The Joust Part One

As promised, I am going to share with you all an excerpt from the book I am writing about my brother. This story is one from his college years and I have written it from his perspective. As I do any other time; I would very much appreciate any and all feedback you may be willing to provide. It will only help me improve my craft, so thank you in advance. Well, without any further ado, I present to you the WORLD PREMIERE of PART ONE of The Joust!

I restlessly tossed and turned for far longer than I ever should have allowed myself to do so. I knew when I laid down there would be no falling asleep for me, but because I had to give my final presentation for my speech class at 8:00 the next morning, I tried forcing myself down anyway.

I sat up on the edge of my bed and noticed the time, it was 11:01 p.m. and no doubt about it, 6:30 a.m. was going to be here fast. I decided that I needed to make myself tired; laying here hoping to end up that way was clearly not working. I needed to burn off some steam.

I got up, got dressed, and grabbed my glow-in-the-dark soccer ball from the corner of my room and set out quietly into the hall. I really hated that class, public speaking was not my favorite thing, so any excuse I could find in the moment to avoid thinking about that presentation was a welcomed distraction.

I crept slowly through the house for I didn’t want to wake any of my brothers who may be sleeping – a rarity I’ll admit, but it was finals week, so things were running a bit differently around here. Some of my fraternity brothers took schooling very seriously and would surely slaughter me if I woke them carrying a glow-in-the-dark soccer ball.

I exited out the front door and as my parents refused to let me have a car while away at university, I opted to just walk to the soccer pitch. I threw my ball down and took of jogging, dribbling the ball all along the way.

After about fifteen minutes, I had arrived at the fields. No surprise here, but they were absolutely deserted and dark. The only lighting came from the half moon above and the glow from my soccer ball. Instantly, I drop kicked my ball and took off running after it as fast as my legs would allow. I just kept doing this over and over. I loved seeing the highlighter yellow glow of the ball as it spiraled across the night sky. I really had myself wishing that I had brought my phone, so I could have been recording all of this because it was awesome.

After running to and fro, chasing that ball for what felt like forever, I decided it was time for a breather. I sat down on the grass in the center of the pitch just allowing myself enough time to catch my breath. I stared out across the field before me scanning the campus athletic zone. It was then that I noticed even from so far away that the sliding doors on the field house had been left open. This was unnatural. Even without any lighting, the open door was visible in the moonlight. I decided to get up and go check it out, so I set off jogging in that direction.

As I approached the field house I lessened my jog, I didn’t want to come in full steam ahead, I didn’t know who or what I’d be walking into. I crept along the aluminum siding of the building making my way towards the open doors. I peaked my head around the corner and looked inside, the place appeared empty.

“Hello!” I called out, “anyone here?”

I waited patiently for a moment, half expecting someone to call back out to me, but I was met with nothing but silence. It was unsettling at first, but then I decided to make the most of the situation and venture inside.

It was really strange to me being here at the field house at midnight all by myself. I had been in here often, but never alone and never when the sun wasn’t out. I walked around for a bit when I had the great fortune of stumbling on what I would call an absolute gold mine.

The pole vault had not been properly fastened or secured and was just laying up against the wall. This sight gave me a newfound burst of energy. Hell, with this discovery, I might be up till the time I’m supposed to give my presentation! Maybe this night would give me something good to actually talk about rather than the lame topic I was assigned: the perils of social media.

I was so excited that I felt like I could not waste another minute. I reached out and grabbed the pole vault from its center and hoisted it up so I could get a better grip. Once I had it situated, I left the field house. Unlike my predecessor, I slid the door closed and fastened the outside lock. I didn’t want anyone else behaving as curiously as I just had.

With the pole vault still very much in hand, I took off running back towards my fraternity house, dribbling my glow-in-the-dark ball all the while. The thought of how crazy I had to look made me laugh and the pole vault dipped slightly, almost impaling the ground. Luckily, I raised it back up just in time and avoided a potential mishap.

Despite that quick scare, I was making amazing time. I don’t know if it was the adrenaline that had kicked in or what, but I was running so fast with that ball at my feet and that pole vault in hand that I felt like I was flying across campus. I don’t know if I had ever run faster in my life. I thought for a second that at my next track meet I should tell coach how running with a pole vault made me run faster, but then I remembered I shouldn’t have this pole vault and he would want to know why I knew that, so I quickly erased that thought from my mind.

As I was rounding the corner to my block, the tip of the pole vault had apparently lowered just enough to hit the curb of the sidewalk and this time, I was not as lucky. I indirectly hurled the entirety of my body across the still air of the night’s sky and straight across the empty street. I should have instantly let go of the pole vault, but it all happened so fast and the next thing I knew my breathless body was slamming down on the chilled pavement. It truly was an out of body experience for I was left feeling like I was watching myself from afar as my personal chaos unfolded.

I lay there motionless for several moments at the intersection of the two primary streets among all the Greek houses all the while trying desperately to catch my breath. My heart was pounding so fast that it sounded like there was a drum machine in my ears. The wind had been completely knocked out of me and for a few moments I felt like I might never breathe again. As I lay there with my back to the road I just looked up at all the stars and realized that there was nothing above me but sky, it was literally all sky. This revelation blew my mind and became a necessary fix for my mental state because rather than focusing on the aches and pains of my body; I was able to think of all that sky above me.

After several more minutes of taking in my newfound celestial view, I slowly sat up and just rested there for a moment breathing ever so slightly. For whatever reason I erupted with laughter. That was the coolest thing that had happened to me all semester and even after my snafu I was somehow even more excited for what I was going to do next. I brought myself up back on my feet, grabbed the pole vault, kicked my soccer ball out of the storm drain (luckily for me, it was too large to fit down), and continued my way home. I opted to walk the remaining way there because the last thing I needed was for my new plans to get derailed before I even got them on track.

Once home, I didn’t even bother going back inside. I tossed my ball gently up on the porch and went around the back of the house to get my bike where I would always leave it lying up next to the back corner.

With the pole vault in my right hand and using my left hand for balance, I climbed aboard my bike. It was definitely tricky at first, but after a few moments, I had found my center. I then set off cycling down the drive towards the street. I kept laughing as I slowly cycled, this was such a crazy sensation and I absolutely loved it, but it wasn’t easy, I really had to learn to focus on my balancing act.

Once I got the hang of it, I started peddling as fast as my legs could. I was going to go to my friend Aaron’s place. He was taking this semester off and I knew he’d be awake. I couldn’t wait to show him I got the pole vault from the Field House! He use to pole vault on our schools track team, so he would definitely appreciate my acquisition.

The fastest way to Aaron’s was down Main Street and although that was easily the most trafficked road in town I decided to take that route anyway. It was nearing 1:00 in the morning, surely it wouldn’t be that bad.

Normally, when I was bike riding I would do so in the street, but for whatever reason, I didn’t think that with the pole vault this was a good idea, so I stuck to the sidewalks. It didn’t take too many up and downs along the sidewalk between driveways for me to realize that this may not be in my best interest. Just as I was beginning to think it might be time to abandon the sidewalk and ride the road, life decided to make that decision for me.

For the second time in what was probably twenty minutes, my body went soaring through the air, but only this time, I wasn’t launching from ground level. The bike gave me that extra elevation that really had me flying. My body did the same forward flip as it did the first time but with the extra height came extra speed and when I slammed down on that asphalt I felt like every bone in my body had shattered. I could hear the pole vault glide across the road. The noise was certainly not inviting, quite shrill actually, but I only heard it for a second before I lay there hearing nothing at all.

I laid there motionless, looking up once more at the sky, but with all the street lamps, tree branches, and what not canopying over me, I wasn’t able to give the sky my sole focus like before. Everything above me was spinning rapidly, I closed my eyes to make it stop. I actually found myself wishing for the drum machines to return to my ears because this time I heard absolutely nothing. The momentarily loss of my hearing, my breath, and my clarity of vision caused my heart to beat like it had never before. I felt like I was going to throw up. I started thinking that stealing the pole vault was maybe not such a good idea; it thing might end up killing me.

As I remained lying frozen in the street I slowly began to collect back all the senses I had lost and with their return also came my sanity. I was lying down in nearly the middle of the busiest street in town! If that pole vault didn’t kill me, this definitely would! I leapt to my feet, which turned out to be another bad idea, for I became so instantly dizzy that I stumbled over to the curb, hitting my lower shin on the storm drain, slicing the skin ever so slightly. That super hurt, but in a way it was actually good because instead of my whole body throbbing from pain, it all seemed to concentrate down on that right leg.

If anyone had passed by me in the past couple minutes they would have definitely thought I was drunk off my ass, but I hadn’t had a drink in days, I just apparently couldn’t ride a bike with a pole vault quite as well as I thought I might be able.

I walked over to where the now scraped up pole vault lied and tossed it into the grass just near the street curb. I then walked back over to where my twisted up looking bike rest and hoisted it up right, giving it a quick once-over to ensure it was okay to ride.

Once I decided it was good to go, I tossed my left leg over the seat, squat down slightly to pick up the pole vault, and took off riding once more. I decided to avoid the sidewalks and ride where the pavement was level. I took it easy at first because I was still feeling a bit off, but the cool night air blowing through my hair and the awkward reminder that was the pole vault in my right hand slowly returned to me the adrenaline that I had not long ago. I had to get to Aaron’s.

TO BE CONTINUED…