he Gift of Persistence #4 Wow, thought Elijah, this is completely different. Elijah Turner walks into the familiar gym, the gym that left a bad taste in his mouth, seeing the goal where he missed the last second free-throw to win the game. Elijah thinks back to that one shot, the shot he makes routinely in his driveway, the one that he missed. The scenario was perfect, almost drawn up just for him, two free throws to tie the game and send it into overtime. His first one was perfect, through the net with the beautiful sound of a swish! The second, falling right off the rim. In his mind, he pictures the reaction, of his team, his coach, the opposing team, the fans. The reaction that they had when Elijah missed the shot. Elijah tries to completely wipe that thought out of his mind as he walks into the gym. After struggling through the first two games of the tournament,…show more content… Last time he entered this gym, the bleachers were three-fourths full, however now, they were entirely full, and there was an abundance of people standing. Elijah wonders if there are hidden high-school, or even college coaches, hiding in the stands. He squints his eyes and tries to recognize someone, This time, there was no game before his. This time, if felt as though the fans were waiting for him, waiting to see the kid that couldn’t finish the game. The short kid. He walks in wearing his teal jersey underneath his black and aqua warm-up shirt. His brown hair is gelled up and combed to the side, and he jogged to join his teammates stretching alongside the walls of the gym. The Atlanta Vipers are staring him down, Elijah feeling the pressure building up around him. While stretching he tries to keep his eyes off the Atlanta Vipers. He goes to his warmup lines for this team, blocking out all noise around him, turning into his basketball
