"Top of the World" by Jordan Rhen

     Sitting in the locker room her head phones jammed into her head, loud enough for everyone to hear yet so far away to her it was drifting in and out of her mental thought like a settle ocean tide. One word was so close she could almost touch it, Win. Her legs trembling as she sat on the cold hard wooden bench. Glancing up she noticed her coach’s mouth creating words. Her team mates’ eyes all glazed over as they gawked at each inspiring word she assumed was spewing from his speech. Figuring it was be much easier to hear the inspiring words she wanted, she decided it would be best to just play them out in her own head. It would go a little something like this: Girls you’ve gotten so far, you’ve worked too hard to let this game scare you out of an undefeated season. Now let’s go out there and show this team who we are! Just then she had realized that her fantasy had caught up with reality as her teammate’s cheers invaded the real word blockade covering her eardrums. She jabbed her thumb into the pause button and stood up. A mix of excitement and fear engulfed her body, shaking it off; she joined her teammates heading towards the field. As she walked onto the freshly watered grass she looked up, it had gotten dark and the spotlights shot down to touch every inch of the field leaving no blade bare. If that were not enough the spotlights had also added to the already intimating crowd whose screams of anticipation echoed throughout the stadium.  She started to jump up and down, at this point there was no turning back, nowhere to go but game mode.

                Half way through the game, the score was still tied. They had put up a nasty fight to keep the score at 0-0. Looking at her teammates their heads hung low, disappointment stamped across their foreheads. She, herself was exhausted beyond believe, but would never back down. This was what they wanted; she was not going to lose this game. It was not even a conceivable thought.

                Only minutes left in the game, her pride wounded as she started to lose faith. She was about to throw in the towel when a deflected ball flew picture perfect into sight. Running on E she pushed herself towards it, just barely surpassing the defender. One last touch, she pounded the ball. It arched and hit the back of the net. Disappointment over swept the goalie, it took her a second or two to register the last minute. Then, reality kicked in, her teammates rushed over to congratulate her, the crowd out of their seats cheering and clapping. This was it; it was that feeling, when you’re on top of the world.