When I lost something, I found a hidden treasure (Part Two of Three)

When I was ten, I broke my left arm. I left the varsity since I can’t baseball for two months. Though my left hand is useless, I wanted to be active as much as possible. I didn’t know that with the freak accident, I would discover a special talent in playing chess. In the fourth grade, I started playing competitive chess. Without formal training, our team entered the finals. That’s already a great achievement. Too bad, we just couldn’t win our matches since our opponent blanked us, 4-0. A silver medal? Not bad for a first timer.

During the vacation, the sports coordinator would invite me to join the summer chess clinic. From baseball, I would then join the chess team until I graduate in high school. I would bag medals every year. In studies, I would notice a sudden increase in my Math and English grades. I know there’s a scientific explanation for this.

Years later, I fractured the same arm as a teenager. This would leave its form grotesque and smaller compared to my right arm. That time, I can’t swim or play basketball. So, what did the fifteen year-old boy do when he can’t do extraneous physical activities? Just play chess.

But the following year, I would then give up this hidden treasure that I found. Circumstances would help me retire in competitive chess.

To be continued…

Writing Prompt: Writing 101 — Serially Found (Assignment Thirteen)

The day I fractured my left arm (Part One of Three)

I miss the normal shape of my left arm. I broke my arm twice. I first fractured it when I was ten. I was a rookie varsity member of the baseball team at that time. How did it happen? Before our practice in the field, My teammates and I started to play around doing some acrobatic stunts using the fence. How do I describe it? The fence has a empty space that serves as a passage with only the horizontal bar on the top. The bar is more or less five feet above the ground. So what we kids did is to grip on the bar and let ourselves seem “roll” our bodies in the air like an acrobat. The stunt was not actually hard for a playful and adventurous kids like me. We did the “rolls” in turns. I attempted it twice or up to four times. But when one playmate pushed me from behind, the fun became an accident.

I don’t know what that kid was thinking but it’s either he’s just playing a sick prank on me or he was helping me roll faster with a push. But it was a sudden and forceful push that made me lost my grip on the bar and fall to the ground. I really felt the strong impact of the fall but I did not feel any pain maybe because of the adrenalin rush. I did not realize that I had a fracture until I saw my arm twisted after the fall. So I started panicking and I started to cry.

To be continued…

Suggested by Daily Post: Writing Prompt (Day Four): “Write about a loss: something (or someone) that was part of your life, and isn’t any more.”