Her breath became slow as her eyes became wide. Nothing but the wet feeling of tears down my cheeks as I ran to her side.

It was during soccer practice when it happened. The feeling of pain and the “thump, thump” of my heart as I leaned over her trying to find the point of her pain. She swallowed and began to slip words from her mouth. “My neck” was all she managed to get out. She was in real pain and you could never understand unless you were there, unless you were her lying there on the grass. You could tell she was trying to keep her eyes open and the pain out of her head. It wasn’t long before the coach ran to us and asked what had happened. With tears in my eyes I began to tell him the story. When I was finished he asked her if she was ok and she, of course, said no and he said a word I thought I would never hear from him, “Shit” was the word that came out of his mouth. I looked shocked but I didn’t care. I held tight to her hand and wouldn’t let go. By the look on her face she was happy I was by her side. Her sister came over and it was her, her sister and me on the ground sharing our pain with our tears. We wouldn’t leave her side. We would never leave her side because thats not what teammates do. They support each other when they are down and help them up when they fall.

A while later our athletic director came and called the police and they came with the ambulance. She began to cry which made me cry. I knew she was scared and so was I. It was all over though and she was safe. I was and am thankful!