Pretty please read the note at the end, some news for you lovelies!
"Jackson, your dad made me promise not to let you drive that thing!"
"Just one lap Uncle Ni, I'll only be gone five minutes!" I yelled back, laughing loudly as he attempted to chase me down, stumbling down a hill on right on top of a particularly rough patch of grass. He was wearing a gigantic white grin on his face so I knew he wasn't really mad or anything.
I waved and pressed the pedal down with my sneaker. It was a golf cart, so it wasn't a V8 or anything, but I managed to get some speed on down a hill, laughing my head off as the wind whipped by. Finally I was having some fun.
Uncle Niall invited me to go with him to play 18 holes of golf because my cousin, or someone who fit that label, Corey, refused to go. I couldn't think of why not, it'd sounded like fun to me and the weather was stunning.
It took me all of two holes to realise that I had been tricked. Golf sucked. I was dreadful at the sport for one, plus I was sweating as if someone had dropped a slither of the sun down the back of my shirt. My legs ached from walking when Uncle Niall ditched me with the cart and I was bored out of my mind.
Until I snatched the cart of course, now I was having the time of my life.
I drove past the clubhouse and caught sight of a few girls my age sat out, legs crossed over each other, watching me from the upstairs deck. I flashed them a massive smile and accidentally lost control of the wheel for a split second, distracted. Thankfully I regained control before I really embarrassed myself, narrowly avoiding crashing into small boulder.
On my way back around I had an idea. It was stupid, probably, but those girls were still watching and I would be lying if I said I wasn't at all interested.
Now, I'd done my fair share of back-flips, but never off the back of a golf cart. Surely that'd be impressive to any onlookers and honestly just an accomplishment in itself. Why not give it a shot?
I clambered over the seats to the back bumper and set myself up, trying to clear my head of everything that was buzzing around. Before I could realise how much of an idiot I was I bent my legs and vaulted backwards, bringing my legs in close.
Two things occurred while I was in mid air.
First, my phone began ringing.
Second, the vibrating against my leg gave me such a fright my whole body fell out of form.
The ground came too fast.
My first point of contact with the ground was the back of my head. I tasted blood as I rolled onto my side and tried to orientate myself. Everything was out of whack. I could've sworn that I was still spinning through the air.
My head was throbbing and everything except for my ringing phone was foggy and distant. Since the phone seemed to be the only clarity I had, I decided to answer it.
"W-Who is it?" I slurred, holding the back of my head as I slowly sat up, using the side of the cart for support. I looked lazily up to the deck to see that there was no longer anyone there. Thank god, because if those girls and everybody else had hung around they would've witnessed the humiliating stunt I'd just attempted.
"You sound weird. It's Niall, Kid, time to bring the cart back," replied the familiar voice on the other end of the line.
"Oh, yeah, I'll, uh- I'll be right there." I cleared my throat to get rid of the weakened tone it had taken on. There was no way I was telling a single soul about what had just happened. I'd never hear the end of it.
"Alright."
The line cut off and I dropped my phone into my back pocket, squeezing my eyes shut from the pure force of the throbbing in my head. The back of my head felt so hot I checked my hands for blood, which there was none of. Although there was a large lump that hurt to touch and the instant headache was horrible.
I exhaled and slowly got up off my arse. A sudden dizziness made me gag and spit the blood from my mouth. For the first time I noticed the pain in my mouth, I'd bitten my tongue.
Gripped the side of the cart tightly I tentatively got back into my seat and took the wheel in my shaking hands. I dropped my head down between my elbows for a long minute, breathing a few heavy breaths. I must've hit the ground pretty hard.
"Just drive," I uttered to myself, swallowing as I pressed the pedal down. The cart jolted forward. I took it a lot slower this time. There were quite a few people around the course and I was still dizzy, it would be too easy to hit somebody if I went too fast.
Soon I recognised Uncle Niall, waiting for me at the last hole. He smiled as I drew to a stop beside him, "we won't speak a word of this to Harry."
No, most definitely not. He thought that I made silly choices sometimes, which was probably why he hadn't allowed me to drive the cart. Obviously trying a fucking back flip off the back of the thing counted as a silly choice and I'd only be proving his point. Why the hell did I even do that? Why did it seem like such a reasonable idea at the time?
I managed to finish the whole, albeit even more worse than how I'd done on the others. Uncle Niall didn't seem to have any suspicions and I got away with being silent the drive back to my place because he spent the drive singing along with the pumping stereo.
"Well, here we are Jack. Thanks for accompanying me," he said as we pulled onto my driveway. I forced myself to return the toothy smile he gave me as I undid my belt and opened the door.
"Sorry to say it Uncle Ni, but never again," I chuckled quietly as I spun in my seat and dangled my shoes on the ground, silently prepping myself for standing. My headache had only worsened since we'd left the golf course and I was expecting more dizziness.
"Damn." He laughed boisterously, making my head shake painfully.
I held on tightly to the door and wearily stepped out, straightening with a wince.
"I've gotta get back to the family Jack, but be sure to say hello to you parents from me," Uncle Niall said, ducking his head so he could see me.
"Will do," I muttered, giving a slight wave and closed the door. Without any support I could feel myself swaying slightly, which wasn't super reassuring. Uncle Niall honked his horn loudly as he sped off down the street.
I let out a series of grunts and groans that I'd been holding in the entire car ride, shoulders slouching forward. I'd been concussed before, and it felt a lot the same as this. The first time had been worse I think, but judging by the headache I had this time around wasn't going to be any walk in the park either.
I put on a brave face and headed into the house, only to be instantly bombarded by Mara and Mum.
"Oof," I grunted as Mum yanked me into a hug and Mara attached to my leg with an ear-piercing squeal. She'd spent the night over at a friends and hadn't seen me since yesterday so she must've been a little excited.
Mum just liked hugging.
"How was it?" She grinned. My fists clenched as she ruffled my hair, her hand drifting over the tender spot.
"Not great, I hate golf, " I replied, causing Mum to giggle and nod her head.
"It's pretty bad huh? Why don't you go have a shower before dinner, you look all hot and sticky," she suggested.
Mara screwed up her button nose, "and you smell."
"You do," Mum agreed with a smile.
Luckily, the hot water came with a bit of relief for my poor pulsating skull. It also made me pretty drowsy so I ended up sitting down on the bottom of the shower and getting the worst leg cramps ever, but it was worth easing the headache for.
I got out only when I was second from dozing off, lazily swinging an arm up to knock the tap off. Groggy and lightheaded I lifted to my feet and reached blindly for a towel.
Once the water was off the hot steam billowing around the room made me feel kind of queasy I got dressed as quickly as I could and rushed out of the bathroom.
Dad called my name from the dining room so I dragged myself in there, figuring dinner was ready. Sure enough, a plate piled with roast lamb and veggies sat in front of my seat. Usually it was my favourite, Dad's potatoes were to die for, but all I wanted to do was sleep an my appetite was hardly a quarter of what it would normally be this time of the day.
My unsteady legs almost buckled when Dad patted my back, ushering me towards my seat, "heard you went golfing with Ni today."
He smiled at me as he sat down, waiting for a story.
I shrugged and lowered myself slowly down, struggling to keep my expressions from giving me away. Something must've slipped through the barricades, a twitch of my lips, a slow blink, something, because Dad picked up on it in an instant.
"You okay Jack?"
I blinked and nodded, "yeah, I'm fine. And I did go golfing Dad, and I'm never going again. It sucks."
Dad chuckled, "Ni likes it though."
"He's weird."
Mara began talking about what she'd done over at her friends house and the attention was taken away from me, which I was grateful for, but Dad's eyes still burned into me like lasers as I prodded a pice of meat with my fork, lifting it to my mouth reluctantly.
I rested my chin in the hand that wasn't holding my fork and focused my energy on keeping my eyes open rather than trying to eat, figuring that falling asleep at the dinner table would be a much bigger giveaway than leaving half my food and I did not want anyone finding out why I was in the predicament that I was.
Mum and Dad would be angry and disappointed, and they'd never trust me. I needed Dad to keep teaching me to drive, and he definitely wouldn't of he found out what I'd done with the cart. I could hear voice screaming in my head, 'if you can be so irresponsible with a damn golf cart why should I let you anywhere near a car!'
Lost deep in though, Mum's shout of my name caused my head to drop from its resting position and smack straight into the wooden tabletop. I cried out and my mouth filled with metallic tasting blood for a second time that day as Mum rushed out of her chair, apologising and touching my face. My tongue had really been through the ringer, I was surprised it was still attached.
My eyes were very steadily moistening and I couldn't stop it. The jolt to my chin just made my head throb a thousand times more painfully and I could already feel the bruise forming. Plus, I could see two of mum and having her so close and touching me was only making the dizziness worse.
"Hun, stop, hang on a second," Dad said from my other side. Breathing laboured and shallow I knew I looked like a deer caught in the headlights and I was giving myself away with every passing second. Mum stepped to the side and I gulped hard as hot tears rolled down my cheeks.
She whispered something to Mara, who ran off into the kitchen. She returned with a packet of frozen and unopened peas, along with a clean tea towel.
I whimpered as Dad pushed my chair away from the table slightly, the movement making my head whirl.
"I know, I bet that hurt," he said calmingly, taking the peas from Mara and wrapping them quickly in the towel. Despite the extra layer it was freezing as he pressed it into my hand and then lifted it to my chin.
I tried to swallow the blood filling my mouth but failed and ended up coughing instead, spitting globs of the stuff all over the tea towel with a few snotty gasps and sobs.
"Take Mara to watch TV love, we'll be alright in here," Dad whispered to Mum as he wiped the edges of my mouth. Suddenly the cart incident didn't seem so embarrassing, this was so, so, much worse.
Dad frowned as I shifted his and my hand to the back of my head so that the ice could numb the pain of the lump there.
He walked around to the back of me and combed his fingers through my hair, running gently over my scalp after a few minutes when the area was numb.
"You've hit your head before. . ." He breathed, returning the icepack to its position. He returned to crouch down in front of me, "and you've been away with the fairies all dinner, you're not feeling good are ya? Why did you lie when I asked you before?"
I was too choked up to say much of anything but I managed a shrug, hiccuping as I tried to stop blubbering like a baby.
"You're probably concussed again." He sighed sympathetically, "how did this happen?"
Uncle Niall was going to be in so much trouble when Dad found out he let me drive the cart.
It took a while, but I reluctantly told him the whole story, ending with my hands covering my embarrassed face.
"So really this is all Niall's fault," Dad said thoughtfully after a moment. I peeked at him through my fingers, he wasn't mad?
"He let you take the cart, and then he called you right when you happened to be doing a backflip, I'd say that he's to blame." Dad nodded his head and smiled sympathetically, "I'm not going to yell at you Jackson, I can only imagine the headache you've got right now."
I sighed in pure relief and moved the makeshift icepack around to my chin again.
"Take that up to your room and get into bed, I'll bring you up some pain killers in a minute," he said, gesturing at the peas. I inhaled and grabbed the small indent I'd left in the table to help me up. My ears rang and I reached into the dizzy colours for Dad.
"Okay, I'll help you," he said and an arm wormed around my waist, "and mum can bring up the medicine."
We made it up the stairs without incident, which was more than I was expecting. I didn't think much would give me more relief than the shower had but being in bed was indescribable.
"Here Bud, don't lay down just yet," Mum cooed, holding two capsules in her hand. I took them and swallowed them both in one go, along with some water. The blood taste still lingered but there wasn't anything I could do about it so I just laid down.
"We'll talk more about this when you're up to it," Dad said as he pulled the curtains closed. I was definitely not looking forward to that chat. Maybe I should try back flipping off of something higher, concuss myself again.
Was busy again, so I had to write quick! Hopefully it's okay, don't feel likes it's one of the best but hey, I tried haha.
I have some exciting news about my upcoming three week excursion! You all probably know that I was going to just be disappearing, nothing out of me for that whole period of time. I had a few ideas of how to fix that problem but I wasn't sure if any of them were going to work the way I needed them to.
Anyway, I've just today found a really sweet writer who is willing to write for me while I'm gone! She's even going to continue with the requests for me! You'll all have to be very welcoming, I know you will be anyway, but she'll be running this place and it's going to rock. She's a good writer, I'm leaving y'all in fantastic hands. There's going to be one more from me, for: larrybieberdreams, and then she'll be taking over from there for three whole weeks!