Showing posts with label Brody L.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brody L.. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

The List



It's a new school year we have three new kids Demarco, Jeff, and Kent. I like Demarco he is a stud at basketball. Jeff I think plays soccer and Kent is pretty good at baseball. I head to Walnut where I get picked up by the bus to go to Avoca. I arrive to school and everything's going good. We have a first basketball game tonight. It's almost game time, we’re all stretching and watching the other team walk in. We go for jump ball and we won it. Joey goes down and makes a layup. We’re up by twenty at half. I step up to the three-point line and shoot; I actually make it! What a win for us, I mean Riverside isn't any good, but a wins a win.
I get to school the next day and unexpectedly Seth's still not here he's been gone for like three weeks and he won’t answer my texts. Now today Brady's gone and I'm not sure why either; it's starting to actually scare me kids are just not coming to school and not answering their phones. Now Mr. Ross is gone, I don’t even know what's going on. Are they all sick with something, have they been kidnapped, are they dead? I just don't want to be next.
The next day I got detention for talking again, but so did Joel. After the detention I had to go to basketball so Joel and I walked around for awhile instead of going. Weirdly Kent was waiting for Joel. He says “How's it going my man?”
Joel answers “ Pretty good man.”
“Hey I have something to show you.” says Kent
Im standing there confused I just say “Hey I got to go.” so I walk away slowly and then I hear Joel ask “What you want to show me.” Kent then pulls out a knife! I seen it all walking away I run towards him yelling “NO JOEL!” Joel tries to fight back. I run towards Kent and jump on his back he shrugs me off, I hit the floor and watched Kent take Joel away. I freak out and try to chase him. They hop in this big van and didn't noticed, I was following them then the driver yells “Hey he's following.” Kent throws Joel in the van then pulls a gun out and says, “ If you don’t back off I'm going to shoot you square between the eyes!”
I scream, “Joel!”
He yells back, “I'll be okay Brody.”
Almost Crying, I go back to the school and noticed a piece of paper on the ground .It has a whole list of names it's everyone in the eighth grade but Kent so it has to be Kents. I put it in my pocket and call my mom and tell her to pick me up. I tell her all about it on the way home. She kept telling me to stay calm, then she asked me to see the list. I handed it to her and she read it, then she noticed that after Joel was my name she started crying. I asked what was wrong she handed the list back to me I then I noticed to, I freaked out.
Next morning my mom didn't want me to go to school, but I told her I had to so I could stop them. I look at the list there is only two boys on the list left, and there Jackson and Gavyn. So I show them the list, they were shocked. Gavyn upset mentioned that I was next.
I told him, “I'll be fine.”
Gavyn says, “We got your back Brod right Jackson.”
“Yeah man” says Jackson.
“Thanks guys” I say.
I tell them we have to do something about this, they both agree. We start following Kent and taking notes. We all got together and talked about what we noticed. I say, well see ya guys I have to go to basketball. I get there, it was an easy practice. We’re all leaving practice and since Joey and Clayton are gone it's just me and Demarco sitting outside. This big white van pulls in and I notice instantly it's Kent's so I stand there in disbelief. He starts to walk towards me I yell for Demarco I start stumbling backwards the next thing I know Demarco grabbed me. I was scared Gavyn came sprinting towards me, he heard me scream, he tackled Kent. Gavyn and I got up and ran into the school they drove away. Gavyn and I each take some mopeds and chase the van. I get a call from Jackson I pull over and answer it he says he tracked everyone's phone to a house just up the road from Joel’s. Gavyn and I back off the driver before he notices were following him.
Next morning we all met together and took Gavyn’s mom's car down to the house I drive by slowly Kent, Demarco, and Jeff all got in the van. Jackson tells me just to go by and park at Joel’s and wait for them to leave finally they do. We walk up to the house the door of course is locked so we threw our weight into it and knocked it down. We stumble in, there's knives and guns everywhere. We hear some yelling, we run into this room they’re all sitting in chairs tied up looking at each other everyone is crying. Gavyn instantly goes to Lucas he cuts the rope Lucas then stands up and they hug. Lucas then run to Tristin and gets her out. I go to Joel we hug and get everyone else untied. They're all hungry because they got very little food. Mr. Ross suggest we take the food from the fridge, we’re all leaving the house with an armsful of food. We head to Joel’s and we see the van we hide behind some bushes and watch them walk in. They come out of the house screaming “NO.” We call the police they pull up to the house and arrest all three of them. They all thank Gavyn, Jackson and I, and walk back to there house with the biggest smiles.

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Tackling Cancer

The story of Leah Still is starting to be known around the world. Her father is the starting defensive Tackle on the Cincinnati Bengals. Leah has been battling cancer for the last fifteen months. Even after all of this, she battled through it and made some amazing comebacks.
Leah and Devon were on there way to Leah’s dance recital when Leah became sick, so they went to the nearest hospital. They thought she had a infection; they did
an ultrasound and noticed a mass every time you touched her hip she would jump in pain. They went through all the things that it could be, and the last one was cancer. They took a CAT scan and a MRI. They said they wanted to talk to Devon alone. It took awhile for them to look at the results about two hours later the came out and told him they found a mass.
Devon says, “I felt empty, I felt sick, shocked. I had to go out and tell my father and grandmother, and they were out there waiting for me, and when I went there, they were laughing, and I thought, I am going to knock the smiles right off their faces.”
They started sticking needles in Leah who hates needles. She cried, “This is your fault you never took me to the hospital in time!”
This hurt Devon, but what can a man do when he has a big football career and now his daughter has a 50-50 chance of living? He completely stopped football for awhile because he wanted to spend time with Leah because he couldn't get anything back. He called the Bengals to tell them he wouldn’t be able to be there for awhile and ten minutes later the coach Marvin Lewis called him and told him to take his time.
Devon thought he might just walk away from football; then he remembered that the treatments would cost up to one million dollars. He could leave whenever he wanted,  but he had a full time job at the starting position. Then later he found out that the proceeds from his jerseys that were selling at a hundred dollars a piece would go to Children's Hospital for the cancer research. Sean Payton who is currently the head coach for the Saints bought one hundred jerseys. That weekend 5,000 jerseys were sold.
The Coach told him he wanted him to start this week. He feels that he is ready even though he has missed plenty of practices. In his first week back, he had two tackles by himself and 16 assisted tackles. He still just doesn’t feel right.
He said, “I’ve felt like I couldn’t go on, this has hit me harder than any obstacle I’ve faced in my life. It makes no sense to me. Id never heard of neuroblastoma before, and now I am an expert on it. But the Bengals have been so good to me. People I don’t know have been so good to me. Fans have been so good.”
He also says, “The whole experience I have been just stunned.” It has helped so much. I can’t believe that in this sport that has no so-called heart, it’s really so full of heart. That’s the truth: football is full of heart.”
Leah made it to the ESPYS which is a sports show that hands out awards for different topics. She got the Jimmy V. Perseverance award. Jimmy V was a great basketball coach known for his times at North Carolina State. He died of metastatic cancer; he is known for the speech he did at the ESPYS, so they made a whole award on how he persevered. Leah won this award but she of course, couldn't be there, so her dad accepted the award. One of Devon's big deals was to post on Instagram how Leah is doing on of his big post was him saying this "When you die it does not mean that you lose to cancer. You beat cancer by how you live, why you live, and in the manner in which you leave." Leah never let this terrible disease define her. She didn't let it control whether she lived out her dream of playing college ball and she fought to live pass what doctors originally told her she wouldn’t. Lauren left her mark on this world by showing people what it really meant to NEVER GIVE UP. So, would I say she lost her battle with cancer?  No, because of her fight and selfless act of using her fight to raise an incredible amount of money and awareness, doctors will one day find a cure for DIPG! It hurt seeing the news this morning and I'm not even sure how I'm going to tell my daughter. In the past two weeks, two kids that I have met and developed relationships with have passed from cancer  something's got to give it's not right” #For22 #LaurenStrong. That post got the whole world buzzing.
     They have had a surgery for Leah that think got completely free of cancer. Sadly though Devon was dropped from the Cincinnati Bengals football team. Her story is one that will go on forever. She 

motivated people while she was going through a tough time. Her, dad was maybe even stronger 

through football and his daughter he kept persevering. Leah will never have to wonder if she's strong 

enough; because she has survived one of life's biggest challenges. She has Tackled Cancer!