Micro- Story

The Guilt

          After we reflected on the game we had that day, we were dismissed from the meeting. Most of the kids walked off together to hang out. Instead I dragged my legs to the locker room alone. The door to the boys’ locker room seemed heavier than usual, and a complete darkness welcomed me as I entered the small room. There were soccer uniform thrown everywhere with our school names. It was a cool blue sport t-shirt with “Lake Mary Prep” on the back. I picked one up. I stared at it for a moment then put it back down. I walked over to my own grey colored locker. There were stickers everywhere; one of them was the school mascot, the Griffin. The blue eyes of the Griffin stared at me. I looked away, almost instantly.

            It was not my fault we lost the game. My coach knew that. My teammates knew that. I knew that. But if I had not gotten the red card in the second half, we held a very high chance of winning the match.  We could have held the golden Champions Cup in our hands. But it could not be helped. That was the only way we could have stopped that kid from scoring a goal. It was not my fault we lost the game.

            I sat down on the bench that was closest to me. Something hit my leg. I crouch down to find a beaten up soccer ball. I stared at it for a few minutes. The ball bore many scratches and lines on its surface. It almost looked pathetic. I threw the ball into the basket and turned back to my locker. I opened it and got my water bottle out.

            Slowly I walked out of the school entrance. It was raining and it seemed as if it was not going to be a light shower. I didn’t hesitate to walk into the rain. The droplets hit my face. Then it started soaking my clothes. I was really wet. But I did not run. Nothing could be fixed.

I walked steadily back to my house as the rain poured all over me. I met no one on the way back home, which was a delight. Suddenly, I saw a glimpse of light at far. It shone like a star on a dark, black night. I sped up my pace, but not too fast so that the puddles didn’t splash on my legs. As I closed up, I discovered that the source of the bright light was from my house. I felt more drops on my face the closer I got to the door. By the time I had put my hand on the door knob, I was soaked head to toe.