"Benjamin, you've been missing football practice" Edward, Benjamin's friend asked, "what's wrong ?"
'I've been busy'
'okay. Hope you are coming for CJ's bash tonight'.
'Oh, I had forgotten. Don't think I'll be there '
'come on, when did you ever miss a party ?. It will be great, there'll be snooker and all the girls from our class will be there".
Benjamin hesitated for a while before saying
"Edward, don't you think there is more to life than parties and girls?.....Anyway I need to study '
Edward stopped and looked at Benjamin in Mock horror "You of all people! you never need to study and you always come out tops bro!"
Ben smirked a little while they continued their walk to the boys' locker room and about then Stephanie (Benjamin's girlfriend) and Alex who were both on the cheer squad passed by, smiling and saying hello to the boys as they went into the locker room.
*In the locker room*.
"Ben the striker !!" The boys in the locker room hailed as Benjamin and Edward walked in.
"SAY what!!" he responded, with an energetic tone in his voice
"THAT'S WHAT'S UP!!" they all responded jumping around and swinging their hands in the air, laughing and shaking hands at the end of it.
Just then the coach walked in.
"Moore!"
"Yes, coach" Benjamin answered as the coach liked to call him by his last name,
"What's the matter with you?" Coach said with a hint of anger in his tone, "you've been missing practice lately, seems like you prefer being benched to being on the field".
"I'm sorry coach " Ben replied lamely.
"We have important marches coming up Moore. I could kick you out of the team for your irresponsible nature'.
" I ...'
"Shut up and get on the field !" Coach said as he walked out of the locker room.
**On the field.**
Ben could knew that his coach wasn't happy with his performance at all, so he tried his best to focus on the game, pushing down all the problem that were bothering him.
But he still kept missing passes, and wasting goal opportunities, he knew he wasn't doing well, and at this point he was frustrated.
"Moore!!!, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOIN PLAYING LIKE A LEGLESS COCKROACH ?!", The coach shouted from the sideline.
Already feeling frustrated, angry, and pained, he kept quiet bottling everything down again. Until..
"Don't mind him Coach " Hassan the second-best player in the squad after Benjamin, said in hopes of curating more favors from the coach "he's been at home all week eating Mama's food", causing a crowd of laughter to follow.
That was it, Benjamin had reached his breaking point, he had been having a bad day and entirely a bad week. His mother had fallen seriously ill about two weeks ago, he and his siblings had been putting extra time into looking after her, the doctor had said that there was nothing more they could do for her situation. His heart kept breaking as time continued without stopping, the very thought of Lossing his mother had caged him and put him in shackles of pain, depression, and anger, all of which he had been hiding behind a fake but powerful smile. Now he couldn't hold it anymore, the ability to resist was now at zero percent. And this young man had pushed the right button at wrong time, he had to lash out..
And without a second thought, Ben pounced on Hassan, and they rolled on the pitch kicking and punching. The rest of the boys intervened, separating them.
"Moore !, GET OUT OF HERE !!, FROG JUMP YOUR LAZY ASS OUT OF MY PITCH!' the coach shouted as usual.
Ben stood and looked at the faces of his teammates, he knew they were wondering about his erratic behavior, and he wanted to say he was sorry, but instead, he just walked away.
*Later that week*.
On Saturday morning, Ben's mother died, to him, it was the day the sun stopped shining and the cloud vanished from the sky, leaving nothing but space in-between space.
He was with her when she stopped breathing, he shouted for the doctor and the nurse and they rushed in and pushed him out.
Soon after the doctor came out saying that, they had done their best but it was enough as she was now "no more".
His father put his arm around Benjamin and his siblings "We understand", he said.
" We are sorry," the doctor said before walking away.
To Ben, it all felt like a movie as all he could do was yell and cry, Mommy! Mommy!! as everything faded to black, he fought the urge to be weak in front of his family and friends, but in the end, his love for his mother was greater, so much so that he sank to the ground and buried himself with tears.
Ever since his mother's death, they had a lot of visitors, his uncles, and aunts of who he had little or no knowledge,trooped in to express their sympathy.
He went out to be free from the cluster in the house, sat on a chair outside watching the mother hen in front of him lead her chicks. And on that spot, he wished prayed that it was all a bad dream and she would wake up and hug him again.
"Please ...God " he choked, now out of words to use, he bowed his head and began to cry again, until he heard footsteps beside him. It was Stephanie.
She sat with him for a while before saying
"I'm ... sorry", pausing for a little while before she continued "I'm.... I'm not close to my mother.. but I can see how much you loved yours".. Stephanie was not an emotional person, therefore did not know what exactly to say, but was deeply saddened by what happened to Ben and tried her best to comfort him.
He clasped his hand over hers while she tightened her fingers over his and they sat quietly for what seemed like a very, very long time.