"Aagh!" I woke up gasping in the middle of the night. Cristiano came running in the living room, turning on a light.
"Zack! You alright?" he asked.
I was breathing kind of fast, looking around my room, sweat nearly dripping off my face. But I still remained silent, not really sure what to tell him.
"It happened again didn't it?" he asked me and I nodded in response.
It's been nearly a week since the cup started; from the time I learned about the truth my parents kept from me. But ever since then I've been experiencing nightmares in my sleep. They've been so bad that I actually haven't been able rest well at night or focus during the daytimes.
In that week, I've only spent time with Cristiano and practiced with my ball when he wasn't around. Of course Neymar and I still haven't talked in a while, more like I'm the one that hasn't answered his texts. Zlatan hasn't messaged me about possibly having more practice sessions, I would assume its cause he's officially busy now. He did however call to see how I was doing once he found out about my situation, I guess word kind of gets around fast.
Also, Cristiano and I have started talking even more, he's actually shared more things with me about his personal life, like the reason why his doesn't drink alcohol and how it correlates to his father's death, that he has a son, showed me some of his insane workout routines, oh and he also told me that when he was younger he threw a chair at one of his teachers. Apparently, it had to do with his accent... It made me laugh regardless, I think we've all made childhood mistakes at some point that we would facepalm about today.
I guess he wanted to be fair since I told him about my secrets. But still, it's hard trying to shake this depression I've been going through... I need to try to sleep before the day starts again.
--- (Still on the couch)
I opened my eyes again, still not getting much rest, it was morning this time, and Cristiano was shaking me.
"What's the big idea? You know I haven't been able to sleep well..." I said to him still half asleep.
"You're coming with me today Zack. You need to get out of the house." He urged.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"We're going to go watch Sweden play, today's the day of the second week. You know, 'The Round of the 16'?" He reminded me by shoving his phone in my face.
"Already?" I sounded surprised, being inside and sleeping so long must have misplaced my sense of time.
"Yea the drawing is still random, but so far everything has been narrowed down from 32 to 16. And you're still off from work for recuperation, so going to this game wouldn't hurt." He said throwing me a hoodie and some sunglasses.
"You were on the news the day you passed out, I would wear this if you want to keep people off of you. Also it's snowing outside." He informed me. I agreed and got dressed.
I stepped outside and felt the wondrous chill of snow. Looking at the sight, the city in a blanket of ice, was beautiful. Interrupting my thoughts, was something...I was pelted with a snowball behind my back.
"Cristiano!" I yelled and turned towards him, the innocent expression on his face told me everything. Picking it off the ground, I quietly formed a snowball behind my back, waiting till the time was right.
"Oh, it must have been the wind or something..." He played it off like it was nothing.
"Hmm...I guess you're RIGHT!!' I threw it and the snowball hit him in the side of the face.
It didn't take long before a snowball fight broke out between us two, both of us using his car as defense. He threw one and I quickly opened the passenger door, blocking myself from being hit. We both got inside the car quickly and were breathing heavily.
He turned on the heat and we were laughing it off.
"Haven't done that in a while." He chuckled.
"Yea. That was fun! I haven't had a snowball fight since I was a kid. My mom and I used to---"I stopped mid-sentence, remembering the recent lies I had been exposed to. My hands covered my face, and to be honest, I wanted to cry a bit.
"Zack..." Cristiano said rubbing my back in comfort.
"It's sad, I feel like those memories I had with my mom aren't even real...more importantly I don't even know who I am myself..." I looked down.
"I'm sure we'll figure something out, you just have to live through it and keep looking for answers...but for now, focus on the positive things. Liiike right now, you know how many fans would kill just to have 10 seconds with me? You get to hangout and be with me at World cup for the whole month!" He said in an uplifting manner.
"Ok, ok. I get it." I just laughed, his cocky footballer attitude was somewhat showing.
"Good, now let's go ahead and go to the game." He said as we both put on our sunglasses, leaving to the stadium.
--- (To the Stadium)
It was 80:34 into the game and Sweden played against Denmark in a 2-0 score, Sweden was winning thanks to the two magnificent goals made by Zlatan.
I was actually enjoying my time.
"Hey did you want anything? I'm gonna go get something to eat." I asked Cristiano not wanting to say his name out loud in the stadium.
"Yea, sure." he replied.
I got up and went to the one of the concession stands. Upon arrival, I noticed that there were quite a few people waiting to get their food.
"Daddy! Daddy! Can I get this one?" I heard a child say and it closely drew my attention.
"I don't know...Ask your mother." The father said.
"Well...I guess it's alright." The mother smiled and handed HER child the food he wanted.
"YAAAY!" The boy said walking with his parents, happy as ever.
My eyes bulged so much that my glasses lowered from their original position, and dropped to the ground. I quickly reached for my glasses but I could see it clearly, everywhere I looked families were having wonderful times, laughing, talking, cherishing their moments. I covered my ears with my hands and started running to quiet place, because I could feel my anxiety rising. But it wasn't working...I could still hear the noises bleeding through my hands.
I ran outside of the stadium and into the city, it was finally quiet, not a person insight. I started calming down until I hear a voice behind me.
"Look at you, still being as useless as ever." I saw my father say.
"YOU DON'T KNOW A DAMN THING ABOUT ME!" I picked up a nearby rock and threw it him screaming.
"Losing your identity Zack??" Is that Sergio's voice? I looked around and saw him, trying to intimidate me again.
"AND YOU! You're just like my dad! Always putting people down just because you need to feel greater than them!" I ran and punched at him.
"It's ironic, you coming to the world cup. But in reality you don't even know who you are." I turned this time and saw Bastian. He's right. I don't know who I am.
"WHO THE HELL AM I!??" I screamed.
More people appearing to me like shadow figures, started circling around me, all saying the same thing. "Who are you Zack?"
I slipped on the ground and attempted to bury my face in the snow to block out all the noise. But it wouldn't stop!
"Zack?"
I quickly turned. WHO IS IT NOW!!? There stood Maria, looking confused, almost scared even.
"Who are you arguing with?" she asked.
I didn't know what to say, I was brought back to my senses. Looking around I saw that no one else was there. Instead, I ended up breaking a car door window and punched a light pole.
"Oh no! Are you alright? Your hand!" She shockingly discovered.
I looked at my hand and it was bruised, and nearly bleeding. I tried to hide it behind my back but she grabbed it lightly. She reached inside of her purse, grabbed some healing ointment and some bandage tape.
"This may sting a bit." She then opened the ointment container and applied it to my hand.
I jumped a bit once she rubbed it in the center. Maria...she's doing this? For me? Why? She has the rich soccer player Neymar in her life. So why bother wasting it with someone like me?
"Are you ok? You seem depressed..." She asked while still applying the medicine. I looked at her. "You haven't slept well either have you?" she asked more questions. I had to reply.
"I haven't...but why help me?" Looked at her needing to know.
"Why wouldn't I? You're kind...You're strong...I could tell from the dinner the other night that you're a really likable person, always standing up for the good people. And you resonate with others well, even when you aren't trying to...but when I see you like this, it made me want to help you...I'm not sure what happened to make you feel this way, but it hurts seeing you like this...I had to do something." She answered to me.
I stopped everything and just hugged her. She hugged me back, maybe not knowing how much that actually helped...
"Thank you." I told her.
"Maybe not now, but we can talk about it later if you'd like." She said.
"Of course." I smiled again.
There we stood, still hugging, as the snow fell. She then covered my four of my fingers with the tape, leaving my thumb exposed. "There, good as new." She smiled.
"Zack! Where are you?" I heard Cristiano come running. "OH! Sorry! Was I interrupting something?" he asked noticing that I was with Maria.
"uh....No not at all." Me and Maria both smiled at each other as I replied.
"Sweden won their match! But you FORGOT to get the food Zack! So now we're going out to eat cause I'm hungry!" He ranted.
Maria and I looked at each other again and started laughing. "Hey Maria. Umm... Would you like to come with us?" I shyly asked her.
"Of course, I'd love to." She smiled at me.
The three of us began walking to Cristiano's car, Maria and I still having our moment. No matter how much trouble may come my way, I think as long as I have people in my life that are like these two, everything should make a turn out well for me.
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Next Chapter Hint: Zack and his Amazing Friends!!!