On The Seen

“Swish” that sounds rings inside of my mind.

We just finished basketball, everyone is just around talking shit. A few people had to leave early. They have other commitments

George is packing up his shoes. Even while he is sitting on the ground. You can tell that he is big in stature. “Why don’t you go to the basket?”

“I do not know.” I murmur.

“You are quick and blow by me every time. Go to the rim” George exclaims. He then starts to give me some advice on play. “Use that mid range.” “Draw them in.” “You are quick, use what you have”

I start to think back to all the possessions I had in the game. Remembering the bad ones. Those thrown away passes, or the missed shots that bounced off the rim.

I sit down next to George after the game is done and start to take off my shoes. Putting them away in my Decathlon bag (great brand by the way).

“You played good. Just working on driving the lane.” George said.

We stand up and begin to walk to the parking lot. Through the chain link fence, on what looks like a baseball field. It is hard to tell, as the sun has set.

In the distance we hear a “Screeeeeech”. A thud echoed through the dark sky. I paused for a second, and wondered if I should go check it out.

“I am nosy.” George quietly said.

I rush over there with him, because I am just like everyone else. There was a group of us that moseyed on over there.

As we get closer to the 4 way intersection. We see something off in the tree line. It looks to be someone on the ground. We take a few more steps and it confirms what we were all thinking.

Someone has already called 911. They are on the phone with them now. Time seems to slow. You can hear the spool of a turbocharger in the distance, that comes from the main road.

There is a car that has its hazards stopped in the middle of the road. A bicycle is in the center of a intersection, the hazard light on the bike is blinking as well.

A few moments of slow mo go by and you see siren lights in the distance. The red and blue lights ignite the sky like a beacon. The car pulls up. I was expecting a full uniform to get out of the car.

A plain clothes jumps out of the car. She takes the walkie from her hip and speaks into the mic. “On the scene”. She is the detective. She begins to check in on people. She starts with the injured.

A few moments later the ambulance arrives, and they begin to check on the guy who got hit by a car.

As the detective begins to take statements of the main people involved. She glances around and locks eyes with me. She is writing on her notepad, taking statements from the driver. You can see the driver is getting exasperated.

After she’s done taking that statement she beelines it over to the group. Heading directly towards me. Then at the last moment speaks to George.

“What did you see?” the detective questions.

“We didn’t see anything. We only heard.” George noted.

“What did you hear?” the detective dives deeper.

“A SCREECH. Then we heard a thud.” George said

“That’s it? Nothing else? What about you?” She panned over to me.

“You seem like someone who sees things. You seem to pay attention enough to understand what is going on. Stop looking for attention.” She said piercing the veil.

“I didn’t see anything, just heard it. Like George said” I pushed back.

“Ok. I believe you. You just give off this aura of attention. You seem to want it. You locked eyes with me moments ago. I saw something in those eyes.” She said while walking away.

I sat there in that moment. Wondering what that could’ve meant. We are all hypocrites. Sometimes I say to myself that I do not want is these grander ambitions. That is such a lie. The truth to it is, that I want it so bad I throw away my own well being to attain it. That is the crux of it all.

I say I do not want the attention, but I do. Attention is the new dollar. The spotlight is on you just like the headlights from the cop car. I struggle to understand if I will every reach those goals I write about. The answer, I will never truly know. However, I will never attain them if I give up. That would hurt me even more. Just like the cyclist getting hit by the car. That is how fast it all happens. One moment you’re pedaling towards the destination, then you get struck with a hiccup.

Hiccups go away eventually, they just get scared out of you.

All Rights Reserved to the Imagination (aka: fictional events, real self-understanding)