The whole scene seemed to play out in slow motion, as the ball glided directly into the free hand Andrew was reaching with. He landed hard on a table, with an unforgiving thud. Food, soda and cutlery were flying everywhere.
There was huge collective gasp that could be heard transcending through the cafeteria. The expressions on people’s faces summed up how intense the build up was and the result was worth the risk.
As he lay there, giving a deep breath out. Andrew smiled. A fellow student on the table he landed on was filming. As the cafeteria fell silent in amazement, he stood and yelled, “He got it!”
The whole room exploded in applause and cheers. Jaime’s gamble paid off. A simple redirection of focus and the entire student body had forgotten about the day’s prior events. Now all that was on their minds was winning the college state final that evening. Everyone congratulated Andrew on a great catch. Josh took advantage of the situation, as normal.
“DO YOU THINK OUR CAPTAIN IS READY FOR TONIGHT?” The whole cafeteria let out a resounding, “YES!”
Josh continued to rev them up, “DO YOU THINK WE’RE BRINGING HOME THE GOLD TONIGHT?” Again the entire cafeteria roared in unison, “YES!”
Everyone was now immersed in the college team spirit. “WHITTAKER! WHITTAKER!” could be heard resounding through the lunch hall.
Andrew gently picked himself up, brushed off his clothes and headed to his table, high-fiving and thumbs upping everyone on the way.
They all sat down and huddled in.
“What the hell was that?” uttered Andrew as he laughed ecstatically.
“That was me saving your ass from having an awkward lunch, that’s what that was,” proclaimed Jaime.
Josh let out a cackle, “Well you can’t throw for shit, but nice job bro.” They simultaneously high fived. As the hyped crowds and roaring noise of the cafeteria began to die down, Jaime decided to address the elephant in the room. He looked around mindfully before he began.
" So," he started, cautiously, "the eye thing, care to share in more detail please?"
Andrew looked at him, with irony in his gaze. “Oh, so now you believe me huh? What changed your mind?”
“That would be me,” interrupted Josh. “I saw your eyes when you spazzed out in the gym earlier man. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Andrew cupped his head in his hands. He sighed in confusion.
"I don't know what's happening to me, man. This shit only started this morning."
“And what about the voices, you still hearing them?” Jaime asked.
“Whoa, whoa, wait a damn minute, voices? What voices?” Josh raised his tone in concern.
“Keep it down man,” Jaime reminded him of the delicateness of the situation. “He was hearing voices in his head this morning.”
Josh looked at him with a distressed anger. “So when was you gonna tell me you’re going mental?! You heard them again didn’t you, in the gym, that’s why you became unresponsive when I was yelling at you to get up?”
Andrew looked away, then back to his friends. He mumbled sadly, “Yes. They were louder this time too and there were more of them.”
“Jesus man, this is some serious shit! You need to tell your mum bro.” cried Josh.
“NO WAY!” replied Andrew. His voice taking a firm stance against that idea.
“Well, what are we supposed to do? Are you even gonna be fit to play this evening. You can’t be on the pitch blacking out from voices while getting rushed at by defensive ends; they’ll kill you out there!” The tone of the conversation seemed to get worse and worse.
Andrew pleaded, “Look, I’ll be fine ok, just trust me, I got this.” They all reluctantly agreed.
“By the way how’s Brad doing is he ok?”
Jaime looked at them both, with a disturbed look on his face. Clearly news hadn’t reached either Andrew or Josh yet.
“He’s in hospital bro. Docs say the force you threw him with broke his clavicle, 6 ribs, and a disk and also punctured a lung. They say he’s lucky to have survived. I heard one paramedic say he looked like he had been hit by a bus!”
Josh looked at Andrew, concerned and in a troubled stutter uttered, “Bro, ar-are you hearing this? What the fuck, are you on super steroids or something!?”
Andrew sat back in his chair, trying to take in what he had just heard. He looked at his hands and examined them. What is going on?
Before he could muster up an answer, his thoughts were interrupted by the bell. Lunch was over. All 3 friends walked to the exit together. Before they parted ways they planned out the evenings events.
“So what time you getting to the game at?” Andrew asked.
“I’ll be there as soon as I finish class bro, you know I wouldn’t miss this for the world,” replied Jaime.
“Ok, well I’ll see you out in stands before the game. And you,” he turned his gaze towards Josh, “What time you meeting me after class?”
“I’ll drop you a text as soon as I’m done,” confirmed Josh.
“Ok, I’m gonna head to the gym, I need some time to think and blow off some steam. I’ll see you guys later,” said Andrew.
They all fist bumped and departed, going their separate ways.
Andrew headed to the gym to collect his thoughts and get ready for the night’s game. He got changed and headed straight for the bench press. He stacked up his normal starting weight, plugged in his headphones and got to work.
Thoughts began running through his mind as he began to pump each rep.
This has been a weird ass day.*breathes out*
And on my birthday too, what the fuck! *breathes out*
I gotta stay focused, though; I got a whole team riding on me tonight. *breathes out*
These weights seem so light today. I’m not feeling this at all!
He re-racked the bar, stacks up the weight and carries on for more reps.
Why do these weights feel so light?!
Examining the plates, Andrew made sure he had the right ones on. Yep, everything is right.
Then he remembered what Jaime told him at lunch.
“They say he’s lucky to have survived. I heard one paramedic say he looked like he had been hit by a bus!”
“By a bus?!” He kept repeating it over in his head. “By a bus!?”
Really? By a bus? Could I really be that strong?
He looked at the weights and a mischievous smirk ran across his face.
“OK,” he said. “Let’s test this ‘bus’ theory.”
He stacked the barbell with the heaviest weight plates he could find. He calculated what he had on the bar.
“450 pounds,” he stated proudly to himself.
He had never lifted this kind of weight in his entire life. He took position underneath the bar, which was bending slightly at the sheer weight and force coming from each end. He took up a comfortable grip. Then he zoned out. Concentrating and taking deep breathes in and out slowly.
I must be out of my mind. I’ve never pushed anything like this before but…
But, what if what they said was right. The force of a bus?!
I have to know! Fuck it, here goes nothing.
He took a deep breath in, then exhaled and pushed with every ounce of muscle he had. Every vein from his neck down to his chest and in his arms began to bulge as his skin tightened. Beads of sweat dripped off his body, his arms shaking under this tremendous weight, literally tearing every muscle fibre as he pushed harder and harder.
This was an incredible sight to behold. The bar began to move slowly and steadily upwards until he finally reached a straight-armed position. How he had even got the bar off the rack was unreal to him. He prepared himself for the second step. He had to lower the bar to his chest.
Come on Andrew, you got this. YOU GOT THIS!
He urged himself onwards. He was determined to get at least one rep now. Slowly he lowered the bar to his chest. His elbows were now taking the brunt of the weight as his arms bent into a 90-degree angle, ad
jacent to his chest. Every strand of muscle in his chest was screaming out for reprieve but he persevered. As he lay there with this stupendous amount of weight on his sternum, his body started to feel different. The weight began to feel lighter and lighter. It was as if his muscles had already started adapting to the pressure they were under. He pushed up with a mighty exhaling thrust and the feat was accomplished. Smirking to himself and clearly overly impressed at this wondrous increase in strength he had seemingly acquired overnight, he proceeded to do 10 more reps with relative ease. He then re-racked the bar and sat up. He pulled out his earphones, tucked his phone away and took a gulp of water, but before he could finish, a voice, as clear as day, as if right next to him, could be heard in his head.
Please, you don’t have to do this.
He looked around, but no one was there. He was the only one present in the gym. Again the voice hit his senses sharply.
You’ve already taken my money, my phone, please just let me go!
He tried to compose himself and remain calm.
Come on Andrew...Listen carefully. Where is the voice coming from? He thought.
He waited patiently for the voice to erupt into his psyche again. He didn’t have to wait long.
Please don’t do this, what have I ever done to you?! The voice pleaded, but this time it was as if it gave off a beacon to him. He stood up in a daze and steadied himself. Placing one hand over his ear, he concentrated on the voice. He walked sluggishly out of the gym, swallowing deeply. The voice beaconed again.
SOMEBODY, PLEASE HELP! His pulse slowed, he could feel the sound of his own heartbeat. He took a left down the corridor, walking a few feet at a time. The voices were now replaced by what seemed to be crying. It was as if he could feel the tears dripping down his own face. He followed the sound of it. In doing so, the mental interference seemed to get louder and clearer.
The crying noise beaconed to him again. His instincts led him to make a right through some doors to some stairs, which took him two floors up.
NO PLEASE DON’T! As he exited the stairwell onto the floor, his intuition guided him right and he walked to the end of the corridor. Suddenly the voices stopped dead as if they had never been plaguing him to begin with. He gathered himself and observed his surroundings. He looked left. Nothing. Just an empty corridor with empty classrooms. But when he looked right he saw two shady looking characters hanging around a toilet door. He approached them with caution.
“Hey guys, how’s it going?” he asked guardedly.
One of the two men spoke while the other seemed to guard the door.
“Hey, you’re Andrew Robertson, right? The quarterback playing for our side tonight? Yeah, I saw the catch you made today at lunch. Pretty impressive.”
Andrew examined both men discreetly. “Thanks,” he replied. “And you are?”
“I’m Sam, and my quiet unresponsive friend over here is Duke.”
Suddenly a muffled sound came from the toilet. Andrew knew something was wrong. He knew he had to get inside that toilet.
“So, Sam. Duke. Umm, you guys mind if I get past you there, I gotta use the can,” asked Andrew.
“I’m afraid we can’t do that buddy. Gonna have to find yourself another toilet,” replied Sam.
Andrew laughed, “But I wanna use THIS toilet.”
Sam looked at Duke, and he blocked the doorway. “Listen, jock boy, why don’t you run along and be a good little quarterback and get ready for your match tonight. You don’t wanna have an accident before then do ya?” he smirked with an evil intention.
“Are you threatening me?” implied Andrew.
Sam stood face to face with him, grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and replied slowly, “Fuck. Off”
Andrew’s gaze moved from Sam’s face downwards to the crumpled piece of shirt he had balled up in his hands, then back up to Sam's eyes again. Without hesitation, he gripped him by the throat and hoisted him up off his feet effortlessly. Duke now witnessing his friend in distress came to his aid and delivered swift sucker punches to Andrew’s ribs. This was to no avail though and only seemed to anger Andrew even more. He threw Sam with excessive strength down towards the other end of the corridor. It was like watching a feather being blown in the wind.
Turning his sights on Duke, he booted him in his chest with so much force he went through the toilet door and into a vacant cubicle. Both men were knocked unconscious instantly.
As he stepped through the toilet door, he came upon a sight that both shocked and angered him. A third acquaintance of Sam and Duke was attempting to flush another students head down the toilet. This must have been the leader of the trio and Sam and Duke were guarding the door so he could punish this student uninterrupted. From what Andrew could see the student, had been beaten up badly.
Rage consumed him and he grabbed the third man and threw him against the toilet mirror, shattering it and a small section of the wall in pieces. But he wasn’t done. Andrew had a particular hate for bullies and planned on teaching this one a lesson. With both hands, he raised him up off the ground by the collar of his jacket, ready to deliver a beating. But just as he did this, the reflection in the broken mirror caught his attention, and he realised his eyes had changed again. This time, they were blazing immensely, glowing with fiery retribution and crystal blue like the morning sky.
He dropped the man, who was already unconscious anyway. Leaning over the sink he took a moment to calm himself and gather his emotions. Closing his eyes he breathed in slowly. As he opened them, he stared back into the mirror and watched as his eyes return to their normal dark shade of brown. His attention was then shifted by the murmurs of pain coming from the beaten student. He knelt down next to him.
“Are you ok?” he asked. The student looked at him and said, “How, H-How did you find me?”
Andrew looked at him, smiled and simply said, “I heard you.”
He put the boys arm over his shoulders and helped him up
“Can you walk? He asked.
The boy replied, “Yeah, I’ll be ok. Kinda used to the beatings to be fair. It’s been going on for so long now.”
Andrew reached down into the unconscious boys pockets and removed a wallet and a phone.
“These wouldn’t happen to be yours by any chance?” He handed them to the student. “It’s Andrew by the way,” he introduced himself.
As the student reached for his belongings, something strange and amazing happened next. When their skin came into contact with each other, Andrew was able to feel and receive every traumatic memory the student had been through in his entire life up to this point. It was like a series of flashing images being played out in his mind for him to view, all within a few seconds of a single touch.
“Whoa, said Andrew,” as he steadied himself and felt his head.
“Are you ok?” said the student.
Andrew looked at him and without trying to freak him out said, “Its Adam, right?”
“How do you know my name?” he became startled. Andrew had no explanation to give him.
“I really don’t know I just do.” Adam looked at him with a weary gaze.
“Where did you come from?” he demanded.
“The gym,” Andrew replied. Adam looked baffled.
“But you said you heard me, h-how is that possible. The gym is two floors down!” Adams concerns grew in nature.
“Look, bro, I’m not your enemy here. I was just trying to help!” proclaimed Andrew.
Adam slowly observed the carnage around him and then back at Andrew. “Well, you definitely helped alright.” They both gave an uneasy laugh.
“So,” said Andrew, “What now?”
Adam scratched his head and looked around again. “Well we can’t just leave the place looking like this; it looks like a murder scene. We’re gonna have to report it to someone.” Andrew became startled, “Whoa wait a minute, that could get me in trouble, I-I can’t be running around getting into fights and shit, I’ve got a game to play.”
> “Listen, Andrew,” said Adam, “I can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done for me man I really can’t. I’ll file the report with the campus Dean and just say you came to my defence and protected me. You should be ok. I’ve always been too scared to come forward about what was happening to me. I was always warned if I ever told anyone, they’d make my life 10 times worse, so I just kind of accepted it, ya know.” He looked around at the unconscious bodies again. “I guess there’s not much chance of repercussions now though right?” They both laughed and left the scene.
Andrew walked with Adam to the Dean’s office. On the way, they spoke about their interests and what they studied. Turns out Adam was a pretty smart guy. He was majoring in IT and electronics. What he lacked in size he more than made up for in brain power. He was about 5’10, tanned white complexion with full bushy brown hair and green eyes. He didn’t have many friends on campus if any. He kind of felt like Andrew was a lifeline. Plus they both found out they had something in common; their love for comic books!
Adam reported the incident to the Dean, who cleared Andrew of any wrong doing and made sure that any similar problems would never happen again. Call it luck or maybe the Dean knew the college needed its best quarterback. However you look at it, though, everything ended well.
Andrew walked Adam back to his dorm.
“So, I guess it’s adios, for now, bro huh,” said Adam.
Andrew laughed, “Well who’s to say I won’t catch you around campus bro? In fact, if you don’t have plans for tonight why don’t you come see me play at the state finals, it’s gonna be awesome. Plus, if we win you can roll with me to the after party.”
Adam looked hesitant. “I dunno if that’s really my scene, I’m not really down with the in crowd.”
“Sorry, did you just say in-crowd?” Andrew cackled. “Bro, I AM THE IN-CROWD!” They both laughed. “Jokes aside, though, come to the stands around 7 pm, I’ll introduce you to my boys and if you feel like coming to party with us after it’s up to you, but at least watch the game with us.”
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