That hollow, echoey, slapping noise sounded very much like a bone breaking.

I'm standing in the grass with my knees bent, somewhere in the vicinity of the soccer goal. We're playing a pickup game in the park across the street from my place, and my teammate on the left just slid me the ball. I'd first passed it through to them on the wing but, now that I'm in the middle of the field with space, I thought I had a shot. But two defenders collapsed in on me.

I like to think I have pretty good spatial awareness. Like, I see plays unfolding and think about where people will end up rather than where they are in the moment. Playing football, lacrosse, and basketball growing up probably helped. Come to think of it, snowboarding uses a lot of those same skills with analyzing terrain and visualizing your line, too.

With soccer, though, I'm still new.

Not to mention, this is my first time back after spraining my ankle. This was supposed to be about taking it for a test drive. So, maybe I'm just rusty... because when I wound up to kick the ball, I pictured it going between the defenders and into the top right corner of the goal. Instead, a defender's leg appeared where the ball had just been and I kicked the shit out of their Tib/Fib.

CRACK.

Or maybe it was more of a wHHAck.

Whatever. It was hollow sounding—there was some reverb.

Now, everyone's standing still and I can feel their rigidity as they acclimate to the noise they just heard, too. I'm looking down at the defender—who's now on the ground—and he has this not-quite-home expression on his face. He's hunched forward, reaching for his leg in slow motion with a wince. I look at his shin and expect to see a bump or some sign of a break but I don't. Huh. Ok...

The motion picks up around us and people are moving again.

He and I walk to the side of the field and I realize after we get there that we both walked normally. He on his walloped leg, and I on my unsteady ankle.

We're both ok.

I guess it just sounded worse than it was.

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Our Daily MAP Year Prompt
333/365

When's the last time you jumped to conclusions?

onward. 

For more on this daily column and The MAP Year Project, read the backstory here. And if you know someone who'd appreciate this, pass it along.