Dying Perfection
At the Game
I woke up and looked at the clock, it was 9:00am, only four hours ago Eric was in the rain and was looking for help. I was surprised; I was calm, not gasping or anything. I had actually had a good sleep. I smiled and got out of bed, I was feeling more energetic than ever. I looked around to the window and opened it. I basked in the warm sunlight, today felt like a new beginning, it certainly was for Eric. I looked at the calendar, August 18th, it would be school in a few weeks. For a the first time in a long while, I smiled at the calendar, I felt that school would also be a fresh new start, a time for be to be all I can be. I read what I had written, ‘Semi-Finals’. I stood there in confusion for a long time then realized that today was the volleyball semi finals and Eric’s team had made it to it.
I skipped over to the washroom, something I usually wouldn’t do. I took a shower and got dressed and went downstairs. I smiled when I saw Eric eating breakfast and I quickened my step.
“Hey.” He said, I ordered my food and sat across from him. He had a smile on his face, I gave him one in return.
“How’d you sleep?” I asked, for some reason I just wanted to talk to Eric, nothing else.
“It was great.” He said. “Thanks so much, I don’t know what I’d do without you.” I felt so happy seeing Eric smile and look at me with his caring eyes.
“It’s nothing, really.” I said, I felt I was doing myself a favor more than I was for him. “So which team do you play today?”
“They’re one of the best and richest teams there are.” He said, the bell rang for my food and I got up but continued to listen. “They actually get paid to play, like professionals. Because that they can afford anything to help them to be the best. Luckily since our team is from a university we know better techniques and ways to train efficiently, so we’re sort of cheating too.” I sat down and gazed at Eric’s gleaming eyes. I continued to stare for a while then realized Eric was done talking, I almost blushed.
“So that’s at two?” I asked, I didn’t really want him to stop talking, I loved his smooth voice.
“Ya, but we have to be there at one for practice.” He said and continued to eat his eggs. I took a bite out of my toast. I wanted to keep talking, keep hearing his voice. He quickly finished and put his dishes into the slot and walked away.
I felt alone and empty. I finished my toast and put the dishes away. I was about to walk upstairs when the doorbell rang. I answered the door, Sam.
“Is Ajax ready?” I just smiled at him for a second and finally answered.
“What do you think?” Sam smiled back.
“I know, he’s always ready, I just wanted you to call him or something.” I heard footsteps on the stairs and turned around. I saw a foot, but it was larger than Ajax’s. Another foot came down and within seconds Eric’s bright face was in view.
“Eric’s here?” Sam said excitedly. I looked around and saw a big grin on his face. “Man! Can he come?”
I looked back to Eric, he had a big bag on his shoulder and he smiled at Sam. “Maybe, where are you going?” Eric asked.
“Just to Ghol National Park.” Sam said, Ghol National Park and all other Nationals parks were uprooted and created to float in the sea because more space was needed for housing.
“Sure, but I need to come back for twelve.” He said while Ajax came downstairs.
“Guess what!” Sam was almost jumping. “Eric is coming with us to Ghol National Park!”
Ajax’s smile faded for a while but was replaced with another fake one. “Okay then, let’s go.” The trio of boys went outside and closed the door. I stood there for a while, just listening to the silence. I looked at the phone, I’ll just get Kalyan to pick me up.
I dialed the number and heard Kalyan’s voice. “Who is this?” Her sweet voice said.
“It’s me.” I said, I could almost see Kalyan’s smile.
“Just who I wanted to talk to, do you want to go somewhere?”
“I’m alone right now so sure.” I said.
“Okay, I’ll be there in a sec.” I heard a click and silence surrounded me once more. I hung up the phone and walked out the door. I looked into the sunny, cloudless sky as a cool wind enclosed me. I smiled, a perfect day.
Within seconds I saw Kalyan’s red Aoide 300 over the horizon. I grinned, today is going to be good, I can feel it.
“Shh,” Kalyan whispered and pointed. I slowly stepped closer and peered through the trees. It was a two stags fighting each other. “They’re so beautiful, even in the worse times.” I just stared, it was incredible, no virtually reality movie is as good as this.
We continued to stare until one fell and quickly scrambled away as the other one proudly strode on. When the deer were out of sight I finally spoke up.
“Kalyan,” I began.
“Ya?”
“I have something to tell you, it’s about Eric.”
Kalyan leaned forward and tilted her head. “What happened?” I could see the anxiety in here eyes.
“His mom, she’s gone crazy and is taking large amounts of MCMs, it’ll probably be fatal. So Eric is staying at my house or else he’ll be forced to take them too.” I looked down and heard Kalyan gasp.
“What are you, I mean Eric, going to do?” Kalyan asked.
Kalyan had probably already figured out what we should do, but had just asked about our plans. “I want him to call the insane asylum, he isn’t agreeing.”
“That’s what I was thinking, I’ll try and sway him.” Kalyan said, I nodded, she’s been in the national finals for debate club for 5 years straight, if she can persuade all those judges, persuading Eric will be simple.
After wandering through the forest and looking at the simple wonders Kalyan looked at her watch. “It’s 2:06, we’re missing Eric’s game! I hope he’ll forgive us.” Kalyan said and began to run east. I followed here, hoping not to disturb anything. I hope there’s not a moose or anything ahead of us, I continued to wish. We luckily got to the sea and the parking lot and jumped into Kalyan’s car. She stared it up and we rose into the air. Please, make Eric not notice we’re not there.
We found Sam and Ajax sitting down in the stadium, they had saved us seats. I sat beside Ajax. “You’re late!” Sam whispered over to me and Kalyan.
“I know,” Kalyan said, “It took about five minutes just to find a parking space.” Kalyan lied, it had taken us seconds, from above it was as easy as finding a banana in a pile of grapes. Sam eyed us suspiciously, he obviously didn’t believe us. After a long minute of Kalyan staring at Sam they finally sat back and just enjoyed the game.
One of Eric’s teammates served the ball, it didn’t go very high but just went over the net. The person closest to the net on the other team was short, but somehow he managed to stretch and spike the ball. I blinked, it didn’t seem possible for someone that short to spike the ball like that. I looked back, Eric’s team was able to hit the ball back into the air and it went over the net again. Another person on the opposite team got ready for a bump and squatted down extremely low and was too able to stretch more than what seemed humanly possible. I stared at the guy, had he really been able to crouch that low then stretch that high?
I continued to watch the game and more and more of that team amazed me. Halfway through I looked at the score board, the other team had two times the amount of points as Eric's team. One of the guys on Eric’s team called timeout and walked over to the ref, the ref had a pin on microphone so everyone heard the conversation.
“We shouldn’t be playing this team.” Eric’s teammate piped up.
“Why? You guys have both won all of your games.” The referee said.
Eric came into the conversation. “What he means is the other team shouldn’t be playing.”
“Didn’t you hear what I just said.” The ref was getting upset.
“But they obviously have MCMs, they’re basically using steroids.” Eric’s teammate said.
“Hey, haven’t you been seeing the new lately? By the end of this year half of the population will have them, you can’t stop that.” The ref said.
“But lots of us don’t right now.” Eric said.
“I’ll prove it to you then,” The ref said and turned to the crowd. “Anyone who has MCMs or are getting them soon stand up.” I looked around, about two fifths of the stadium stood up. “See, so go back to playing or forfeit.”
The small crowd around the referee slowly walked away. Eric stood there when everyone else was gone and just stood at the ref, but eventually walked back to his place.
Eric’s team had lost and by a large amount too. We stayed until his team was done packing up and tried to comfort Eric.
“Come on Eric, it’s just a game.” Kalyan said, trying her best to calm Eric down, but he was furious.
“No it’s not!” Eric turned around. “It was the semi-finals! If it weren't for MCMs we would have won. Just because we don’t want to have MCMs doesn’t mean we can be treated like dirt!” Eric continued to walk and quickened his pace. We were almost running trying to catch up with him.
“It will be alright.” Kalyan said in her most soothing voice. “I trust you that.” Eric slowed down almost to a stop but then started up again. We started to run again and we couldn’t catch up until we were in the parking lot under the moon’s bright shine. We all got in the car but Eric continued to walk. “Eric!” Kalyan yelled. “Come on, we’ll give you a ride.”
“I can walk!” Was all we got out of Eric.
I skipped over to the washroom, something I usually wouldn’t do. I took a shower and got dressed and went downstairs. I smiled when I saw Eric eating breakfast and I quickened my step.
“Hey.” He said, I ordered my food and sat across from him. He had a smile on his face, I gave him one in return.
“How’d you sleep?” I asked, for some reason I just wanted to talk to Eric, nothing else.
“It was great.” He said. “Thanks so much, I don’t know what I’d do without you.” I felt so happy seeing Eric smile and look at me with his caring eyes.
“It’s nothing, really.” I said, I felt I was doing myself a favor more than I was for him. “So which team do you play today?”
“They’re one of the best and richest teams there are.” He said, the bell rang for my food and I got up but continued to listen. “They actually get paid to play, like professionals. Because that they can afford anything to help them to be the best. Luckily since our team is from a university we know better techniques and ways to train efficiently, so we’re sort of cheating too.” I sat down and gazed at Eric’s gleaming eyes. I continued to stare for a while then realized Eric was done talking, I almost blushed.
“So that’s at two?” I asked, I didn’t really want him to stop talking, I loved his smooth voice.
“Ya, but we have to be there at one for practice.” He said and continued to eat his eggs. I took a bite out of my toast. I wanted to keep talking, keep hearing his voice. He quickly finished and put his dishes into the slot and walked away.
I felt alone and empty. I finished my toast and put the dishes away. I was about to walk upstairs when the doorbell rang. I answered the door, Sam.
“Is Ajax ready?” I just smiled at him for a second and finally answered.
“What do you think?” Sam smiled back.
“I know, he’s always ready, I just wanted you to call him or something.” I heard footsteps on the stairs and turned around. I saw a foot, but it was larger than Ajax’s. Another foot came down and within seconds Eric’s bright face was in view.
“Eric’s here?” Sam said excitedly. I looked around and saw a big grin on his face. “Man! Can he come?”
I looked back to Eric, he had a big bag on his shoulder and he smiled at Sam. “Maybe, where are you going?” Eric asked.
“Just to Ghol National Park.” Sam said, Ghol National Park and all other Nationals parks were uprooted and created to float in the sea because more space was needed for housing.
“Sure, but I need to come back for twelve.” He said while Ajax came downstairs.
“Guess what!” Sam was almost jumping. “Eric is coming with us to Ghol National Park!”
Ajax’s smile faded for a while but was replaced with another fake one. “Okay then, let’s go.” The trio of boys went outside and closed the door. I stood there for a while, just listening to the silence. I looked at the phone, I’ll just get Kalyan to pick me up.
I dialed the number and heard Kalyan’s voice. “Who is this?” Her sweet voice said.
“It’s me.” I said, I could almost see Kalyan’s smile.
“Just who I wanted to talk to, do you want to go somewhere?”
“I’m alone right now so sure.” I said.
“Okay, I’ll be there in a sec.” I heard a click and silence surrounded me once more. I hung up the phone and walked out the door. I looked into the sunny, cloudless sky as a cool wind enclosed me. I smiled, a perfect day.
Within seconds I saw Kalyan’s red Aoide 300 over the horizon. I grinned, today is going to be good, I can feel it.
“Shh,” Kalyan whispered and pointed. I slowly stepped closer and peered through the trees. It was a two stags fighting each other. “They’re so beautiful, even in the worse times.” I just stared, it was incredible, no virtually reality movie is as good as this.
We continued to stare until one fell and quickly scrambled away as the other one proudly strode on. When the deer were out of sight I finally spoke up.
“Kalyan,” I began.
“Ya?”
“I have something to tell you, it’s about Eric.”
Kalyan leaned forward and tilted her head. “What happened?” I could see the anxiety in here eyes.
“His mom, she’s gone crazy and is taking large amounts of MCMs, it’ll probably be fatal. So Eric is staying at my house or else he’ll be forced to take them too.” I looked down and heard Kalyan gasp.
“What are you, I mean Eric, going to do?” Kalyan asked.
Kalyan had probably already figured out what we should do, but had just asked about our plans. “I want him to call the insane asylum, he isn’t agreeing.”
“That’s what I was thinking, I’ll try and sway him.” Kalyan said, I nodded, she’s been in the national finals for debate club for 5 years straight, if she can persuade all those judges, persuading Eric will be simple.
After wandering through the forest and looking at the simple wonders Kalyan looked at her watch. “It’s 2:06, we’re missing Eric’s game! I hope he’ll forgive us.” Kalyan said and began to run east. I followed here, hoping not to disturb anything. I hope there’s not a moose or anything ahead of us, I continued to wish. We luckily got to the sea and the parking lot and jumped into Kalyan’s car. She stared it up and we rose into the air. Please, make Eric not notice we’re not there.
We found Sam and Ajax sitting down in the stadium, they had saved us seats. I sat beside Ajax. “You’re late!” Sam whispered over to me and Kalyan.
“I know,” Kalyan said, “It took about five minutes just to find a parking space.” Kalyan lied, it had taken us seconds, from above it was as easy as finding a banana in a pile of grapes. Sam eyed us suspiciously, he obviously didn’t believe us. After a long minute of Kalyan staring at Sam they finally sat back and just enjoyed the game.
One of Eric’s teammates served the ball, it didn’t go very high but just went over the net. The person closest to the net on the other team was short, but somehow he managed to stretch and spike the ball. I blinked, it didn’t seem possible for someone that short to spike the ball like that. I looked back, Eric’s team was able to hit the ball back into the air and it went over the net again. Another person on the opposite team got ready for a bump and squatted down extremely low and was too able to stretch more than what seemed humanly possible. I stared at the guy, had he really been able to crouch that low then stretch that high?
I continued to watch the game and more and more of that team amazed me. Halfway through I looked at the score board, the other team had two times the amount of points as Eric's team. One of the guys on Eric’s team called timeout and walked over to the ref, the ref had a pin on microphone so everyone heard the conversation.
“We shouldn’t be playing this team.” Eric’s teammate piped up.
“Why? You guys have both won all of your games.” The referee said.
Eric came into the conversation. “What he means is the other team shouldn’t be playing.”
“Didn’t you hear what I just said.” The ref was getting upset.
“But they obviously have MCMs, they’re basically using steroids.” Eric’s teammate said.
“Hey, haven’t you been seeing the new lately? By the end of this year half of the population will have them, you can’t stop that.” The ref said.
“But lots of us don’t right now.” Eric said.
“I’ll prove it to you then,” The ref said and turned to the crowd. “Anyone who has MCMs or are getting them soon stand up.” I looked around, about two fifths of the stadium stood up. “See, so go back to playing or forfeit.”
The small crowd around the referee slowly walked away. Eric stood there when everyone else was gone and just stood at the ref, but eventually walked back to his place.
Eric’s team had lost and by a large amount too. We stayed until his team was done packing up and tried to comfort Eric.
“Come on Eric, it’s just a game.” Kalyan said, trying her best to calm Eric down, but he was furious.
“No it’s not!” Eric turned around. “It was the semi-finals! If it weren't for MCMs we would have won. Just because we don’t want to have MCMs doesn’t mean we can be treated like dirt!” Eric continued to walk and quickened his pace. We were almost running trying to catch up with him.
“It will be alright.” Kalyan said in her most soothing voice. “I trust you that.” Eric slowed down almost to a stop but then started up again. We started to run again and we couldn’t catch up until we were in the parking lot under the moon’s bright shine. We all got in the car but Eric continued to walk. “Eric!” Kalyan yelled. “Come on, we’ll give you a ride.”
“I can walk!” Was all we got out of Eric.