(7 years old)
“ There he goes again!”, A man sitting close to him shouted as he cheered the team he was supporting.
Player Number 54, Jacob Shepherd threw the ball so high, with a certain type of strength that stronger animals posses, that it flew straight into the waiting hands of player number 15. How that player could catch the ball and still hold on to it while running was amazing. The player wearing the Number 15 jersey ran very fast like a cheetah and within seconds, he scored another touchdown for their team, earning them an extra four points. They were playing a game away from home and as expected of the Vikings team, they dominated and conquered every single game they played, that was why they were the greatest of all times, the real MVPs, the six times world Superbowl champions. The team was on a winning streak and was sure to break down any obstacle blocking their path.Silver didn’t know when it had started but he had loved the game of football for as long as he could remember. Maybe it was due to the fact that he admired number 54 like no man’s business and wanted to be like him in every way. He could remember his mother carrying him to see the football matches that number 54 was playing in when he was smaller and she would always point the man out on the field.“ …and he passes the ball over to Michael again, Michael running towards the end zone and that’s it!, He scores another goal!”, the commentator shouted through the speakers.“ It seems that the Vikings are in for today’s game. They have brought their A game and are more than ready to desecrate their opponent”, another commentator shouted.The referee blew the whistle for time out and Number 54 who was Jacob Shepherd jogged out of the field and over to his coach on the sidelines. He took a water bottle from one of his teammates on the bench and started to drink it as he listened to the coach who was obviously talking to him about strategies on how to further stamp their victory.Silver couldn’t help but follow every of his move, from the way he ran back into the field to the way he threw the ball, the way he arched his back when he wanted to throw a long range ball. Silver noticed every single detail about the man. He would always watch the large screen when his eyes hurt from squinting it too much.“ Silver!, Look!...”, his mother who has been watching the game silently, called to him.Silver followed the direction she was pointing at and of course he knew what he was going to see even before his eyes adjusted to the image, Jacob Shepherd, number 54. He wondered how it felt to be close to the man, to watch him closely without the jersey and gears he was wearing. How it felt to hear him call his name, Silver. To Pat his head when he played football well at school and told him how proud he was of him. He wondered how it felt to call Jacob Shepherd, Dad.Right from when he could walk, his mom had always told him who his biological father was. She would always tell him that Jacob, his father loved him and was taking care of him and that the only time they were allowed to see him was when he was on the field playing. She had warned him strictly never to meet the man. Whenever Silver asked her why he didn’t call or visit them, or why they couldn’t visit him, she would tell him that it was because he was always very busy training and had kept them away so that they would be safe.Over the years, the lies had stuck to his head that he no longer asked her about him again. He was contented with watching him play from afar. He was now grown up and could find whatever answers he needed online, that is if you called a seven years old, a grown up.Silver huffed, “ Yes Mom…I can see him…number 54”, he muttered. The noises in the stands should have been able to drown out his reply but his mother was always attentive whenever Jacob Shepherd was concerned. It was as if she was obsessed about him.She pulled her silver hair up, so it wasn’t touching her shoulders and tied it into a pony tail. Silver heard murmurs behind him and turned to see two ladies glaring at his mother’s hair. They were jealous, he noticed. He also had the same reaction anywhere he went.She checked her watch, “ We’ll have to leave soon Silver, you know the social worker is coming to the house today”, she told him.Silver sighed, he wasn’t ready to leave the field just yet. He wanted to watch his father for as long as he could but if his mother says that the social worker was coming, then they had better leave. Him staying with his mother depended on the results of these visits. He didn’t know why they felt that his mother was not capable of taking care of him and why he needed these regular checks. Whenever she left him alone at home, it was because she wanted to work and couldn’t bring him.Though he knew that she would sometimes take out her aggression on him, he still understood why she did it and it was her way of loving him. She was the only person he had, excluding his father and wouldn’t want them to take him away from her.The official blew the final whistle, signifying the end of the game and the Vikings was declared the winner of the game with a 34-14 score on the board. The cheers from the spectators were deafening.His mother pulled his hand, “ c’mon let’s head out before the place becomes rowdy”, she shouted at him.Silver grabbed his Vikings cap and followed his mother out of the huge stadium. They navigated their way out of the stands and Silver released a bated breath. The crowd was enormous and he had a difficult time seeing what was in front of him.“ mom, let’s follow this way…”, he told his mother. She smiled and nodded.Silver was happy that she had agreed to follow that other path because he got to still see the footballers entering into the back areas that led to their dressing rooms. He looked around as they walked, hoping that he would catch a glimpse of Jacob one last time before they left the stadium. He didn’t know when they would be coming to play in his city again. As they rounded the corner, his mother stopped walking and pulled him back immediately. He was shocked by the action.“ Shit!,”, she cursed out.Silver frowned, wondering why she had acted that way, he gently looked down the hallway that they were about to take and that was when he saw Jacob Shepherd walking towards them or rather their direction. ‘ oh', he thought. That was why his mother had pulled them back. She didn’t want his father to see her. Silver didn’t understand why she needed to hide from him constantly. Silver was in awed of how the man was moving, in all his glory and was dumbfounded at first, not knowing what to do. He turned back to where his mother was and was surprised to find out that she was no longer there with him. She had been standing there a few seconds ago, where had she gone to. He looked around but still did not see her.Had his mother left him alone?, Where did she go to?, He panicked feeling lost.“ mom!” he called out walking down the hallway they had just taken and looking for her“ Mom!” , he called again, this time frightened that she had abandoned him. He kept on calling for his mom and didn’t know which way to go. There was no way she had left him there, the social worker was visiting them and she would always want to appear responsible and nice so that there wouldn’t be any problems.“ Mom!, Where are you?” , he shouted rounding the corner and bumping into a kid his size, the action causing him to land on his butt. Damn, that hurts.“ Ouch!” , the kid exclaimed falling to the floor and holding his ankle.Silver blinked in pain looking at the kid, that was probably around his age. The boy looked uninjured except for maybe his ankle that he was still rubbing.Silver was about to apologize to him since he was the cause of the fall when another kid ran towards where they were.“ Lennon!”, the kid running towards them shouted.So his name was Lennon, he thought. He watched the Lennon boy turn towards the boy who was approaching and sighed, making an effort to stand up on his feet.The boy turned to glare at him, “ you’re going to stay there on the floor or what?”, the boy called Lennon spat, referring to Silver.It was then that Silver realized that he was still sitting on the floor. He made to stand up on his feet but slipped and fell down again. “ahh…”, he cried out in pain, this time, feeling that he might have bruised his wrist.“ Are you okay” , someone asked in a soft voice, perhaps belonging to a girl.Silver shook his head and opened his mouth to respond but then noticed that the question was not for him but the boy called Lennon because the person who had asked the question was not looking at him but the Lennon boy.Lennon shrugged, “ nothing I can’t survive from. I think I sprained my ankle. Jeez, not again!”, he grimaced hopping on one leg.‘ Hello… I’m still here, on the floor. Anybody cares t
7 years oldLennon knew that he was in trouble the Moment he entered the dressing room and saw his father staring at him. Only God knew what Danny must have told his father. Out there in the field, his father was the greatest of all times, Jacob Shepherd, six times Superbowl champion and other titles that he bagged. But when he left the field, he was just like every other father, strict, caring and affectionate when you listened to him.His father was talking to uncle Michael when he entered the room, “ It was an easy win here…I wonder if they were scared of playing against us or something”, Uncle Michael muttered, throwing his stuffs inside his bag. Yeah, Lennon noted that it was an easy win. He had been watching the game with uncle Chase and Danny at the VIP area in the stadium and noticed many flaws in their strategies that made them lose the match. Most of all, they were scared of playing against the Vikings.Lennon looked around the room, he saw many of his father’s teammates pa
He was silver, yet he had been born with a plastic spoon, the irony. His name looked too rich coming from a poor scrawny kid.He turned to look at his mother who was focused on the road and gripping the steering wheel. He prayed that she would be calm before they got home.“ Take your eyes off me…”, his mother reprimanded, catching him staring at her.Silver turned back to look at the looming structure that they were leaving behind, one thing was sure, his father was in that building and he wished the man had sort him out or even spared him a glance.By the time they got home, it was almost evening and his mother was becoming agitated. He knew when she was in one of her moods, so he stayed quiet and did nothing so as not to upset her. “ Clean up your room!” , she told him immediately they entered the house.His room was already tidy, he wanted to tell her but thought it wise to shut up and do as she had asked. He was not a disorganized kid. at an early age, he knew how to take care
His mother loved him and that was all that mattered, nothing else, he mused. Smiling at the social worker, he said, “ there’s nothing going on here ma’am. I’m fine with my mother, really…”.Ms. Anselm sighed, nodding her head, “ I understand Silver…well, I’m pleased to inform you that this will be the last visit from me… from henceforth, you don’t need me to come check up regularly, you’ll be fully under the guardianship of your mother. I hope you made the right choice”, she said.He felt like crying.Even as Silver laid on the bed, forcing himself to go to sleep, he could only think about how he had let himself suffer by concealing the truth from the social worker. His mother loved him, she had told him earlier.She loved him and love covered a multitude of sins right?, his teacher had said so. But why did it feel like he had just let go of the lifeline he was holding on to.A single tear fell from his eye and he wiped it off from his face. He had chosen love and that was okay, becau
Lennon laid his head on his father’s shoulder. So long as he was with his father, his hero, he was okay and would bear whatever he was going to face at the hospital. Well that was until his uncle Chase called the only person he was really truly scared of, Liam’s mommy, his aunt Brianna.“ I’ll call Brianna and tell her that you guys are coming in”, uncle Chase offered.“ I want to go with them to the hospital daddy, I want to see aunty Bree”, Danny insisted.“ oh, oh!”, Lennon thought. “ not aunt Bree…”He hugged his father tightly as the man maneuver through the crowd of reporters waiting at the entrance for the football players. This was not the first time Lennon was seeing reporters and flashes of camera attacking his father, Infact, he had seen it Majorly all his seven years of existence, so he wasn’t shocked again and used to seeing them. This time though, he buried his head in the crook of his father’s neck.His father smelt like he just came out of the showers, which he just di
Lennon looked at Danny sitting on the other side of his father, the boy was already sleeping. His eye lashes closed against each other.His father kissed his head, “ sleep Lennon, I’ll wake you when we get to the hospital…”, his father told him.Lennon sighed, his eyes already felt heavy though, so he closed his eyes and allowed sleep engulf him.The next time he woke up, he was in his father’s arms. He looked around, noticing that his father was already walking down the hallway of the hospital. He sighed, he had been sleeping and had not noticed that they had gotten to the hospital, it was already evening outside.“ you’re awake?...”, his father noted.Lennon hummed, allowing his father to readjust him so he was no longer carrying him bridal style. He looked over his father’s shoulders expecting to see Danny, but it was just the nurses and doctors in the hospital.His father must have sensed what was happening because he answered his unasked question.“ Your uncle Chase, went home wi
(16 years old)“ one two south west!”, Asher called, as he threw the ball into the waiting hands of Danny who almost missed the catch but still gripped the ball running before the right tackle could intercept the ball. He wasn’t as fast as he used to be, he was tired and any minute now, he would start acting up. Lennon was grateful that he was not the one throwing the ball right now.Though football in middle school was a bit on the easy side, well football in high school was a bit competitive and tough, challenging even and he was wondering every time why he wanted to play ball in the first place.Considering they were playing ball under the hot morning sun before classes. Because they had messed up in their last game, coach had declared early morning training and that was why they were here playing ball thirty minutes before school started for the day, though they had been running in the field for almost three hours, since five thirty that morning.Danny fell into the end zone, sco
(16 years old)Danny was still holding the stupid guy in a headlock when he saw Lennon walk through the crowd, taking in what was happening there. Lennon cleared his throat, tapping the guy who was pulling his hair, for some reason, the guy thought it was okay to touch his hair. He was already feeling the pain in his scalp, but there was no way he was letting the guy he had in a headlock go. He was a huge asshole.“hey!, That wrong!”, Lennon told the guy he had tapped.The guy scoffed, “ ask him to let my friend go!”, He shouted.Danny laughed in pain, over his dead body. The one under him tried to push him off, but he pulled the arm tightly, hearing the snapping of bone. The guy cried out in pain.Great Danny, you just dislocated his arm, he chided himself. It wasn’t his intentions, but it could happen sometimes when he pulled too much. He was trained in defensive techniques and could handle just about anyone that messes with him.If there was one thing his father had taught him to