The Last Play By : nady kao

We start walking down the hallway, it seems brighter than we walked back ten minutes ago. But it doesn’t matter, I can see the field now, bright but wet. “crap, overtime.” Andrew said to me “we better win it then.” I replied with my dry throat. Someone better hand me some water, or I’m gonna see stars dancing in my head.

After a couple passes, we’re at the 45yard line now. What’s it gonna be next, pass or run? “we’ll let Andrew run it, I’ll try to fake the pass, so Steve, run down the side line as fast as you can.” our quarterback Ryan said to the team. Ok then, got to run. “Hut!” Ryan yelled. I start to run, faster and faster. When I looked back, I saw Andrew broke a tackle, no one was around him, he started to run left to the side line and in no time he’s in the end zone. I started to slow down. Yes! We did it. We win the game to the playoffs. All of us were too excited about the victory, no one was ready for what’s going to happen next that changed our lives.

“Nice run, Andrew” I said to the MVP of the night on our way back to the locker room. “Yea man,” Andrew replied with a silly tone. Suddenly he stopped walking, “whoa” he said. “What’s wrong?” he doesn’t look right. “I feel dizzy” he said. “I can’t see!” Then he closed his eyes and collapsed on the ground.

He woke up three days later, Doctor found a malignant tumor in his brain. “Brain cancer, it’s pretty much hopeless, I’ll say 4 months or less.” the doctor said to me and the team. We need a miracle, or our team’s not going to make it to the next round, I said it to myself.

“how could this happened to me?” Andrew asked me one afternoon. I looked out the windows, the rain is pouring down the sky, another ambulance arrived in a rush. At that moment, the rain suddenly reminded me of something that I’ve forgotten a while ago. That very singular man, Dr. Matson, once invited my family to see his study on the magical water, or he called, the water from the fountain of youth. I started to walk to my car two blocks away from the hospital.

The last time I talk to Dr. Matson was about two years ago, the water was still undeveloped at that time. But now… if it’s successfully developed it must have made the headline, but I never heard of it. Or Dr. Matson kept it with himself? I better stop thinking and start driving now, if I drive fast enough, I’ll make it to Dr. Matson’s lab before midnight.

I arrived at the lab late that night. Fortunately, Dr. Matson’s still working, seems like he lives in lab now. “Steve! Long time no see, what brought you here my friend?” Dr. Matson said to me when he opened the front door. “Dr. Matson, sorry to visit at such a bad time, I need your help with something important.” I said to the old man. “Well come in!” he said.

The old man took me into a lab with a couple chairs in, we sat down and start talking. “so what’s the important thing you need help with?” he said. “my friend Andrew is dying from brain cancer, so I thought I could use some magic water to help him.” “Ah, the water from the fountain of youth.” He said. “ My research on the water is successful, I spent the past few years working on it.” He took out five bottles of shiny water from a metal case.

“Oh great!” I said. “ But it’s too successful for human to handle it” he continued. “What do you mean?”I asked. “I’ve seen the power of it, and I know wars will happen if the government knows it.” he said “But I really need it, my friend needs it, and the whole team needs him to get back to the game.” I said. “Sorry son, you have to accept the fact that we can’t fight our destiny.” The old man replied. “can you…”

Before I can finish my sentence, we heard a loud “BANG” from the windows. The windows crashed into pieces, and two men jumped into the lab with guns in their hands. “Run!” Dr. Matson yelled at me.

I grabbed a bottle of water from the fountain of youth while scramble toward the door, I heard those two men shouting at me in panic. I managed to escape to the front door safely, but I got shot right before I crawl into the car, I tried to forget the great pain on my back and start driving as fast as I can. After a while I slowed down, apparently there’s no one after me.

My clothes were soaked in blood, the pain was taking over my mind, and I was starting to feel queasy. The closest hospital is at least fifty miles away, there’s no way I’m going to make it that far. I took out the bottle of water from the fountain of youth from my pocket, and I finished it without reading the instruction. I lay down in a weird position in the back seat so I won’ bleed so badly, and in no time I fell into a deep sleep.

I woke up the next morning feeling dizzy but fresh. I saw the bottle lying on the ground, and I realized the pain was gone, I wasn’t bleeding anymore, there wasn’t even a wound on my back. I arrived in the hospital that afternoon, my teammate, Dave, told me Andrew is under going a brain surgery. “not going well.” He said. I sat on the bench outside the surgery room thinking what I should tell Andrew later about the whole thing, I couldn’t believe I came so close to saving Andrew but failed at the last moment.

Few hours later, doctor told us Andrew didn’t make it and he’s gone forever. I stopped thinking cause I don’t need to tell him anything anymore. I walked out the hospital with a heavy heart, it was raining again. Andrew and Dr. Matson’s deaths made the headlines the next day, and a few days after that, we got knocked out of the playoffs. The End