Disclaimer:
I do not own Glee. Glee belongs to Ryan Murphy and the Fox Broadcasting Company. This story is for entertainment purposes only.
Summary: (very short)
It was the last game of the season. It was the perfect moment. Until it wasn't.
Warnings:
No real warning, just that the story has an open ending... (And I won't continue this! It's a Oneshot!)
Reviews:
Always apreciated!
Little note:
This is a response to a prompt by Ice_Whisper, that I just couldn't get out of my head.
Oh... and I don't really know if there's a difference between high school football and professional football, besides the shorter duration of the quarters, but... I hope you won't rip my head off if I did it wrong... so, just roll with it...
One moment
His heart was pounding. Violently. Every second he feared that it could just burst out of his chest. He could feel every single beat, could feel the blood pumping through his veins. The adrenaline was intoxicating, feeding his body with a seemingly endless amount of energy. His muscles were twitching, agitated, making it absolutely impossible for him to stand still for more than a split second. And an indescribable feeling of joyful anticipation washed over him, sending goose bumps over his skin, putting him in a state of elation that he'd never felt before. He could hardly even hear the cheers that were filling the air, could barely hear the noise coming from the bleachers. It all just seemed so far away… surreal… like it didn't belong here. Not yet.
But in a few seconds, it would. In a few seconds, the game would be over. In a few seconds, they would win…
Just a few more seconds.
It was the third down. Twenty-three yards to the end-zone. Only a handful of seconds left on the clock. They were leading by one point. And there was no way that the other team could turn that around. But still, they couldn't risk making any mistakes… not when they were so close to the finish line. So close to their first championship in years. They'd waited too long for this. There was just no excuse to screw it up now.
After all, they just needed to play the ball for a few more seconds. It was that simple.
They got into position. One last time. And it was on…
In a matter of seconds, he got the ball, took a few steps back, looked for an opening… and passed it on. But he never even found out if the ball got to its destination. Maybe it did… maybe it didn't. It just wasn't important. The only thing that mattered, was the fact, that the last seconds were counted down, that the last, swift moments were passing by…
And then he heard the whistle, and even though that shrill noise would normally hurt his ears, it had never been more smooth and gentle as it was in that moment, ending the game, leading them over that fine line to victory.
And whatever happened after that was drowned in a giant cloud of noise, as the hopeful, expectant, even fierce silence, that had stretched out over the field for the final seconds, was suddenly torn apart by a million voices screaming with joy. He couldn't even hear his own thoughts anymore. But even if he could, there would only be one thought left:
We've won…
A broad smile spread on his lips, took over his face, found its way into his eyes, as he took off the helmet, turning around on the spot, as if he was drunk from all the joy rushing through his veins. It felt so strange, so unfamiliar. He'd waited for this moment for so long, had had the wildest dreams about it ever since he'd joined the football team… and even when they'd lost almost every game back then, and the chance of them ever winning the championship had been so unimaginably small, that even the notion of him being able to understand every word in a dictionary had seemed more probable, he hadn't stopped dreaming about this one, single moment. And now that it was here, he couldn't even begin to grasp all the emotions being thrown at him, and for a minute, he even feared, that all the joy and happiness could take him off his feet. Never in his entire life had he felt like this… like he was flying, riding on a wave of glee, while he was surrounded by an endless number of people feeling exactly the same in this exact same moment…
And nothing could ever take that away from him. Nothing could ever destroy this memory.
It was perfect.
Absolutely perfect.
Until…
Finn couldn't explain it, couldn't really understand what was going on, or why he even thought that anything was going on… but something had changed.
Someone was yelling something, not far away from him, the voice filled with a slight hint of anguish, like the first faint thunder in the distance, that would soon grow into a wild storm of panic and fear.
He turned his head, the smile still on his lips, the joy still visible on his face, while he tried to figure out where the yelling had come from. He followed the voice, held on to it, pushing all the other voices away. It seemed to be somewhere in the direction he'd thrown the ball to… and for some unexplainable reason, a small group of people had split away from the cheering crowd.
Finn stared at them. Just… stared… trying to figure out, what they were doing. It didn't make any sense. Why would they just stand there, doing nothing, when this was the happiest day of their lives?
He took a few steps closer to the little group, that seemed to get bigger with every moment passing by, as more and more people huddled around the others. And Finn just couldn't understand why. Couldn't understand any of it.
They had won…
Why was no one celebrating?
He didn't even realize, that he'd let go of his helmet, as an unsettling, unseen force pulled him towards that growing group of people, making him set one foot in front of the other, luring him away from that perfect moment. He heard the voice yell again, ordering them all to stay back. But although the words reached his ears, he didn't listen. He could feel people moving around him, bumping into him, as he pushed through the crowd. He didn't even know why he had the feeling that he needed to be there, on the other side, why he wanted to get to that voice… He just did.
And then he stopped dead.
He could feel his insides cringe, the blood freezing in his veins, as his eyes wandered over the motionless body lying on the ground, a faint gasp escaping his mouth.
No…
This wasn't right. This wasn't supposed to be happening. This just couldn't be happening.
Not today…
He couldn't even hear the noise anymore, the yells and the cheers becoming a faint memory in the back of his head, the happy faces and the colorful crowd just a fading image in his mind, while all he could see, was the jersey number blurring in front of his eyes and the pale, blank face of his best friend.
"Wh- what happened?" The words slipped over his lips, fell to the ground, as if they were too heavy to float in the air.
People were rushing through the crowd, pushing him aside, but he didn't care… didn't even notice. He stared down at them, watched them while they tended to his friend, but for some reason, he wasn't able to understand what was going on, as if his mind had just stopped working, making it impossible for a single thought to enter his head. There was just nothing left. Nothing but emptiness. Nothing but this growing void, this black hole, threatening to swallow him alive.
And then… very slowly… two little words crept back into his mind. Just a faint whisper. Nothing more.
Wake up.
But while the seconds slowly ticked away, time slowing down, making everything seem to move in slow-motion… the voice in his head got louder, the whisper rising up, the words echoing through his mind, ringing in his ears, as if someone was screaming inside his head…
WAKE UP.
But when he opened his mouth, trying to get them over his lips, the screaming stopped, and the silence slipped back into his mind. Just for a moment.
"Please, Puck… wake up…"
His voice was uneven… trembling… shaking with fear. But he didn't even know that the words had found the way out of his head and over his lips, didn't even know the meaning of those words anymore, as he watched them putting his friend onto a stretcher, carrying him away from the field.
And still, he couldn't move. He wanted to… tried to get his legs, his feet, to take a step… just one little step. But his body wasn't listening to him anymore.
And while all the people around him seemed to wake up from their state of shock, realizing what had just happened, Finn didn't…
He just stood there, lost and alone, as all the happiness, all the joy, slipped away. And all he was left with, was the cold crawling over his skin and a single thought, that held nothing but sadness and tears.
We've won.