The Life of Levi Rupp: Part 5

Levi was finishing his shift and wanted to walk home, a chance to air out the struggles of his recent events from Silas, from the coach, and his emotional ties to Mila. “Levi, a word before you go.” It was Levi’s boss, either his schedule changed or he’s being fired due to recent budget cuts. Levi gave him a nod acknowledging him as he gathered his bag of clothes. It was a mobile office, so the space was confined, and his boss was sitting down, exhausted from the long night. “Sir.” “Ah, Levi. This won’t be long, I know you have school tomorrow so I’ll get to it.” Levi was silent, standing respectfully with his arms crossed in front of him. “Levi, I want you to take a vacation.” “A vacation?” “Yes, you always come into work, you work hard, and you never call out. You’re young and you have a lot on your plate. Take all of next week off.” “Thank you, but…” Levi’s manager raised his hand, cutting him off, “Levi, you’ll still get paid your hourly wage, but I want you to rest. Part of working is discovering balance. Now, go home and I’ll see you in a couple weeks.” Levi, smiling from the good news, thanked his boss and began his long walk home.

As Levi walked on the moonlit sidewalk, he began doing what his foster agent used to recommend when he was little, “Air your thoughts.” It was a coping mechanism that stuck with Levi, something he fell back on from time to time and one of the few things he was truly appreciative of. He began reminiscing on his relationship with Silas, one where he was once his closest friend, they had shared many victories together on the field, and was searching for when that moment changed. Levi kept searching as if rummaging a filing cabinet of memories for anything that could have led to their falling out, until he remembered the one season that more than likely started it all.

It was a wet, muggy night on the field, Levi was only ten years old at the time. He has always played football with his two best friends, Silas and Malcolm, but this year, Silas was selected to an opposing team, while Malcolm and Levi were on the other. The boys never had a negative moment as competitors, but Levi could sense the pressure of tonight, it was the wildcard game and the winner proceeded into the playoffs. Levi was preparing for the game, taking snaps from his teammate and tossing passes to Malcolm along the sidelines, when Silas runs and jumps during Levi’s next throw, intercepting the pass and tucking it under his arm. Silas proceeded to laugh and arrogantly walked to where Levi was. Malcolm and the other teammate didn’t think anything of it and took the moment to grab some water as the referee’s began assessing the field signaling they would have the coin toss soon. “Keep making throws like that Levi! I’ll take the record for interceptions and take the win from you.” Levi laughed at first as he believed Silas to just be his typical competitive self, a simple and harmless conversation of pure competitive spirits. Levi extended his hand to Silas “May the best team win!” “Oh please, you and I both know it’s my team who will win Levi.” Levi furrowed his brow and rescinded his hand, “You know, I’m glad we weren’t on the same team this year. I finally get to prove to everyone that I am more talented than some pathetic foster kid.” “You don’t mean that.” “Whatever, you’ll find out how much of a loser you are soon enough.” Silas snickered and shoved Levi’s shoulder as hard as possible. Levi turned and watched Silas leave to the opposite side of the field. “What was that about?” Malcolm said as he walked up to Levi, “I don’t know…” “Well whatever, he’s probably just trying to get in our heads, you know how competitive Silas is.” “You’re probably right Mal, c’mon let’s get into the huddle!”

It was the final two minutes of the fourth quarter, Levi’s team was tied with Silas’ and they only needed a touchdown and extra point to pull ahead, while taking as much time off the clock as possible. When the team was lined up, ready to snap Levi the ball, he made his cadence and signaled the snap. Malcolm was running the deep route, and Levi saw it was a one on one match up against Silas! Levi, knowing Silas’ weakness, took the chance to rip a deep ball between Malcolm and the sideline, knowing Silas wouldn’t be able to get between Malcolm and the ball due to their size and strength differences. As the ball spiraled in the air, Levi felt like everything was moving in slow motion. Malcolm was watching the ball into his hands, a basic training technique to catching the ball on the run. With the ball secured in his arm, he made a sudden stop and step to the side causing Silas to stumble and fall out of bounds, leaving no one near Malcolm who celebrated into the endzone as they took the lead! Levi was running and jumping on Malcolm who was laughing and enjoying the moment. As they walked to the sideline being greeted happily by their teammates and coaches, the crowd cheered wildly! Levi removed his helmet and could only watch as their defense took the field. Levi saw Silas who had slammed his helmet into the turf! He was clearly angry, the coach on his team made some stern movements and Silas was directed to the bench. Levi was conflicted in his emotions, he was ecstatic over the perfect throw to Malcolm leading to the touchdown, but felt bad about exploiting Silas’ weakness to do it. Malcolm came and hung his big sweaty arm over Levi’s shoulder and slapped small beads of sweat from his wet locks as he shook his head like a wet dog, “What a game! What a throw! And whew, I made that look easy!” Malcolm laughed clearly, taking in the big play and sharing it with Levi. “Thankfully you didn’t have any butterfingers tonight!” Levi snorted as they both began laughing and enjoying their defense making big stops to prevent another tied score! “Levi!” Levi quickly became focused as the head coach of his team was hollering for him, “Look, I know this is a youth football game. But we are battling for a playoff spot right?” “Yes coach!” “Okay, go out there and take the knee, it’ll kill the clock and we win.” Taking a knee was something Levi and Silas hated! They promised to never do it, because they saw it as a cheap move. But that was always during regular season games, this game was different, Levi had already sensed the pressure before the first snap, and he wanted to elevate into the next bracket and that required making smart plays, something his coach preached over the course of the season. “Yes coach.” Levi looked at Malcolm who was beside Levi for the whole conversation, “Are we really doing a knee?” “Yes.” “He’s right, you know?” “Yeah, I know…” Levi was unsure how to feel, but with Malcolm’s encouragement, he and the team lined up in the iconic “victory formation” and when Levi said the signal word the ball was snapped, Levi took the knee and the whistle blew long and loud with the crowd cheering and his teammates and coaches rushed the field in celebration. It was nearly impossible to not smile and embrace the victory! As the team finally settled down and did their end of game team huddle, they all began to disperse as they carried their helmets and shoulder pads towards their families. “You’re a cheat!” Silas said through his teeth as he charged Levi. “Woah!” And with a sudden clash, Silas began wailing fists at Levi who was finally able to kick him off and punched Silas leaving him with a bloody nose as his parents and Levi’s coaches pulled them apart. “What’s going on here?!” Silas’ father asked, clearly disappointed and angered by our behavior. “He started it!”Levi hissed “You cheated!” Silas lashed back but winced from his bloody nose. “Malcolm, you and Levi get your stuff and go, I’ll talk to Silas and his parents.” Levi’s coach said with a knowing look in his eyes.

Is that what it is?! Levi thought to himself, it was the only memory he could recall where Silas was truly different towards him, and remembered never really talking or hanging out with him since.

The next school day went by quickly, Levi was tired from his long shift and his walk home so he hadn’t really spoken to Mila or Malcolm much today. However that would soon change as he left his final class as the end of day bell rang throughout the campus. “Levi!” Levi suddenly smiled as he recognized Mila’s voice. He spun on his heels and locked eyes with hers, “You called?” “Levi, can we talk?” “Uh, yeah. Sure.” Mila appeared as though something was worrying her, maybe it was about the incident in the locker room? As they found a nearly empty hallway, Mila nearly collapsed into Levi’s arms. “Woah! Easy there.” Levi caught Mila and steadied her on her feet, “Levi, I just can’t unsee it! I can still feel everything! Make it stop! Please!” Mila had burst into tears and pulled Levi into a suffocating hug staining his shirt with her tears. “Mila…I can’t…breathe.” Mila immediately let go and apologized. “Mila, you need to talk to someone, I can help you, Coach Peters wants to help you.” “Levi, you don’t understand…” “Then help me to understand.” Mila looked up, tears frantically running wild from her glossy eyes, her cheeks red from the emotional explosion she was experiencing. It was as if Mila was searching Levi’s eyes for something, hope? Trust? He wasn’t sure, but he searched her eyes back, as if they were begging for Mila to open up. “I…I’m…” Mila paused, taking a breath as if to ready herself for what she was about to say. “I’m dirty…” “Dirty?” Levi clearly confused as Mila was in a perfectly clean outfit aside from her tear stained face and tears dripping onto her clothes. “You seem…” Mila sighed long and heavy, her head hanging low as if she was disappointed that I wasn’t following her train of thought. “That’s not…no…” “Mila, I want to understand.” Levi forced Mila to meet his gaze, and it was the little push she needed, and the push Levi wasn’t expecting to snap back at him. “I’m sorry.” “This isn’t your fault Mila.” “I didn’t want to, he just…” Levi trying to make sense of Mila’s words. “Levi, thank god you found her!” Brook said as if out of breath. “C’mon, we’re going to the nurse. Now!” Brook stated directly to Mila grabbing her in a sister-like hug and escorted her towards the front office where the nurse would be. Levi was left in a whirlwind, and all he could do was watch them walk away as he followed them with concerned eyes, and he saw Brook peek back to him and silently mouthed, “Silas!” That was all Levi needed, and he felt his eyes shift from concern to a dark storm brewing with thunder rolling in his lungs! He had to get to Coach Peters, now. If what Levi believed occurred, he wouldn’t be able to prevent himself from sending Silas anywhere but the hospital. And with that, he sprinted full speed, nearly colliding with Malcolm who was in the parking lot heading towards the locker room “Levi?” Levi didn’t look back, he couldn’t. Once inside the gym he slowed down trying to catch his breath as he found Coach Peters and the other coaches in his office, clearly having a coaches meeting prior to practice. Levi wasn’t waiting. “Coach. I need to talk to you, now.” His words were deep, authoritative and Coach Peters could sense the urgency. “Coaches, we will continue this after practice.” As the coaches left Levi and Coach Peters in his office, Levi shut the door and took a seat, collapsing his head into his arms and breaking down. “Levi! Are you okay? Talk to me.” “Coach, it’s Silas…” And he began from as far back as he could, sharing everything he knew from his childhood game that started this feud, to Mila and now what Levi believes to have happened based on Brook’s response. Coach Peters listened with intent, taking notes at times and asked Levi a final question, “And what is it that you believed happened to Mila today?” Levi gritted through his teeth, the very word that that no one wants to hear. His blood boiling stare pierced Coach Peters eyes who was unclear in his emotions, he sat there as if dissecting everything, until Coach Peters spoke up as if eager to end this feud, “Let me make a call, just hang out in the locker room and take a shower, try to calm down. If you’re right about this…” Coach Peters didn’t have to finish his sentence, Levi already knew the severity of the situation, and with that Coach lifted his phone and Levi headed to the showers.