Author's note: Well hey guys! This is my first Glee fanfiction, and I'm interested to hear your thoughts! I'm thinking this will be a ten chapter story, there's going to be some pretty interesting stuff coming, and I would welcome opinions! Finally started my winter break, so on with the writing!
PLEASE READ! Thank you to the AMAZING people who read this and reviewed! I would also like to extend a HUGE apology to some readers. I haven't watched the beginning episodes of Glee, and from the fictions I read on this site, assumed that Artie was into baseball. That was apparently incorrect, so I would like to extend a huge apology to those of you who read this and believed I was plagiarizing, I was not, merely uninformed, which I know is not an excuse, but I'm EXTREMELY sorry. For that fact, I am thus changing this chapter! However, Artie is obviously still awesome, and we are going to change his sport to swimming, deal?
Choices
Life is a funny thing. It's full of choices that contain twisting roads, and relationships. Each choice a person makes affects the rest of their life. They can be made consciously, or unconsciously. They can affect the rest of your life, or at just that moment. When a choice is often made, it is not pondered on the affect this will have in the future, but that this is the choice being made now.
Artie Abrams had made many choices in his life, like many of us. Each decision, whether major or minor had taken him on a certain route through his life. He often pondered on what would have happened if he had chosen to do something differently. His first major choice began when he was 8.
9 years ago:
It was sunny day in Lima, Ohio. He was one of the best swimmers in the whole of the state, and it was a standing joke with his parents about becoming the next Ian Thorpe. Swimming was his passion, and it was something his family could do together. His Dad and brother, Phil, would have races with him in the backyard in his pool. They would have game after game of Octopus and Marco Polo. And every meet he raced in, his whole family would come out to watch. When his extended family was visiting, they would come to watch him swim too. There was just something that made him feel alive in the water, that wasn't possible on land. That all changed though with the choice he made that morning.
He was only 8 years old, but like most 8 year olds of his age, felt pretty mature. Mature enough to ride in the front seat. It was a big honour for him, since his brother often got to ride in the front seat, and since it was only a short drive to the swimming stadium, his Mum would sometimes let him sit there.
On this particular day, he had begged and pleaded with his Mum to let him ride in the front seat. Today was the last day of the swimming season before summer started, and he pleaded and cajoled with his Mum, until she laughingly acquiesced. He looked around happily, the front seat had a much better view than the back. They had just passed his favourite gas station where he always used to get slushies after he won a race, and even if he didn't. They were just going across the intersection, and Artie heard his Mum scream. He whipped his head around to look at her, and everything went black.
He would always look back on this day and ponder what would have happened if he hadn't sat in the front seat. His Mum had come away relatively unscathed, but he had ended up paralyzed from the waist down, and in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. He never complained about it, because what was the point? It was something that he had to adapt too, because complaining wasn't going to change anything. It was better to accept his situation and deal with it, rather than complain about something he couldn't change.
He also couldn't bear to see the look on his Mum's face when he got upset about being paralyzed. He tried so hard to be optimistic, but there were just some days that he couldn't help feeling somewhat hurt. He couldn't do what other 'normal' kids could do. Most of his previous friends couldn't handle the guilt they had when they saw him, and his swimming friends felt awkward as they couldn't help but talk about swimming together.
His legs were useless, and although arm strength counted for a lot in swimming, he couldn't rely solely on his arms. His streamlined position was gone, and with that his competitive time. He still loved swimming, and was told it would be good therapy, but he wouldn't be able to race competitively again.
Knowing that his life would never be the same again left a bitter taste in Artie's mouth at first. He would never have the same experiences as other people, and everything would just be somehow different for him. This didn't mean it was necessarily bad, just different.
His next major choice came on the first day of high school at lunch, when a black- with-blue-streaks-haired girl approached him.
So, thoughts? A little short, next one will be longer I promise! Next update will hopefully be in the next two days! Again, HUGE apology to readers I may have offended with story ideas! Reviews are LOVED!