Avi Miracuum Evans pulled his Ford F-150 into his private driveway, pushed the gear into parked, and turned off the roaring engine. He layed back in his seat and rubbed his legs trying to get any type of feeling back into his quads. It had been a long practice at the track and his trainer was not letting Avi off easy with only a year left of coaching before the Olympics started in Los Angeles. His trainer demanded that Avi be at the top of his game when dealing with the best athletes from around the world. Today, his trainer gave Avi a workout of a mile warm-up, 30x100s, weights, and then a cool down. Making the double practices he had at college seem easy. Each workout was harder than the last, with his trainer mixing them up everyday to avoid injury. No one wants to see an athlete get injured before they are able to complete. The worst mistake Avi made was one time showing up 5 minutes late to the track and his trainer turned an easy run into a trashcan practice. After vomiting out his breakfast, he learned his lesson and never planned to be late again! Though this was not Avi’s first Summer Olympics, having competed at Tokyo at just 19 when he was a sophomore at Oregon, he still felt just as anxious at 22. And who would not be? He was not just representing himself, but that of his country. When Avi massaged his legs, he opened the truck’s door, reached into the backseat and grabbed his gym back. He’d slug the bag over his shoulder and proceed to walk up his driveway to the front door. But before he opened the door, he turned around, grabbed his keys out of his pocket, and locked his prized truck. He used the same keys, placed them into the doorknob and turned the key only to find that the door was already opened. “That’s strange?” Avi knew that his wife always locked the door before she went to sleep. Though they resided in the safest neighbor in Michigan, it was still a habit of hers. Avi pushed open the unlocked door, dropped the gym bag off at the door and entered into the dark, lit house. Avi took no more than two steps into the house, before he heard an unusual crunch noise under his Nike sneaker. Avi leaned down to where his ears heard the sound and found a broken picture frame with the glass seal shattered. He pushed the glass off the picture, raising the picture to his eyes to find it to be a wedding photo of Avi with his wife. He stood up, placed the picture on the dressing table and walked down the hallway. He did not hear the sound of the dog rushing down the stairs to greet him. But maybe today Maverick finally understood the meaning of going to sleep. When Avi turned the corner towards the office that him and his wife shared he saw a familiar ball of fur laying on the ground. He took a few steps closer and found Maverick completely, also as if he were dead. He quickly sprinted over to the dog, leaned down next to the ball of fur and tried to find a pulse. He pushed his hand against the dog’s rib cage and felt the slow movement of his dog’s heartbeat. Avi sighed with relief and slowly stood up. However when Avi stood up he noticed that something was stuck in Maverick’s rear. He peered at his dog’s butt and pulled out a small dart. “A tranquilizer,” he moved the dart around in his palm. Who would shoot his dog with a tranquilizer? He’s wife would never do such a thing, she constantly babies the dog. Giving Maverick treats here and there, never disciplining him to behave better in front of company. Avi thought maybe his neighbors, but the widow who lived next-door could never hurt a fly in her old state. On the other side of the house lived the Brocks. Who prided themselves on being dog lovers and loved seeing Maverick playing in their yard with their respected children. “Something not right.” Avi said to himself in a hushed voice. “Something is definitely, not right.” Avi approached the office, his eyes beaming in horror at what layed on the wooden floors. He rushed out of the room, took a deep breath and walked back into the room to make sure his mind was not playing tricks on him. But he knew what he saw and the second time only confirmed his worst fear. Avi heart started racing, he knew what he had to do. He reached into the pocket of his Adidas track pants and pulled out his phone. He pressed the dial button, typed in the phone number and raised the phone to his ear. The operator picked up on the first ring. A sweet, older woman came to the phone and said the sentence that Avi hoped he would never have to hear. “911, what’s your emergency?”
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at MSU chapter.