GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
"Gotze has just won it for Germany!!!!!!! What a game this has been.... A World Cup finals for the history books!! Germany get their fourth World Cup trophy, the first since the unified Germany era, and what a way to win it. Mario Gotze, 113th minute of a grueling final, it is a wonderful day to be a German" Peter Drury exclaimed as the final whistle of the 2014 World Cup finals at the Maracana Stadium blew.
Back in Germany, the whole nation was on fire, streets in Munich and Berlin were packed with people wearing the German national team jersey and waving the German flag. They had just won the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and it was the highest form of recognition for any nation, more so a football powerhouse like Germany, a trophy they had to wait 24 years for.
In a small pub at the outskirt of Darmstadt, the jubilation seemed even bigger. Students from the Technical University of Darmstadt were mixed with old workers and even little children.
One of those little kids—Lukas Brandt, 7 years old—was carried by his dather. His legs hung on either side of his dad's shoulders, as they both screamed with joy in the local pub in Darmstadt after the match ended.
Right there, Lukas with his light green eyes fixed on the big screen in the pub watching the players hug each other on the field with some shedding tears of joy, was enthralled by what he was seeing.
"I want to playfootball." He thought to himself.
************
That day was almost three decades ago now. Lukas, now 36 with a growing beer belly chugged his beer in that same pub as he watched Germany lose to Spain in the Euros quarterfinal played in The Netherlands.
"And that is it, Die Mannschaft falls to La Roja in the quarterfinal of the 2044 European Championship here in the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam. It ends here—Spain 3, Germany 1.
And the wait continues. Germany has not been in a final of a major competition in over 30 years since they won the World Cup in 2014. You gotta wonder, what will it take?"
Lukas stood up from the barstool at the pub.
"Put it on my—"
"Sorry Luke, the boss says no more tabs for you man" Max, the bartender said, cutting Lukas off before he completed his sentence
"You gotta clear the one you already got man, you know how he gets" he added.
"Lemme see the tab, how much is on it?"
"€984.50, you've had this tab open since the beginning of the year man. We are already halfway through the year"
"Aight Max, how much is today's drinks? I will pay for that now" Lukas said, bringing out his brown wallet that looked like it had been in war with a washing machine for the past decade.
"It's €17.50 Luke"
"Here take this €20, remove the change from my tab." Lukas turned, leaving the pub
"Even with two of the greatest attacking midfielders in the world for more than 10 years, we still didn't make it to a Euro or World Cup final throughout the peak of their careers, what gives you hope that it will be any different with these new players?" Lukas heard a man arguing with his friend at the pub as they discussed the match that had just ended.
He had already given up hope, the emerald eyes that once shone bright with dreams and hope had been shattered countless times. After being dropped by the SV Darmstadt 98 Youth academy at 16, he had decided his dreams were impossible to attain with the talent he had, and decided to cheer on Die Mannschaft from afar if he couldn't make his dreams come true.
But even that, had proven difficult.
Years and years of World Cup group stage exits, Euros quarter/semifinal exits and even failing to qualify for the 2042 World Cup in Kuwait, he had lost hope in even that consolation of seeing his country win a major tournament. (after Qatar and Saudi successfully lobbied the WC hosting rights and won, Kuwait did too, and you know FIFA don't play about their dough)
As he walked down the street on his way home, he thought to himself "What exactly is the purpose of this life Ilived?" as he kicked a little rock slowly down the road reminiscing about the times he still believed in dreams coming true..
"I am only 36, but why do I feel both like I have lived to the end of my life and still haven't accomplished anything in life?" He had gone to Technical University of Darmstadt to study Electrical Engineering like his father but dropped out after a year due to the sheer difficulty.
No wife, no sibling, and no other close family in the town since his father passed 8 years ago. He had lived life alone in the apartment his father already paid off for before his passing, and although he had gotten used to that life — sometimes the loneliness gets too heavy.
As he tried to kick the rock one more time and missed, he stopped, turned back, looked at the missed rock, and knew it was against the rules to go back and kick it again...
But he tried to anyway. As he was turning back, he spotted a kid on the road, must have been at most 7 or 8 years old, going to pick up his ball which had rolled to the middle of the road.
"Who lets their kids play so close to a road like this without supervision?"
But just as he registered the thought, out of the corner of his eyes he saw a black F-150 heading the child's way. He saw the car even before the driver saw the kid because for some reason he was already running towards the kid in the middle of the road before he heard the car horn blow.
"Hey kid!! Watch out!!!."
BAAAAMMM!!
Lukas successfully got the kid out the way, but couldn't get himself to safety as the car clattered into him.
"Mr!!!! Are you okay? Somebody call 112 please!" bystanders gathered as they called the emergency service.
He tried to respond, but couldn't move a bone in his body. This was a proper body check on Lukas by the F-150 so he had no chance of getting up.
Lukas lay on the ground, blood oozing from the back of his head as he stared at the dark empty sky. His vision started to get blurry.
"Haaaaaaa..... Is this it?... This is how I go?....This is just not fair....."
Thoughts swelled in Lukas' mind as he drifts out of consciousness—
********************************
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
"C'mon Luke, you have to eat something please." a voice called from outside a room.
The room was decorated with posters of football legends of German football — Beckenbauer, Gerd Muller, Klose, with a huge poster of Messi just above the headboard. It had a small sized single-person bed, a desk at the opposite end of the room had Macbook on it opened with a youtube video titled "Defense Splitting Pass Tutorial" paused in the middle of the video.
On the chair in front of the desk, there was a SV Darmstadt jersey with almost worn out boots on the floor beside it.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
The knocking sound came again "Luke please open the door, you at least let me know you're okay before I leave for work please."
Lukas opened his eyes, sitting up immediately and throwing his hand to the back of his head to check for the injury that had him leaking blood on the road like a bursted pipe, but couldn't feel any pain.
"What the hell is this?" He looked at his hands to see if there were any blood stains and was surprised by how young they looked. He stood up and looked around, it was the familiar house he had lived all his life, but he was in his old room.
Some remodelling had been done to the room as it was later switched to his work from home office while he moved to his dad's bedroom after his dad's death, but now it looked eerily similar to how it was in the teenage years.
"Is this the legendary 'life flashing before your eyes as you die' moment? It sure is taking it's time.."
He walked to the mirror in one corner on the room, the floor cold on his bare feet as he admired himself in the mirror. Short black hair, and emerald green eyes that seemed to stare into his own soul as he looked at the mirror.
"Wow! I used to look like.... THIS?" he marvelled as he turned from side to side staring at his jawline.
"Maybe this 'life flashing' thing gives you the looks you always hoped you had, cause I definitely wasn't this handsome... Because why would I be single with a face like this? Yeah—that's definitely it."
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
"Luke I know you're up, I can hear the sounds from in there, come open the door." The same voice sounded from outside the room. It was masculine, but with a very caring, worried even, tone.
Lukas almost teleported to the door with how fast he ran to unlock it. The keys turned, the door flung open, and he stood there. Javi Brandt, a middle aged man that looked like someone had taken a photo of Lukas, put a 20 years aging filter on it, and breathed life into it.
"DAD!!"
Lukas hugged his Javi tight, tears welling up in his eyes.
"Is this heaven? I guess saving that kid got me in... I missed you Dad." his voice cracking as he hugged Javi even tighter.
"Heaven? Huh.. I guess it is" Javi said as he patted his son on his back to calm him.
"You've been in your room all week, I was worried Luke. You barely eat your food, and you don't even leave the house at all." He added, still patting Lukas on his back.
"Wait what? That sounds strangely familiar to how I acted when I was cut from the SV Darmstadt 98 youth team" Lukas thought
"I understand that you feel like your dream is dead, but it is not over if you don't give up son, keep your head up and keep fighting, and I'm sure you'll find yourself in a place that recognizes your worth."
The hug broke, but confusion was now plastered on Lukas' face.
"Why would dad be giving me the 'never give up' talk in heaven? Isn't this supposed to be the ultimate goal?"
A/N: Finally, I gathered the courage to write something, please let me know what you think. Use the comments as a Q&A session or to point out any mistakes or give advice. Thank you, I hope you enjoy and see you with the next chapter tomorrow.