𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞 ★ leah williamson

12 - hard as steel

I clutched my head tightly, groaning in pain as I felt as though a bomb had exploded behind my eyes. They were shut close, as I knew any ray of light would give me an instant migraine. Before I could roll on the ground, moving myself to lie on my side, I felt a hand connect to my ribs softly.

"Ellie?", Leah's concerned voice carried towards me through all the surrounding noise. I winced in pain. Everything was too loud.

"Let me look. Hey", she spoke softly as she removed my hand from my head carefully, likely to inspect whether or not I was bleeding. I didn't think I was. I didn't know.

"The medics are coming, Ellie. Can you sit up?", she asked me, patting my side again. I couldn't move my head to shake it no.

"No", I groaned, but quickly felt a hand connect to my own.

"Come on, up you get", Katie ordered, pushing my back slightly. I groaned in pain once more, my eyes still closed.

"Ellie, open your eyes", one of the medics' voice ordered and I complied, although carefully. I was sensitive to the light, which I knew wasn't a good sign. The rest of the team had left, I could see them huddled around the bench in the distance, but Leah and Katie were still with me. Leah was crouched down at my side and Katie looked down upon us with her arms crossed.

"Can you follow my finger?", the medic asked and I quickly did so, focusing on the moving finger in front of me.

"Okay. Move your head this time", he ordered and I once again followed the order, not wanting to cause a fuss about this.

"Did I score?", I suddenly remembered the ball that had left my head moments before the collision. Leah nodded.

"Hell yes you did!", Katie agreed from behind me, nudging me softly. I groaned again.

"I don't think you are concussed, luckily, but I don't know if we should risk it. Does your head hurt?"

"It did, but I feel fine now", I lied, the words coming over my lips easily. I didn't want to get off. The game had just started. I couldn't spend another game on the bench, watching my teammates struggle.

"Are you sure?", Leah asked behind me, and I forced myself to nod, fearing it was the only way to fool the medics that looked at me critically.

"Okay", one of them sighed, speaking into his walkie talkie that I would stay on.

Leah held her hands out for me, pulling me into a standing position. I walked off the field with the two medics around me, not caring to look back at the defender who'd taken me out, seemingly in the same amount of pain. It was mere seconds before the game continued, and I was called in again.

Despite the fact that most of the ache in my head had subsided, I knew there was a good portion of the match left to play, and that I would have to hold up my act for at least seventy more minutes. Maybe Jonas would take me out for the last twenty minutes, although I didn't expect him to. He knew I wasn't usually the type of player to get tired throughout the game and need a break on the bench. He knew that I was usually valuable, even after seventy minutes of pushing myself to the edge. I hoped today would be no exception.

I found myself in the rhythm of the game quickly, but we didn't create many more chances in the first half of the game. We still possessed most of the ball, and created most of the plays, but we couldn't quite find our way to Reading's goal as their tackles grew more physical and their players became more aggressive. They were clearly frustrated with the current score, although it had been obvious from the beginning that we wouldn't make things easy for them.

Jonas gave us a little bit of a push in the half time, and he didn't ask me if I needed to come off anymore, which satisfied me. I played well, despite the occasional pounding in my head and squinting of my eyes. He didn't feel the need to take me off. If anything, that was more motivation for me to keep going.