you little bro, now you better get to bed because you have school tomorrow, you don't want to be tired in the morning. ”

They both made their way into their bedrooms to go to sleep.

Michael woke up the next day just as happy as he was when he went to bed. He got out of his bed and got ready so he could catch the bus to school.

When he got off the bus at school he was attacked by so many of his high school friends and even people he didn’t know, for his amazing catch.

The first bell of the day rang which was the bell for homeroom and everybody dispersed from the huge crowd around Michael so he could get to homeroom on time.

During the course of the day he got so many “Congratulations”, and “That was a great catch you made Michael.” Almost the whole school said something to him about his catch.

After the last bell of the day rung Michael rushed to his locker, got his stuff, and made his way to the field house, that was located just off the football field, to get his equipment.

The whole team made their way to the field house as well to get ready for practice. The big championship game was two weeks away and Michael had a lot to work and practice on before the day of the game.

The Panthers football team had practice everyday after school until the day of the game. They needed a lot of practice time to work on their offense and defense to make both sides of the team better.

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The night before the big game Michael went to bed really early so he could be refreshed and ready for the game the next day. He was in a very deep sleep and stayed in one for the rest of the night. But for a period of time during the night Michael had a dream. This was not a good dream at all it was probably the worst dream you could have before a big game.

His dream showed a kid that was in his own championship game and, as he jumped up to catch the ball a kid on the other team ran through him and hit him so hard that he had to go to the hospital and ended up being in really bad condition.

So the next morning came and it was time for Michael to wake up and get ready for his big game.

When he was fully awake and ready for the game he told his family about the dream he had the night before.

Tommy ran up to him and gave him a big hug and said, “Good luck and I’ll be cheering you on from the stands!”

Michael replied, “Thanks I’ll try my best.” Then proceeded out the door with his dad so he could be dropped off at the field.

He arrived at the field and began to warm up.

Before he knew it, the captains walked out to the center of the field for the coin toss. The referee started talking but Michael couldn’t make out the words that he was saying and flipped the coin into the air.

One of the assistant ref’s then made the team captains move on each 45 yard line and made the signal that the Panthers were the ones receiving the ball first.

The captains made their way to their bench while the rest of the team welcomed them into the semi circle by clapping and getting pumped for the first kickoff.

Then the clapping stopped and the coach came in to the semi circle and said, “Just play your game boys” and followed up by saying “Michael how about you break us down.”

Michael then shouted at the top of his lungs “On three, Panthers!” “One, two, three!” and the team joined in on three screaming “Panthers!”

The kick return team hustled out onto the field to get into position.

The Red Hawks were already out on the field in their position for the kickoff.

The kicker raised his hand and ran toward the ball to kick it while the rest of the team followed. The ball went far and high up into the air. The game had finally started.

Jason, the kick returner spotted the ball in the air and watched the ball fall right into his hands. He caught it halfway in the endzone and decided to take the knee and start the game backup at their own 20 yard line.

Michael jogged out on the field for the first play of the game. The huddle broke, as Michael walked up onto the line of scrimmage he shut his eyes and said just one more prayer in his head.

Number 26 across from him looked so pumped up for the game he did a few high knees and got into the ready position.

Michael kept his eyes closed and kept praying when the Quarterback shouted, “Down Set” and took a short pause and then “Hike.”

Michael still had his eyes shut when the play started.

26 across from him shoved him over and started running toward the quaterback and sacked him in the back field for a loss of seven yards. The coach subbed him out and put another wide receiver in his place.

Michael hustled off the field with his head down and found his coach.

The coach proceeded to yell into his ear through his helmet with rage, “What the hell are you doing out there?”

Michael replied quietly and said, “I don’t know” in an upset voice. The kid that replaced Michael ran the next play perfectly and stayed in the game for the rest of their series.

On the next few plays for the Panthers they moved down the field quickly and scored. The score was now seven to zero and the Panthers kicked off.

In the Red Hawks series they made it to their forty yard line and had to punt.

The Panthers coach yelled on the sideline for Michael to get in the game again.

Michael stood up from the bench he was sitting on and sprinted into the game. He had to make up for the play that he messed up on last time. The play they ran first was meant for Michael, it was a long pass to him.

The QB hiked the ball and threw it long to Michael which was a complete pass for sixteen yards.

The second play was another pass but Michael was not the primary receiver, he was the secondary. Once again the QB hiked the ball and looked to see if the primary was open but he wasn’t and it was Michaels time to shine again.

He fired the ball high into the air so it would reach him. Michael leaped up to catch the ball. 26 on the other team was charging toward him with speed and hit him with his helmet right in the abdomen and ran through him. Michael fell to the ground and landed on the back of his head.

The Panthers and Red Hawks spectators all in sync gasped.

Michael layed there, on the ground not moving at all. He was stiff as a board and both teams swarmed around Michael.

Tommy was at the peak of the stands with a scared face and his hands over his face.

The trainers responded and sprinted out onto the field to tend to Michael. It had now been fifteen minutes since the play and he was still down.

The coach called 911 to get an ambulance to pick him up to go to the hospital. The ambulance finally came with a stretcher to take Michael off the field on it.

By that time Tommy and their parents were down on the field next to him too and Michael was just starting to come back.

When the ambulance left the field the game resumed. Michaels family went with Michael in the ambulance to the hospital. When they arrived at the hospital the EMT’s rushed him into the Emergency Room while they took him to get a MRI, his mom, dad, and Tommy waited worried and impatiently for the results.

An hour later the doctor appeared in the waiting room and said, “Michael’s family?” which meant that the results were in. They all rushed up to the doctor to hear the verdict. The doctor then proceeded and said, “I am very sorry to say your son Michael is in critical condition” the doctor had a long pause and then kept going, “Your son Michael has a punctured lung and a lot of internal bleeding from it.”

Tommy was the first one to shed tears and following was his parents that had lost it and started to blaze out crying.

The doctor then said, “You have two choices...” the mom quickly interrupted her in the little voice she had left and said, “Please don’t go any further I’d rather not hear what’s wrong.

Once I leave then you can address my husband about what’s wrong.” She turned around and walked through the waiting room towards the exit sniffling, then broke out crying once again and mouthed the words, “Why did this have to happen to me today?”

When she left, the doctor took the time to explain to the dad what was happening to Michael. The sad situation turned into a situation that needed a decision.

The doctor read out the two choices, “You can either put him in surgery and have a seventy five percent chance of him passing during the surgery or you can just wait it out and have a sixty percent he will pass in his sleep tonight.”

The father tried to make a decision quickly but he just couldn’t make out that his son was in such a bad condition that he may die.

But after a short period of time he made his decision, he said, “I think we should wait it out through the night and see what happens.”

The doctor replied, “Ok then, I will get a room for him and keep him in there for the night.”

Michaels mom and dad went home to collect some items they would need for the restof the night.

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Michaels parents left the house to go to the hospital, they had to tell Tommy that he couldn’t come and that he had to stay with his aunt because they didn’t want him seeing Michael in such bad condition.

Later that night the parents walked up to room 2259 which was Michael's room, to stay with him through the night.

It was now nine o’clock at night and his mom and dad were getting more and more worried after every minute passed.

Michael’s mom was at his bedside sitting in a chair holding his hand every second. The beeping of the heart monitor in the room was making his father go insane the beeps were spaced apart so every other second it would beep but in the dads ears it was non stop so he told his wife, “I’m going to go for a walk the beeping is making me crazy.”

Michael’s mom now was so worried that she was shaking even more than she was before now that her husband had left the room.

She closed her eyes to give them a rest when the beeping in her ears changed to a solid long beep. She still had her eyes closed, because she thought it was the same thing going on to her as her husband it was just because they were in the room for so long listening to it.

Michaels dad kept making circles around the wing that Michael was stationed in when an announcement came over the loudspeaker, “Code Purple, Code Purple, room 225...”

He couldn’t make out the rest of the room number that the lady announced. All the doctors sprinted by the dad to get to the room where the code purple was.

He turned around and and started walking backwards to see where the doctors were going.

They made a quick turn into Michael’s room. Michaels dad gasped and started sprinting to the room.

The mom was woken up by the doctors rushing into the room. And then they both heard the sound. The sound of the heart monitor. It was monotone. The doctors tried everything to revive him but the solid, straight, red line on the screen said it all and then the words came out of one doctors mouth, “I am sorry to tell you, your son has passed.”

The words that came out of the doctor’s mouth were stronger than his mom and dad. Those words broke them down to their knees, in awe, sorrow, and sadness.

After the long period of crying in the hospital his mom and dad gave him one last kiss on his forehead and both whispered, “I love you.” and made their way out of the hospital room and headed to the main lobby to depart home from the hospital for one last time.

When they arrived home Tommy was on the couch watching tv hoping his brother was with them. But when they walked through the door he was upset he had his head in a pillow blazing tears.

They all went to sleep at the same time and all in sadness.

The next morning they were sitting on the couch remembering all the memories that they had with him.

Tommy was still gushing tears it seemed like he had cried ten gallons of water in two days.

Then Tommy’s crying stopped and he wiped his tears out of his eyes and got his parents attention and announced, “His dream was not a dream.” His mom and dad looked at him with confusion and replied, “What are you talking about Tommy?”

Tommy looked up into their eyes and replied, “It was a reality.”