~~~~~NOAH~~~~~
Jake looked like he was shutting down. I felt helpless to stop it.
"Roberts! Get on that field! Noah, Zeke, you both get out there too. I’ll keep an eye on Jake." Coach’s yelled at us to take the field.
I didn’t want to go, but Zeke grabbed by my collar and dragged onto the field as we followed John.
"Zeke, sothing’s happening to him. We can’t just leave him with Coach. He’s going to feel scared and get agitated. He might run if I’m not watching." I swatted him hand off my jersey.
Zeke glanced at the dugout then back at . "Jake isn’t feeling anything. He’s despondent. What he needs is a therapist, not so kid who might make him feel worse."
I frowned. "Let go tell dad then." I thought about what we overheard the other night. "Dad would know what to do."
Zeke sighed. "Fine, but don’t waste anymore ti. The umpire is already giving us looks." He left to get to his position.
I jogged to the fence behind ho plate, trying to look for my parents.
"What do you think you’re doing?" The umpire approached . "It’s ti to get back to the ga. Get in position or get in the dugout."
"My teammate has a dical ergency." I didn’t spare him a glance. I spotted my mom and dad in the middle row, near the steps. I waved at them. "Hey! Hey! Dad!"
The crowd started to point at laugh, but I didn’t care. My dad looked embarrassed as he made his way down the stands to . He towered over , making feel a little more calm. "What is it? Why are you stopping the ga like this?"
"Dad. It’s not . It’s Jake." I quickly explained. "Sothing happened and now he’s not responding to anyone. Even ! No talking, no eye contact, barely any movent. Coach is taking him out of the ga."
"That’s strange. Did you guys accidentally trigger him?"
"What? I don’t know. I don’t think so."
"I’m giving you ten seconds to get back to your position." The umpire said from beside .
"Just get to the dugout." I pleaded to my dad one last ti before running to my spot.
Garret made sure I was ready before turning back to Jordan. He got the first guy to fly out to Mahki in left field. The next guy struck out looking. With two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning, I couldn’t wait to get back to the dugout. By now, I could see that my dad was sitting by Jake and Coach was standing near, not even watching the ga.
A loud ping grabbed my attention. I caught a glimpse of the ball soaring above . I turned and watched it go over the right field fence. A horun. 7-3.
I turned back to Garret to try and make sense of what had happened. But he didn’t look like he believed it either. He examined his fingers like they would have the answer.
"Don’t mind! It’s only one! Let’s get the next batter!" I slapped my glove a few tis, trying to sound tough. Garret clenched his hand and gave a nod before facing the next batter. Internally, I wanted to freak out. Jake wasn’t being his normal self and neither is Garret. He’s never given up a horun before. Hopefully he can hold them here.
The following batter was the cleanup hitter. He had a double last ti. I wiggled my shoulders and got loose. Garret faced him with less strength than normal. The guy was able to get ahold of his high fastball and sent it high and away. I turned and watched it as it went over my head. Luckily he hit it towards center where the distance is longest. Zeke caught the fly at the fence. Warning track power. I sighed with relief and then bolted back to the dugout.
My dad was sitting next to Jake with a few inches between them. "Well? Is he better?"
My dads lips pulled up. "It’s a process Noah. You can’t really define better. Is he better than where he started? Maybe. Is he better than half an hour ago? Maybe not. Don’t worry so much. I’ll watch him. We’ll take him ho. And then after a good nights sleep, we’ll take him to see Dr. Moore."
"His therapist?" I furrowed my brows. "You can’t fix him?"
"Jake doesn’t need fixing." My dad corrected. "He just needs to know how to face things head on. He needs to know that we’ll be there for him." He looked past . "Do you guys know when this started? It’d help to know the trigger."
I turned to see Zeke right behind . "Sowhere between his hit and Sean’s flyout. Normally he would at least look nervous about missing cues on what he should do like tagging and scoring. He didn’t even look my way. But he looked normal when he was batting."
Dad got up and started to pack Jakes bag. "Well I’m going to guide him to the car. Maybe so quiet will do him good."
I held out my arm. "No. Let him stay for the rest of the ga. So he’ll know we won. That might cheer him up. He’s more talkative when baseball is involved."
Dad looked skeptical.
"I think so as well." Zeke nodded. "Jake was rather talkative today compared to normal. He was asking questions and that’s why it’s so surprising that he would clam up so suddenly."
Dad set Jakes bag on the ground, all packed up. "Okay. It’s only another inning. Hopefully the win will cheer him up."
I nodded. Then I went to my bag to grab my bat and helt. I was supposed to be on the on deck circle already.
Reviews
All reviews (0)