11

          He jumped over the hurdle one after another. As he crossed the finish line, he sat down on the track covered in morning dew and started to stretch the muscles he had exercised. He was out on a track field training for the National Track and Field Tournament. Because he was the only track and field athlete in his school, he had to train all by himself, feeling the cold morning breeze and hearing the sounds of birds chirping. He got up and slowly started to jog back to the start, running by the 11 hurdles that might change his life. After another run over the hurdles, he took a glance at his watch that kept his current record of ’11.11’ seconds. Just by looking that his time, he was convinced that he had a chance in the tournament.

          “Nevelle? Nevelle!” The teacher shouted. “Wake up and finish your test!” It took a moment for him to realize that he tired himself out in the morning training and he fell asleep. He immediately woke up and stared at a piece of paper which was titled ‘Placement Test for National Mathematics Scholarship.’ It was composed of 11 questions and the instructions were straightforward. He picked up his pencil and glimpsed at the clock. He calculated that he only had 5 minutes left to finish the test. He tried to concentrate and finish, but all he could think of was the National Track and Field Tournament that was taking place later in the day: picturing his form, arm action, stride lengths … until the timer buzzed. When the teacher came around to collect the tests, he scanned through all the questions rapidly only to realize that he was too late to solve the questions ... hoping for the best and he handed it to the teacher.

          He quickly ran out of the classroom to catch the bus home. On the way, he began to worry about the test he just bombed, because pursuing a career in math was one of his 11 childhood dreams. After getting off the bus, he started to walk towards the front door of his house when he started to see hurdles appearing, obstructing his way. The garden bushes turned into crowds and the grass melted into lanes. On each hurdle, there were words written on it. “Mathematics” was written on the first one, but he couldn’t quite interpret what the others read. He tried climbing over the first one, but as soon as he touched it, everything disappeared. He was back in his front yard. He pushed the door open and threw his bag on the couch. He ensconced himself on an armchair, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. After a minute of thinking, he concluded that he was stressing too much about the events and was seeing things. He started to think about the 11 childhood dreams he set earlier in his life. Then, suddenly, he started to see the hurdles again,lined up straight in a lane. Getting ahead of himself, he tried to rush to the second hurdle, without trying to go over the first one, to see what was written but then the image slowly faded away …

          “Nevelle, let’s go, I got your stuff.” shouted his mother. “We’re going to be late!” They hopped into the car and drove back to school. They arrived at the field and Nevelle began to warm up. His event was scheduled at the start of the tournament. He looked around his surrounding and saw other athletes who he assumed to be his competitors. A group of athletes training in the grass caught his eyes. All of them appeared to be semi-professional, showing off their perfected technique which didn't look possible without years of practice. Then he noticed other athletes who were filled with fear, worrying they’ll make a fool out of themselves and earnestly asking their coaches to scratch them out. “All athletes participating in the 110m hurdles finals, please report to the starting line!” a voice broadcast-ed. He walked towards his assigned lane apprehensively, and stood behind the starting blocks. There were only 4 athletes competing in his race. All the other kids gave up on their dreams. “On your marks!” Screamed the referee. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He could feel the adrenaline rushing all over his body. “Get set!”

          He opened his eyes. There he was, sitting in a classroom, looking down at the 11 questioned paper that he took earlier in the day. At the bottom of the page was his score: 11/11 and a comment which said “You were lucky with the first hurdle and there is 10 more to go. Consider yourself lucky that life has been good to you so far.”

Chirlcl, Jacopo. "The Road to Entrepreneurship." Startupper Life. Wordpress, 11 Apr. 2014. Web. 21 Jan. 2015.