Just a Game
It was just a game. I didn’t know it was as bad as it was until about a year ago when I was crying alone in my room for days.
I was young and I spent my most vulnerable years in one of the poorest counties in the nation. The one stop light town I lived in was Maxton, North Carolina. The houses were mostly trailers separated by fields and trees. The town was completely isolated in so many ways. It made Maxton the perfect camouflage for drug houses and kept the scrutiny of the police down to a bare minimum. That being said, there wasn’t much of a police force in Maxton either way. The three gas stations available were robbed twice weekly. The only trademark around was a Campbell's Soup factory and prostitutes filled the store across
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They addressed my grandparents as their own and it was a special place. That single-wide, faded green mobile home was important to everyone around. My Papa had built a porch out front and painted it white. There were flowers hanging from the top of the roof and fly traps around the storm door. My Mema would feed all the kids with parents who were too strung out to know their kids were starving. Truly, my family was a blessing to that God forsaken place.
One of the older kids I spent a lot of time with was about 5 to 6 years older than me. He was about 11 at the time of this story. He was taller than me by more than a couple feet, with shaved dark brown hair and light skin. We will call him Tony for the sake of privacy. Tony seemed normal, but we all knew he had problems. His mom smoked crack-cocaine while she was pregnant with him and his little brother. Tony’s little brother’s name was JJ and he was the same age as I. JJ and I got along well and when Tony would get angry and hit him, I’d always take JJ’s side.
I spent a lot of time alone with Tony and his little brother. We would run down every dirt road in Maxton. In our minds, we were invincible. Jumping recklessly on trampolines and chasing small rodents indiscriminately. Nothing will ever quite live up to the miles we rode on ATV’s or the pools we risked trespassing to swim
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He made JJ and I play too. Tony wanted JJ to become a man, and that's how you learned. You're only a man when you can take a woman like this. You played the game and the more we acted like the adults, the quicker we became them.
I remember the feeling of dread every weekend I spent with them. The fear of being pressed down upon and suffocated by the weight of someone twice my size was in all of my thoughts. The idea of being cramped into a tiny space with the air being completely taken away as Tony and JJ would huff it away, leaving me breathless and wanting to just stop.
I knew the game wasn't fun, it felt wrong, but week after week I played. Eventually, Tony couldn't wait. We didn't take many more safety precautions. We would play outside the pump house or in his room. That's how he ultimately got caught. Outside the pump house, we were assuming our roles. One of my older cousins went to the backyard and saw us. Soon after telling my Papa, he showed up and dragged Tony into the house. Soon after my Mema brought me as
It was a dark thursday night in April. The sky was clear enough to see the moon shining brightly along with many small circular diamonds. I’m in a dark blue Avalanche, being driven to a baseball diamond. I play for the MIlwaukee Brewers on a little league level. It’s my last game of the season, and I can’t wait for the umpire to say the words “Play Ball” (which states that the game has begun).
“Play ball.” Says the umpire as the Senior Rams take the field and the Hempstead Mustangs were getting ready to bat. This was it. This was our final chance to make all of our hard work pay off, and achieve the one main goal we all had in mind, state.
On 10/02/2017 at 0017 hours, units were dispatched to 627 Central Ave for a report of a Domestic involving a knife. I responded at emergency speed, priority one. Upon my arrival, I located the accused female in the bathroom.
As the crowd was cheering as the game went on I was on the edge of my seat. At the time my family was visiting California for the first time. We all had a blast and before we wanted to leave all of us wanted to go to a baseball game. As we were walking to the stadium all of the hard core fans were getting hyped for the game. All of them playing games in the parking lot.It felt like I was meant to be at the game. I was rooting for the angels at the time because the rest of the crowd was. My dad was taking pictures of the players throwing,catching,and making plays. I remember as the game was getting close to the end that I had to get cotton candy. Cotton candy was one
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Then we heard a siren ringing and everybody ran. The water was receding. Then a 100 foot wave was coming towards the shore. It flipped over a freighter boat and knocked over all the cargo. It sounded like 1000 trains colliding. Then the wave hit the shore and it got Tony and I. We were separated from each other. Then Max pulled me onto a car then I realized it was my Uncle’s car.
Before every game, I listen to music. Whether tossing around the pigskin, shooting the rock around, or connecting with the console, I always listen to music. When it was time to leave for the game I jumped in the car and put in my headphones. It was so loud that even my father who was driving could probably hear the exact song that was blaring into my ears. My music was on all the way up to the first whistle, not even taking out my earbuds to squeeze into my tight shoulder pads. This is just part of my pregame ritual. I listen to music in some way before any game. Most people use music as entertainment or as a pastime, but I use it differently. I use music as a routine. If I listen to music before every game, the game itself will almost become second nature.
I just had one of my best seasons in years, playing for the best team in the nation with the best of friends. Although we’ve lost a couple of games at first, we have been on a tear recently beating every team by three or more goals. So I along with the rest of my team have been looking forward to this day since the beginning of the year. But, today seems a little different compared to the rest of the year, I wake up at my normal time of 7 O’clock in the morning. Then I go downstairs to where my mother has made eggs for me and my sister, knowing that today is a big day in my career, she leaves me alone to focus on the game. I then hear a big bang outside thinking it’s my friend shooting pucks outside I go check, I find out that it is my dad
My grandma owns a old cattle farm, even though there isn't much cattle there anymore. Before my cousin, Aunt Jen, and uncle moved to Hawaii, they built a house on the property. Whenever they come to visit, they always stay in their old house.
At the beginning of my freshman year I was attempting to develop motivation as well as seeking purpose and determining value. Whether in school or during sports or other activities and events in my life, I was constantly searching for motivation towards a goal or achievement.
Squeak! My shoes slide across the floor I’m going to do it this time was determined. I passed defenders left and right. I’m going to do it this time I will score.I arrived early that day in order to get in extra practice. I knew this was a crucial game. I was nervous and excited at the same time. My palms sweated and my heart was racing. I was ready.
At the start of my last year in middle school, a transfer student from China who was unfamiliar with English mustered up all her courage, approached me, and introduced herself with the best English she could manage. This action would later on welcome me to witness her world of resilience. Her name was Amy, and throughout her journey through eighth grade, she faced a lot of adversity with peers around her. No matter how difficult the obstacle was, she had always pushed through with all her effort. This narrative will introduce the resilience that Amy portrayed throughout her first year of school in America.
October 16th, 2013: As the lights glistened through the faint darkness that was beginning to spread all around us, a cool breeze flowed through the metal bars and splashed against my sweaty face. I was sprinting, running faster than I ever had before. Clusters of bodies surrounded me as a tried to maneuver my way through the world's hardest obstacle course as I settled down to make a final leap of faith. I was fourteen years old, and at this moment I didn’t know that what was about to happen would alter my life forever.
In San Francisco, about a year after my mother died, when I was nine or ten years old and going to the second new school since moving in with my father, I had a desperate crush on a girl named Lisa. She was a year older than me, in the next grade level up (our classrooms were combined). She was pretty, Asian, was popular with a group of friends that would surround her during recesses.
It all started as a normal game day. I got up in the morning, took a shower and then proceed to put on my uniform. I put everything on just right to look like the perfect ball player. After that, I went downstairs and get some breakfast. While walking down the stairs, I hear the sound of sizzling bacon and eggs cracking. I also could smell the sweet and delicious waffles being made. When I finally reach the bottom of the stairs, I see my mother making me breakfast as she usually does before a game. "Good morning, are you ready for your game?" she asked. "Of course!" I replied, "I think I might hit a home run today." "Well I better be there to see it," she said happily. She then handed me my breakfast and I went to the table.