DOMINOES
Rolan L. Parscal
The story of my life when everything seemed to change was not just one event but a procession of pain, some might even say when it rains it pours. My first thought follows as a late Friday night homecoming football game. The entire school and their families have gone to this game, as traditional American patriotism calls for. After the pregame hype in the locker room of huffing smelling salts and blowing out our eardrums with overplayed country songs, we ran together to the field. Our football cleats beat the ground under us with a familiar clacking mixed with the roar of friends and families excited for another year of high school football. As the varsity stars and I pushed through the paper held up by our cheerleaders I caught a glimpse of what once was my high school sweetheart, my grin grew and so did hers as our eyes locked and her’s sparkled in those Friday night lights. My anxiety reminded me at that moment that life was kind to us, and it could never stay that way. That feeling had taken my mind hostage over the course of 2 months after I noticed how good my life was and how scared I was to lose that. My smile dissipated at the thought of losing any piece of my life, I worked for it, I deserved it. My mind swelled in these thoughts, which had me run into the teammate in front of me causing us to stumble, him being upset and my girlfriend laughing, I apologized and blushed. I signaled a heart at her for the pure joy of giving affection. She waved me back to the field to focus on my coach and avoid the flying matter from his unchewed energy bars. The game was good with my team taking a 7-point lead in the 4th quarter. I was exhausted from the fight as a defensive tackle, my legs barely worked, and my awareness fell but I didn’t care I just had to keep trying.
“Ready”, I was ready. “Set”, I'm going to get this asshole. “Hike”, Here we go. I pushed off with all the strength I had, tunnel vision towards that ball, my eyes set towards victory. But in the second moment of my excitement, I heard an unnatural movement to my right and a primal fear overtook me. Soon the world turned, my body felt limp, and blood began to soak my hair. I could see people all around me, but their voices sounded so distant, my vision went black like a vignette, my heartbeat was felt in my head like the pounding of a drum, and it hurt badly. My strength gave out and my eyes shut, the darkness from my eyelids beat those Friday night lights. I was gone, but I still felt scared, my fear of everything good being lost was setting in. My eyes opened to EMTs surrounding me, working around my helmet that had a crack down the middle of it. Throughout the night it was pounding headaches and eyes following me wherever I was, I felt off. A night in the hospital was the cure for all my problems according to the school I attended. The day I went back to school, I was banned from sports, physical education, the gym, nearly anything that required my body. The sedimentation was almost as bad as the lights. Surrounded by them. They burned into my eyes and made my head swirl. I couldn’t focus with those damn things on, those lights were a constant flashbang in my head becoming louder and whiter. A cold sweat began to envelop my face. My body became extremely hot, my face was pale, and my hands were shaky. My anger and frustration caused my breathing to be irregular and I didn’t know what to do after I lost control. Friends ran to me looking in my eyes asking if I was okay, I looked through her lost in my head without speaking a word, I wish she knew how bad it really was. These occurrences got better, slowly; they never really went away but were just less profound.
“Ready”, I was ready. “Set”, I'm going to get this asshole. “Hike”, Here we go. I pushed off with all the strength I had, tunnel vision towards that ball, my eyes set towards victory. But in the second moment of my excitement, I heard an unnatural movement to my right and a primal fear overtook me. Soon the world turned, my body felt limp, and blood began to soak my hair. I could see people all around me, but their voices sounded so distant, my vision went black like a vignette, my heartbeat was felt in my head like the pounding of a drum, and it hurt badly. My strength gave out and my eyes shut, the darkness from my eyelids beat those Friday night lights. I was gone, but I still felt scared, my fear of everything good being lost was setting in. My eyes opened to EMTs surrounding me, working around my helmet that had a crack down the middle of it. Throughout the night it was pounding headaches and eyes following me wherever I was, I felt off. A night in the hospital was the cure for all my problems according to the school I attended. The day I went back to school, I was banned from sports, physical education, the gym, nearly anything that required my body. The sedimentation was almost as bad as the lights. Surrounded by them. They burned into my eyes and made my head swirl. I couldn’t focus with those damn things on, those lights were a constant flashbang in my head becoming louder and whiter. A cold sweat began to envelop my face. My body became extremely hot, my face was pale, and my hands were shaky. My anger and frustration caused my breathing to be irregular and I didn’t know what to do after I lost control. Friends ran to me looking in my eyes asking if I was okay, I looked through her lost in my head without speaking a word, I wish she knew how bad it really was. These occurrences got better, slowly; they never really went away but were just less profound.
I have no credentials. I have no previous works. I come from a middle class family. I'm a senior as a Sergeant First Class but that is a fake rank and is voided of any meaning. I'm from Denver, Colorado born and raised. Moving to Pensacola, Florida joining the Coast Guard reserve program and attending University of West Florida. Chasing an MBA in International shipping logistics and a minor in Korean. I want to move to Korea with a pretty Korean wife and live in a high-rise apartment, that is my life goal.