Afterward, my position coach raved about me in front of the rest of the team, despite the fact that we lost. On the way to the buses, I ran into him. “Hey coach! I know we didn't get the outcome we were looking for today, but what you said was really encouraging.”
“Of course! I didn’t know you could play like that! You have a bright future.” He gestured to a professional league scout walking nearby. “You played a good game man. I’ve heard you want to make it to the league and I’m gonna help you get to where you’re trying to go. We just keep working.”
I was ecstatic for the rest of the weekend as I celebrated with my parents and Micah for the first time.
Until I walked into the meeting room on Monday for film study.
I had been demoted out of the playing rotation. To make matters worse, my position coach had gone out of his way to get an offensive player to switch to defense and given him my position on the depth chart.
After the meeting I approached him. “Hey coach, I saw you moved me down on the depth chart and I was just wondering why. I thought you said I played a good ga…”
He scowled. “Look son, I moved you down because you’re un-coachable! You’re fucking lazy and your discipline is shit! You have a long way to go if you ever expect to accomplish a fucking thing in this fucking program! You’re a fucking…”
I was utterly shocked as he continued to deliver the most savage beratement I had ever seen or experienced. His words from the locker room reverberated through my mind. “You played a good game. You played a good game. You played a good game. You played a good game. You played a good game. You played a good game. You played a good game. You played a good game. You played a good game…”
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Before that moment, I thought I always had a great relationship with my defensive line coach. I had no idea where this was coming from. I’m not the type of person who gets emotional often, especially in front of other people, but when I do, the floodgates usually spill open. I was overwhelmed by surprise and despair. I burst into tears as my coach mercilessly berated me.
“And you’re just completely un-coachable. How about that! Go take that up! Fucking sit and ponder over that shit!”
Silence filled the room.
“A…alright.” I sobbed.
I despondently shuffled out of the room.
Something dark was born inside me that day.
I woke up dazed and angry as my naked body was pressed against hard, frigid iron. I shoved down the remnants of my dream and blinked rapidly as I took in my surroundings. I was in some kind of laboratory, and I was held down by metallic restraints in a steel chair. There were more than fifty straps across my body, and I couldn’t move a muscle if I tried. Do they think I’m superman or something?
On the other side of a glass wall, Milliard was waving his arms dramatically at a super skinny guy. He was so skinny that he would have no shot on the football field and would certainly have to stick to a sport like golf or chess. He was plain looking and seemed like the type of person who would easily get overlooked unless he had a very strong personality. He was completely ignoring Milliard’s animated protests until one of Milliard’s arms hit something on the console and I heard his voice. “Akri come on! He doesn’t deserve to be treated like this.” He saw me react. “Oh hey James! Can you hear me?”
“Yeah, and I would like to know what the hell is going on here!”
Milliard began speaking with hand signals and cartoonish gestures like we didn’t both speak the same language. “This is my b-r-o-t-h-e-r Akri, A-k-r-i. He is going to run some tests on you, t-e-s-t-s…”.
“Why are you talking like that?! We were literally just speaking English before we got here!”
“Oh right!” He paused. “B-u-t s-t-i-l-l Akri says that you’re d-a-n-g-e-r-o-u-s and that we have to run some tests on you, d-a-n-g-e-r-o-u-s, t-e-s-t-s. I-d-o-n-‘t b-e-l-i-e-v-e h-i-m, b-u-t -I- h-a-v-e n-o c-h-o-i-c-e…”
Akri scowled. “Shut your mouth oaf! That is quite enough! I can speak for myself, thank you!” He scowled. “Look here boy, as the idiot they claim I am related to was explaining, we are here to run some tests to make sure you are not a threat to us. You have some kind of strange spiritual phenomenon occurring within you and these tests will divulge its meaning.”
“Y'all are gonna stop calling me boy like that!” I snapped. I cleared my throat. “But alright, that’s fine. I was never going to resist though. Do we have to do it with all of these restraints and stuff? This is a bit excessive…”
“The tests will not be painful, and you will be asleep for most of them. There is one that could cause your body to react, and I don’t want you to hurt yourself without anyone in the room to assist you.”
“Alright fine, I’m getting tired of sleeping, but wake me up when it’s over.”
Before I could generate my next thought, a wave of energy washed over me, and I lost consciousness.
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