Chapter 27 - Dominik

Screaming, applauding and cheering…

All eyes were set on him.

He looked again at the man in front of him. He knew he wanted him to make a mistake, but he would not give him the pleasure to see him fail. He took a big breath and a few steps back. Analyzed every angle possible to score that penalty shot until he finally found a breach in the rivaling team's defense. He breathed out slowly and kicked the ball hard as he could.

The ball flew through the air, headed for the goal. One hand tried to keep it from going in, but failed.

The bleachers erupted in a simultaneous scream of joy.

¡GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAL!

They shouted.

The German team celebrated the score, set now on 2 vs. 1 against Nigeria, granting them 3 more points. “The bullet” had done it again. The foul committed against his team mate had been penalized, and he shot that ball right into the upper corner of the opposing team's goal.  Right by the spider's nest, said one of the commentators.

The game ended two minutes later.

“Well done, Dominik” said Brauer as soon as he came into the locker room.

“Oops! You did it again” commented Ewald and gave him a big hug. “Good job” he winked. “Get ready for the press conference” he added and patted him on the shoulder.

As one by one were heading out towards the place the press conference was to be held about the game they had just won, Dominik took a quick shower and decided to post on his Twitter, form his iPad. However, there was something that caught his attention. Someone tagged him on a video of Samanta running from her work place. He could notice the presence of a crown trying to take her picture like she was the Queen of England. He felt deeply angered, and without a second thought, he pulled his black hoodie and a pair of shades. Grabbed his phone and called Sam. He needed to make sure she was fine.

She answered after the third ring.

“Hello?” Samanta answered the call without looking at the screen. She had just come home and she was still shocked by the events at the coffee shop.

“Are you alright?” Asked Dominik, without any tact whatsoever.

“Who is this?” Sam frowned and looked at the screen. Her heart skipped a beat when she realized the caller ID.

“Dominik” he said. “Please tell me you are fine.”

“Yes. I am…”

“Where are you?” He asked next.

“Home” she answered, straightforwardly.

Dominik walked down those halls, trying to avoid all the protocol people and others. The stadium was guarded by a couple security organisms, which he managed to avoid without much effort, they were paying more attention on the people coming in than out. He managed to blend in with some fans leaving the premises, and got to a place where many taxi cabs were waiting. He gestured one of the drivers and he had him to get into the first vehicle in the queue. He got in and indicated the address. He remembered it perfectly.

The car got going and in less than a half hour, he was already parking the vehicle in front of the destination. Dominik paid and got off the car.

He walked to the door and knocked.

A pair of amber eyes looked at him dumb-founded when the door opened.

“You? What in the world are you doing here?” Murmured Samanta.

“I needed seeing you!”

*****

Reporters from many broadcasters were already waiting in their seats. Waiting for every player of the outstanding game to find their spot on the long table arranged for them.

Ewald, the head coach, was sitting in the middle seat, next to him there was an empty seat, where should be Dominik.

He looked to the side and made a gesture with his hand to get the attention of a young man from the protocol team. The boy ran up to him immediately.

“What can I do for you, sir?”

“Please, tell Dominik we're all set up, we're starting now. To hurry up” said Ewald.

“Right away” the kid said and ricocheted towards the locker rooms.

He walked confidently, like a man proud of the job he has to do. He got to the place where Dominik was supposed to be, but there was no one. The place was empty.

“Dominik?” He said. “Mister Weigand? Are you here?” He leaned to the right, trying to take a look at the other side. “The press conference is about to begin, they're all waiting for you.”

Nothing. No answer.

He went out of there and headed for the men's restroom, maybe he was refreshing himself. He ran into a man sweeping the floor.

“Excuse me. Have you seen Dominik Weigand?” He asked. The cleaning man looked at him, frowning. “the player”. He clarified.

The man denied with his head.

The boy kept going towards the other restroom. He found some men, but Dominik Weigand was nowhere to be found.

“Has any of you seen Dominik Weigand?” he asked.

They looked at one another and shrugged.

“No” one of them said.

“Haven't seen him” another one said.

Brad, that was the boy's name, couldn't help worrying. The footballer was supposed to be already in the conference room ready for the press, but he was nowhere to be found. He kept looking for a couple more minutes, but to no avail. Disappointed, he went back to the conference room.

People were getting impatient. They were holding everything back, waiting for Dominik.

Brad rushed to where Ewald was, he leaned in and spoke to his ear.

“I couldn't find him” he whispered.

“What?” Ewald turned to the boy, with a face of horror.

“I asked everybody, and nobody has seen him. He's not in the locker rooms, nor the restrooms. Like he was…”

“…gone” snapped the German head coach.

Friedrich, watching from a pertinent distance, noticed Ewald was upset and came up to figure out what's wrong.

“What's going on? Where's Dominik?” Inquired the publicist.

“Excellent question. Where's your boy? Could you tell me?”