TENNIS FOR THE PAIN

1117 Words
This year has been bad ass after all, I was bowing out in victory and nothing can top this feeling in my twenty-eight years on earth. Right now, I am taking a walk down memory lane, tennis has been part of my life for sixteen years and I have played professionally for ten years, I fell in love with tennis at twelve as a coping mechanism for my big brother's death and went for my first tournament at thirteen. My mum was my greatest cheerleader in all I did right from the womb because the kicks actually counts and several videos are evident of the joy mum radiates. Though a gynaecologist, my mum home schooled me, she was extremely creative with the learning hours and had a tutor that handled the advance interest she could not handle. By the age of two, my mum concluded I was extremely smart and ahead of my age group and she confirmed I had an IQ of 170 at age five. She has always invested time in our learning and growth and worked shifts that were flexible, she already had a full-time ten-year career before starting a family at the age of thirty-five and my dad was a successful business man, so we lived comfortably with a back up of mum's inheritance.  Death became nothing when Ace Ayo Cole died at fifteen years old, he was the brightest kid in the room, he was loved by everyone, in the community, mum's office, dad's office, he was definitely on the path of becoming a valedictorian in high school, at that age he was already as tall as mum at 5 feet and 9 inches and he was already breaking hearts. He loved to play basket ball, fly planes and he could already fly mini planes at that age but he would not be given a license till he was seventeen. He was so looking forward to it but it never happened, he was invited to Zee's house party that Friday night but my birthday was in two days and he thought to get my gift first, he was hit by a drunk driver that slammed into the entrance of the store and he was rushed to the only hospital in the area were mum worked. My mum just ended her shift when the CMD of the hospital walked into her office with a forlorn look, she had a dejavu feeling but not in a million years did she ever think it would be her son. I was inconsolable, I was not much of a people's person but I tagged along with Ace because he adored me and I adored him, so I was willing to endure people just for him. Music was my fun thing since I was a toddler but music was like I was drowning when Ace died, the pianos were sad and my violin was a burden, I needed something to let the hurt out. One-month anniversary of his death, Zena, though Ace called her Zee came over to visit, she was here for a whole week after his death trying to help every little way she could but it would never be the same without Ace. She left after the funeral and has not been back ever since, hearing her soft voice through my bedroom door after 4 weeks of his death made my eyes misty. 'Amour, open up, you need some sunlight'  I have been in my room for a month, the only time I came out was for his funeral. 'Please hon, your mum needs you right now' That woke me up, I unlocked the door and she came in, she dropped a huge gift bag on the floor then walked to the window to draw the blinds half way. I was trying to adjust to the rays of light while she took my bedazzled brush and my leave-in-conditioner from my dressing table, stood over me to part my hair in bits and brush it. She worked in silence, I could see her putting it in a bun through my mirror, she returned the work tools and laid out a bedazzled jean and a shirt from the bag she brought in on my bed. ‘You should wash your hair before you go to bed’ I made a mental note of what she said as I sat on my knee, I went to the gift bag and pulled out a big ass teddy bear, I instantly knew those were my birthday gift from Ace. 'You need to go and have your bath and let’s go see your mum' I stood up, picked up my outfit and some underwear from my drawer and went to have my bathe, I was done in five minutes. We walked out silently and walked to my parents’ room which was adjacent mine, I opened without an invite and sat on her bed where she was lying. 'Mum, what's wrong', she sat up and smiled weakly 'I'm fine my love, I just need a few more days to get better' 'How long have you been ill?' 'Five days I think, the worse is over' then she pulled me towards her for a hug, I thought I heard her grunt in pain a little but she smiled again and settled back in bed comfortably. 'Aunty Annie, I am taking Amour for a walk' Zena said gently 'No problem Zee, thank you' Zena and I walked out of her room and went down the stairs, as we stepped out of our main door there was a car waiting and Zena saw my hesitation. 'We can't walk to the community tennis court; I think its a good sport for you to let out your hurt'  I blinked and entered the waiting SUV, it was a ten minutes drive to the community centre, Zena led the way to the dressing room and she changed into a sexy sport shorts, top and trainers. Zena was 2 inches shorter than Ace and 2 inches taller than I am but she had the curves in the right places, I was always jealous in a sisterly kind of way. Yes, I had all them baby fat from sitting and burying my nose in my books all day and being spoilt by everyone. I sat and watched Zee played her opponent that was two years her senior, Zena was bad ass! My eyes kept following the ball to and fro and I watch with so much excitement. It was an exciting one hour, then I heard Zena. 'Amour come over, just hit the ball, you can learn the rules later' That was the best gift I was ever given in my life, I kept hitting the ball with everything in me and I forgot my pain in that twenty-seven minutes.
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