Chapter 17 - Tyler Returns to the Court
Five years after the shooting, Tyler walked into Livingston High's gym.
Not to play.
To speak.
The current basketball team sat in the bleachers.
Tyler carried no cane that day.
His gait wasn't perfect.
It never would be.
He picked up a basketball.
Bounced it once.
The sound echoed.
For a moment, seventeen-year-old Tyler returned.
Then he smiled.
“I thought losing basketball meant losing myself.”
The students listened.
“I was wrong.”
He told them about rehabilitation.
About anger.
About identity.
About how quickly life could change.
Then one player asked:
“Do you wish it never happened?”
Tyler froze.
Dennis watched from the doorway.
Tyler answered carefully.
“Of course.”
The room became silent.
“I don't believe terrible things have to happen for us to become better people. I would've preferred learning every lesson another way.”
Dennis smiled.
That sounded like his son.
“But it happened. So my choice was what came next.”
Tyler bounced the ball again.
Then tossed it toward a freshman.
“Your turn.”
May you like
The boy caught it.
Life moved forward.
