Sometimes life happens so fast and doesn't even give you a second chance to do the things you did not do when you had the chance; those motivational speakers that always advise to seize opportunities and take chances like it is your last were not wrong after all. Sometimes you miss opportunities, and they never come by again, and you just have to live with the regrets and can now only achieve that in your imaginations. Mohammed, a teammate, came to my house to ask if I had an extra pair of socks to lend him, as his were bad and he needed to play football with us later that day.
"I really cannot use my boots without socks, bro. I wish you had an extra sock." Mohammed said after finding out I did not have any extra socks to lend him.
"You can check on our other teammates; one person will definitely have extra socks to give you." I responded.
We were still having the conversation when an ambulance passed, and everyone following the ambulance gave us a weird look as we were sitting under a big tree in front of my house.
"Why are they looking at us like that?" I asked because it was weird how they looked at us.
"Don't mind them; all these gossipers looking for another topic to jump on." Mohammed said, "You overthink everything." Mohammed added as he tapped the back of my head.
"One day you and I will end up fighting, and I will make sure I beat you very well because of the way you always hit the back of my head even after I have told you that I don't like it." I responded, giving him a bombastic side eye.
A few minutes later his phone started ringing; it was his mother, but he refused to pick up, thinking maybe she wanted him to run errands for her when it was almost time for training. The moment his mother's call dropped, his brother started calling.
"Pick up, bro; it might be important, or there might be an issue that needs your attention." I said urging him to pick.
He reluctantly picked up.
"Start coming home now, like right now; don't even wait for a minute; just come home." His brother said over the phone with a shaky voice, like he was crying before the call and even on the call.
Immediately Mohammed took to his heels.
"We will see later; let me see what is happening at home." Mohammed said as he waved from afar.
A few hours later the news went round that the ambulance that passed was actually carrying Mohammed's father, who was involved in a fatal accident with his bike. A car driver had smashed his bike from the back after losing control and seeing how fatal it was; the driver ran away and did not stay to even look at who he just hit with his car. It was people around that rushed to make calls and provide the little first aid they could provide before the ambulance arrived. They did all they could, but they still lost him, and the news of his demise had reached everyone in the family except for Mohammed, who did not know what was happening or what had befallen his family.
He was called home, and the news was told to him that evening. As teammates, we decided instead of training when a teammate had just lost his dad was wrong, and instead of using the evening to train, we decided to spend the evening at Mohammed's house and keep him company. We arrived at Mohammed's house, and everyone was quiet for some time as no one knew how to start the conversation until our coach broke the silence.
"I understand how you feel; losing a parent at a young age scars you for life, but you have to learn to be strong." Our coach encouraged him to stay strong.
"His death is not hurting me that much." Mohammed responded with tears rolling down his eyes.
"What is now hurting you that much if his death is not hurting you that much?" A teammate asked
"The fact I disrespected him and failed to apologize; when he was about leaving, I wanted to tell him I was sorry, but then I held back and decided it would be after he comes back, but then in the end he is never coming back." Mohammed said as he cried even more, and at that point we got even more emotional.
"This is like some of the many things we didn't get to say, and we all have that moment in our lives where we wish we had said it and not held back." I said, "I am really sorry for your loss, bro." I added holding back the tears.
