Life in Color ✔️

5~Headache

I don't even wait to hear the rest of his sentence.

I'm running down the hill towards the middle school field at full speed. My mind flashing back to this morning. I yelled at him then hung up the phone. What if he isn't ok? How could I live with that?

My heart falls to my stomach as I see Silver sprawled out on the ground, completely unmoving. His coach leans over him, waving a towel across his face.

Oh my God. Please let him be ok.

Movement catches my eye, momentarily distracting me from my panic. I look over to find Sterling tackling a kid to the ground.

Wait, what?

"He was down! Why the fuck did you tackle him?"

I freeze for a moment. My eyes darting between an unconscious Silver and an attacking Sterling. Who to handle first? I don't move until he begins to punch the kid. Repeatedly. My mind goes into overdrive. Sterling would never punch someone, let alone beat them to a bloody pulp.

"Sterling Ocean Rhodes, get off of him!" I demand, pulling him off the now bloodied kid. The other boy looks to be a year older, dark skin with a lanky build.

Sterling lunges for the kid again but Sam grabs a hold of him, allowing me to run over to Silver who's still out like a light.

I turn to their coach, "What the hell happened?"

"He finished the play when Wilson tackled him. It's all a simple misunderstanding." He assures me. Last I checked, misunderstandings don't end with someone being knocked out.

"He didn't tackle him, he attacked him." Sterling shouts, fighting against Sam, a wild gleam in his blue eyes.

"I'll deal with you later," I send him a look before turning back to the coach. "How long has he been out?"

"Four maybe five minutes before you got here?" He scratches his head in thought.

Panic begins to settle in heavily. If he's sustained a serious head injury those five minutes could be vital. "Why wasn't I gotten as soon as he was hit?"

I was literally a few hundred feet away. The millions of procedures I've learned over the years in case of a situation like this rush through my mind.

"We thought he would wake up." The coach tries to defend himself but I push past him.

I check his pulse and it feels below normal but not dangerous. I put my hand underneath his nose, air hitting my hand in a slow, steady pattern. His skin is ice cold and for once in his life Silver looks paler than Sterling.

So far everything seems normal for the situation.

My blood begins to boil. How can a grown ass man deal with a potentially serious injury with so much nonchalance? My body shakes and I can't decide if it's out of fear or anger. While I debate whether or not to rip the coach a new one, I spot the water jug.

I march over, take the lid off, carry it back to Silver and dump it over his body. Then I eye Sterling, still fighting against Sam and the other two kids trying to hold him back, and dump the rest of the water on him.

Silver let's out a large gasp of air moments later and my heartbeat slows down. He's alive and functioning.

"I don't feel so well Coach."  He mumbles.

"You're fine son, walk it off."

Silver leans over and throws up everywhere. Walk it off my ass.

"He most certainly is not fine. Sterling, Sam, carry Silver to the car." I walk over to the coach, attempting to muster all the ferocity I can without crying. "I'll deal with you and how you handled this situation later."