Scars Ch. 06-08

BEEP BEEP BEEP! I wake up to my alarm yelling at me. I roll out of bed and start looking for something decent to wear tonight. I had three hours and twenty minutes until I was going to leave. It took about fifteen minutes to get to Steph's place but I was going to give myself an extra five minutes just in case.

I looked through my closet and pulled out a dark grey t-shirt, a button down shirt to put over it, and a pair of dark blue almost black jeans. I set them out on my bed and go down stairs. I make a sandwich real quick to tide me over until dinner.

Brady was already gone, most likely to spend time alone with Daphne. I just sat down on my bed to think about what I was even doing when my phone rang. "Hello?"

"Dylan, hey, I was wondering, do you want to hang out, just you and me, before we go out tonight? Bryan already came by and picked up my sister and their gone. My parents are out for the weekend and I'm lonely here by myself," Stephanie says.

"Umm...sure I guess. You want me to come over now?" I ask.

"Would you?"

"Yeah sure, just let me get dressed real quick and I'll be over there," I reply. I hang up and dress quickly. I throw on my normal black beanie. I head out of the house and dig my keys out of my pocket.

I pull up to Stephanie's house and get out. A window upstairs draws my attention. The curtain sways back and forth as if someone just left it. I reach over to my glove box and unlock it. My two knives are sitting there. I pull them both out along with their sheaths. I tuck my combat knife under my seat because it was just too big to hide on me. My throwing knife I slide into the small of my back, tucking it in to my pants so it wasn't seen.

I walk up to the door and just as I was about to knock it is thrown open and Stephanie is standing there. "Hi. I've been waiting on you. I'm extremely bored. Come on in. We can find something to do together," she gushes as I'm yanked inside.

"Alright, what do you plan on doing?" I chuckle.

"Is that a joke mister? You better not be making innuendos at me...I just might take you up on them," she laughs.

My eyebrows rise. I did not know where this was going...but it seemed to be leaning towards the sexual end of things. "Well, Steph, we don't know each other that well, why don't we start with that? We can take turns, like twenty questions," I say, trying to keep things from boiling over.

"Sure, why not? How about I start? Where are you from?"

I pause a second. 'It wouldn't hurt to say where you're from. There could be a lot of people from Calenburn.' "I'm from Calenburn, the same high school that we lose to every year now. Hopefully I can do something to change that. I didn't play football there so it's not that big of a deal to me."

"Oh, cool. Your turn," she tells me.

I think what do I want to know about this girl? 'Not much, you're interested in Emily, not her.' My conscious is always helpful. "Is this where you've lived your whole life?" I ask her.

"Yeah, my sister and I were born and raised here. We have a lot of family in nearby towns, like Calenburn. My mom's half sister, Diane Morrison, lived there; she was married to a Marine or something like that. She died tragically about a year ago...her son...you...her...no..." she trails off.

I turn away. "I didn't know I had family. My agent never said anything." I look at her, "You can't tell anyone at school. You can tell Daphne and your parents, but please don't tell anyone at school. I'm only finally being accepted for the first time in my life. If they were to find out, I would move."

Stephanie just stares at me. "You're my cousin," was all she could say.

"Yeah, I guess I would be," I reply. "Look, Brady knows about what happened, but since I didn't know about y'all, he doesn't know we're related. I'll tell him at dinner tonight. Look, this changes everything...we can't really go out now. I mean, tonight, yes, but officially no. It wouldn't work. Do you understand?"

"Of course, it would be kind of gross to be dating my cousin, even if you were only my half cousin," she says.

I wasn't sure what to do. "Look, I'm going to go for a drive. I need some quiet, you're welcome to come along, but I'm not going to talk. I have a lot to think about."

"I understand I'll just stay here. Make sure you're back here on time though," she says, trying to sound stern but can't keep a smile off her face. I chuckle at that.

We had a great time that night and didn't get home until around ten. It was an amazing night.

The week passed in a blur of work, practice, and homework. Our first football game was coming up and Coach had us practicing until we dropped. I was always pumped, I felt at home with exercise.

Chapter 8

The varsity football game was Friday at six in the evening. We were in the locker room getting ready, it was a home game, and Coach was giving us the pregame pep talk.

"Alright guys, we've been training for this these past few months. Now, I know we can win, but even if we don't, you are winners in your hearts. Play hard; don't give up no matter what. Whether we leave that field winners or not, I want you to leave knowing that you did your best."

We came out of the locker rooms to a roaring crowd. As we ran onto the field, the other team came out of the Away side locker rooms. The team captains, Colin was ours, jogged out to the center of the field where a ref waited. They shook hands and called the coin toss. We lost and we had to kick off.

"Okay guys, this is it. Kicking team, you're up. Dylan, I want you on Jerry's left side so when he kicks that football, you will take point. You guys, wedge formation; cut into them and don't give them any extra yards. Jerry, put that ball back towards the five yard line. Make them work for every yard. Go on, get out there!" Coach yells at us over the crowd.

Jerry Louis, who is our kicker, as well as one of our receivers, lines up the ball, and at the whistle, kicks it down field. The ball goes to the five yard line and I'm already running for the kid who catches it. He's maybe a little taller than me, but really skinny and he would not stand a chance if any one of us hit him, he'd be on the ground without a doubt.

The rest of the opposing team tries to block us, but I lead the charge and I just keep running. The other guys with me keep Friedman High's players from taking me out from the side. We plow through the resistance, and as the receiving guy gets to the fifteen yard line, I tackle him.

We hustle back to the sidelines, so our defense can go in. "Hold on Dylan, I want you to stay out for now. I'm going to keep you on kick off, kick returns, and offense for now. No need to wear you out too much, and plus...I want to keep my ace up my sleeve as long as I can. On offense you will play as running back," Coach tells me.

"Okay. Sounds good," I reply.

I sit out and watch the game from the bench. It would be good that I got a break in between. Otherwise, I'd be playing most or all of the game. I could do it, but I also knew that would mean others wouldn't be able to play. Plus, I wanted to see how the team worked as a cohesive unit. It was cool to watch.

A flag was thrown by a ref. "Holding; offense, number forty-nine. Ten yard penalty, replay third down."

Wow, I saw what happened. Holding was a bit much for what happened. Oh well, I couldn't do anything about it. Plus, the refs' weren't even paid; they were volunteers from our area. Maybe they were biased.

The other team couldn't make the first down, so on fourth down, they were going to punt it. "Morrison, go in for Brady. I want you to receive."

I run out and tap Brady and point to the side. He nodded and ran off field. I went about thirty yards from the other team and waited for the punt. It was off to the side and it hit the ground, but I caught it on the bounce and ran. My teammates covered me and I crossed the fifty yard line unchallenged. As I approached the forty, I looked and saw there was none of my team left blocking for me, but still three other guys blocking me.

The first I just stiff armed. The second was completely in front of me and charging me head on. I lowered my shoulder and flipped him over my back. I lost a lot of momentum doing that and the last guy hit me, but I didn't go down. The guy I stiff armed caught back up to me and between the two of them brought me down. I had made it to the thirty yard line.

The special team's guys ran off the field and were replaced by the offense. I was on halfback. Colin ran out to the huddle and told us the play. It was a pass play, and I was to help block for Colin.

"Ten forty-nine! Red, set...set...hike!" Colin yells. The offensive line holds the Raiders at bay, but a linebacker that went around was headed straight for Colin. I thought quickly. The guy was on the other side of Colin and he hadn't found his man yet. I did the only thing I could; I pushed Colin back, hard enough to move him, but not enough to knock him to the ground. The linebacker plowed right into me. If I had been ready for it and not been pushing Colin out of the way, I might have been able to take it. As it was, the linebacker hit me so hard that I went flying back. I wrapped my arms around him as I went, carrying him with me.

I knew before I hit the ground something was wrong. I didn't know what it was, but it hurt like hell in my side. 'Damn,' I thought, 'on my first game I get injured. What the hell.'

Colin must have made the play. I hear our side roar in exclamation. I feel weight lift off me, but I can't move without hurting my side. When Colin comes to help me up, he shouts for Coach. Coach runs out and when he sees me, pulls out his cell phone. I lift my head up and look down. Our jerseys are white, mine was red.

"No...no...you can't take me to the hospital..." I mumble. "I don't have insurance or money enough to cover it."

"Kid, just hold on."

The Coach takes off my helmet and my jersey. My pad was chipped and a large piece got stuck in my stomach. "You don't have a choice. I can't just take it out, give you a Band-Aid, and send you on your way. It's a big piece and I can only see a little bit of it. I'm sure it's pretty deep. You have to go to the hospital."

"Coach, I don't have the money, I don't have insurance. I can't pay for it."

"We'll take care of that when the problem comes up. For now, let's get it fixed. Got it?"

Coach reached toward the piece of plastic stuck in me and I must have blacked out because the next thing I knew I was in a white wash room hooked up to an I.V. I looked around. As I sat up, a nurse walked in, "Honey, how are you feeling?"

"Uh...I'm not sure, I don't feel bad if that's what you're asking."

"Then that's good. We already took the shard out. It didn't go as deep as your coach feared. You will be out of here today."

"Today? What day is it?"

"Your game was last night. It's Saturday, almost noon now. Doctor says he will release you around six tonight. You have some visitors who want to see you. I'll let them in," the nurse says.

Brady and his dad where the first to come in, "Hey, dude, how are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling good. Nurse says I'll be out around six tonight," I say.

"That's good. We don't want to hold you up though; there are a lot of people who want to see you. It's good to know that you are okay," Brady's dad says.

A lot people did come to see me, Emily and her dad, Colin and the rest of the team, a lot of different kids from school, and the Owens. I really didn't know what to say to the Owens. They just came to see if I was okay.

I fell back asleep after they left. When I woke up again, the doctor was coming into the room to release me. Brady was waiting to drive me home. "We can pick your car up Monday, after school. Coach says you aren't to come in for work out in the morning."

"Actually, the doctor told me that I should keep doing that, or the muscle might freeze up," I tell Brady.

"Well, take that up with Coach. I said he didn't want you working out, I didn't say he didn't want you to come in."

"Oh, well okay," I say.

That night I slept even more, not surprising considering the amount of drugs that were still in my system. I didn't do much the next day, and ended up going to bed early because I kept getting the pain in my side and couldn't take my pain pills since I had to wait so long in between each pill. When I woke up to my alarm clock in the morning, I was feeling better, but I felt a twinge of pain. I decided to take one of my week's worth of pain killers with breakfast.

Brady drove me to school early to talk with Coach. When I told Coach that the doctor wanted me to continue working out he said that was fine, but there was something else he wanted to talk about. "Brady, can you step out of the office for a while? I need to talk to Dylan alone. Thank you," Coach said.

"What is it Coach?" I ask.

"It's Colin. He's been acting...different lately. Something has happened. I don't know what it is and he won't talk to me about it. I've asked him about it and he won't say anything. I can't get a hold of his mother; he's an only child and his dad left when he was little. He's a little like you were before you're mother died. His father wasn't there and he is always trying to help make ends meet," Coach explains to me.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Well, last week, after the game and after you were injured, he just left. I went to the local bar later that night, where me and some of the local high school coaches meet to have a drink and trade some friendly insults. I saw him there and he was drinking and I know it wasn't soda. The way he was walking around and the person he was with gave me the idea that he was under the influence," Coach was telling me.

"I still don't know what you want me to do about it? It's not like I can just stop him," I say.

"No, I don't want you to even talk to him about it. I want you to be ready for Friday's game. It's Monday now, I want you at quarterback the rest of the week. I talked to Mr. Connors; he doesn't want you at work until next week. You will be at practice every day," Coach told me.

"Alright Coach, but are you going to tell Colin? He won't be pleased with it."

"I'll handle Colin. I'm going to bench him until he gets his head together and tells me what's going on."

The rest of the week, I practiced being quarterback. I knew how, since I'd been training to be a replacement for Colin if he got hurt. The only thing was I wasn't good at standing still in the pocket. I hardly got sacked, but I did get hit a lot, which meant the other guy fell to the ground because I ran at him too.

When Friday came around, I was nervous. I wasn't sure how I would perform against another team. I wasn't afraid of being hit or anything, I was afraid that I wouldn't be able throw to the receivers. Colin was getting suited up when Coach called him over. When Colin came back, he looked at me. He was upset, but he pulled me aside.

"Hey, Dylan, Coach told me earlier in the week you'd be playing quarterback this game, he didn't tell me why. Now I know. I want to say thanks. I made some mistakes and it won't happen again. But thanks for not telling the other guys. Coach told me he talked to you. I'm not mad, at least not at you. I'm mad at myself for being an idiot."

"Thanks, how do you do it?" I ask.

"Do what?"

"How do you go out there every game, so confident, knowing that you will be going up against a good team and not be afraid?"

"I don't. I'm nervous, every time, but I don't let it get to me. I suck it up, knowing that the whole team is depending on me to get that ball where it needs to go," he says.

"Thanks," I say, going out with the rest of the team.

We lost the coin toss so we had to kick off. Coach had me receiving and running. Since I wasn't going to be doing running back, he thought I would be able to just receive and run the ball. Obviously I wouldn't be doing that right away.

The game ran smoothly. It was a close game, but I did okay. No interceptions and all my passes at least connected with the receivers' hands. It was on them if they didn't catch it. We won by a field goal which put us one point ahead.

After we won, the crowd, since it was a home game, stormed the field. It's a small town and people like to come watch the game because most of them grew up and went to this school. Our kicker was carried off the field on the shoulders of the crowd. I laughed when I saw it until the rest of the team picked me up and carried me off.

I slept well that night. I went to work the next day; the first time going on a weekend. Mr. Connors was surprised to see me, but I told him I could have worked all week and I felt bad about not working. They were just finishing up the house and were moving on to another so I decided to go over to the other house and see what I could get ready.

I knocked on the door and when it opened a middle aged man and his daughter answered the door. "Hello, sir, I'm with the landscaping company that you hired. Would you mind telling me what you had in mind or what you would like done?" I ask him.

"Well young man, I want to know why your boss isn't here."

"He's on his way over, I just got here first," I turn around and see him pulling onto the street. "There he is now. He'll be here in a second."

"Good, I'd rather talk to him. Nothing personal, but you don't look like you would know what your doing."

I decided not to say anything to that because I didn't want to lose the guys business and possibly have my pay docked. When we actually got to work, which was about a half hour later because the guy "knew" what he wanted, but it wouldn't work out in his yard.

Mr. Connors forced him to sign a waiver so he wouldn't press for repayment if anything died. The guy wanted plants that were designed for warmer climates.... They wouldn't survive very long here. It took us all day to put them in. We were packing up; it must have been around six in the evening, when it happened.

I swear...sometimes I think I'm a magnet for trouble. All the other workers had taken tools out front to load up in the trailer. I was picking up the last of the stuff and about to head up there. I don't know what made me stop, but something made me think twice about just walking out there. I went out quietly and saw two guys that I didn't recognize.

Both had guns. When I saw that I knew something was wrong. I went quietly into the backyard again and called the police. They were asking questions when I heard the gunshot. I dropped the phone and ran back out there pulling out my throwing knife as I went.

When I got to the edge of the house I peered around. Carl, one of the other workers was lying on the ground in a pool of his own blood. I knew if he wasn't dead now, he would be soon. They shot him in the throat and the amount of blood gushing from the wound told me that he wouldn't survive.

The closest guy to me had a black ski mask on, but was mostly blocked from my sight from Bob, one of the other workers. The other guy had a dark blue ski mask on and I could see him clearly. I pulled out the other knife; if I was going to do this, I would have to be quick on the other guy or someone else was going to get shot.

I stepped out quickly, going from stand still to sprint in about two seconds, and threw my knife. It was a good shot if I do say so myself. Stuck right in the chest, maybe a little to the left of where I was aiming, but not much. I was still headed at the other guy. As blue ski mask went down, black ski mask took a step back and looked over at him, then towards me.

I was just pushing Bob to the side when he raised the gun and fired. But he fired too quickly and missed me completely, hitting Bob in the right shoulder. I planted the combat knife in his chest, directly over his heart. He never stood a chance.