Pop Fly to Second
The bat cracked, sending the ball flying high into the skies. As the runner took off, the stitched ball came to its apex. A boy with blue hair rushed towards the outfield, tracking the ball as it came down. He held out his glove, leaping into the air. He closed the leather glove around the sphere. Landing on the grass with his arm outstretched. He stood up, holding the caught ball in his hand. He smiled, hurling it to the pitcher. The game continued on, ending with a victory for the boy's team.
After that game, the coach entered the locker room. The team turned, quieting their chatter respectfully.
The coach smiled at all of them, "Good job, boys. Another win down. Soon, we'll be facing off against the champs. Are we gonna crush 'em, or are we gonna crush 'em?" The coach shouted.
The team pumped their fists, exclaiming, "WE'RE GONNA CRUSH 'EM!"
The coach nodded, walking back into his office. The boy with blue hair smiled, turning back to his locker.
"Hey, Hinata!" One of the boy's friends said.
Hinata turned. They gestured for Hideki to come over.
Hinata looked side to side, and then approached them tentatively. They were on the team with him, but he'd never really interacted with them. He'd heard rumors that they were drug addicts, and while Hinata had a tendency to believe things about people only through his real knowledge of them, but he couldn't entirely discount what others thought. Nobody's perfect, after all. Especially not Hideki Hinata.
"What's up, guys?" He asked.
The boy in the center smiled, "That was a nice catch in the seventh."
Hinata nodded. They couldn't be all that bad, could they? "Thanks. You guys did a great job, too."
The boy looked around, making sure the other players couldn't hear him. "Hey, I heard somethin' pretty interesting about the next game."
Hinata tilted his head, "What?"
"I've been told that a big shot recruiter was gonna show up, scope out the talent." He said, grinning.
Hinata's eyes widened. A recruiter, huh?
"Apparently, if he's impressed with any of us players in particular, he can set up a full ride."
A full ride scholarship would be extremely important. Not a single person in Hinata's family had ever gone to college, and he wanted a better life. A full ride would be insanely useful.
"Yeah…" Hideki said, thinking to himself.
The boy shrugged, "I myself don't care about it all that much. Too much stress added on, man. Hey, if you ever feel like it gets to be too much, come to me, got it?"
Hinata, not thinking, nodded.
Hinata headed home after that game, still not thinking of much other than the game upcoming and what it could mean. He heard a car horn, and jumped to the side, rolling on the cement. Without realizing it, he had stepped into the streets. He panted on the sidewalk, gathering himself again.
"PAY ATTENTION, DUMBASS!" Someone shouted as they passed. Hinata shook off the dust. He decided against replying, and simply kept walking.
Hinata found himself in front of his own street, and turned. He entered his house, plopping his bag down onto the table, "Hey, mom! I'm home!" He shouted.
He received no response. He looked around, climbing up the stairs. He opened the door to his mother's room.
"Mom?" He asked. He looked at the bed, where his mother was curled up beneath the sheets.
He laughed, "Come on, mom. You know you've got to work tonight." He shook her, but she didn't respond. He began to panic.
"Mom?" He said, shaking more vigorously. He placed his hand to her neck, feeling no pulse. "MOM!" He shouted.
Hinata rushed out of the room, heading towards the phone in the living room. He dialed the emergency number.
When the dispatcher picked up, Hinata told him what had happened. The dispatcher told Hinata that the best thing to do would be to perform chest compressions until his mother awoke or the ambulance arrived, where they would have a defibrillator on board.
Hinata affirmed, then got off of the phone and rushed to his mother once again. He removed the blankets, rolled his mother onto her back, and interlocked his hands just above her chest. He pushed as hard as he could, but his mother still didn't seem to be responding, even after five full minutes of compressions. He felt her neck again, but still could not get a pulse.
He looked out the window of the room, but didn't yet see or hear any emergency vehicles. He continued to push, his arms becoming weak. Tears were falling from his eyes, and his hands were wet and slipping away from each other. He locked his hands tighter, trying his hardest to continue. He heard a loud snap, and realized he must have broken a rib.
The ambulance finally came, and he and his mother were taken off to the hospital. He fell asleep inside the carriage of the vehicle. When he got to the hospital, he had already woken up and walked with his mother's gurney towards a room, where the doctor told him to wait outside. He sat down, rubbing his face. The light of the moon shone on the white tiles of the hospital, and not long after Hinata had gotten there a doctor allowed him inside the room.
"She's okay. She's lucky she hadn't been lying there for very long, and that you acted so quickly." The doctor said.
"What happened to her?" Hinata asked.
The doctor looked down at his papers, but from his facial expression he already knew the cause, but was reluctant to say it. "It was an overdose of Demerol. Mild, but an overdose nonetheless. It sent her into cardiac arrest."
Hinata looked at his mother's sleeping body. He'd known his mother was on drugs for some time now, but had tried his hardest to overlook it. Part of Hinata had wanted to believe it wasn't really happening, even while he was cleaning up the pills spilled onto the ground. Hinata couldn't overlook it anymore.
"Is there anything we can do for her?" Hinata asked, turning back to the doctor.
The doctor smiled, "We can put her in a rehabilitation program, but it will take some time before it starts to work, and part of it will be her responsibility."
Hinata nodded, looking at his mother once again. He walked over to her bedside, removing a hair from her face.
"Well, Yuri Hinata, just look at what you've done to yourself…" He whispered. The doctor respectfully backed out of the room.
Hinata's mother opened her eyes, groaning groggily. "Where am I?" She asked.
Hinata smiled, "It's alright, mom. You're in the hospital, you've had a close call."
Hinata's mother sat up in the hospital bed quickly, then fell back down onto the sheets, grunting loudly.
"It's alright, mom. I broke your ribs doing chest compressions. I think you're alright now, though." Hinata said. "Just stay lying down, okay?"
Hinata's mother nodded, putting her hands to her face, "Oh, Hideki… I'm so sorry, I didn't intend to do something like that do you."
Hinata smiled, petting her head, "It's okay, mom. We're going to get you treated, you won't need that stuff anymore."
Hinata's mother shook her head, "No! I can't be in a program, I've got work. The fact that I'm here and not there is bad enough, not to mention the fees I'll have to pay."
Hinata looked down at his hands. He got an idea, "Use my college fund." He said.
His mother recoiled, "No, that's not an option!"
Hinata shook his head, "Mom, there's going to be a recruiter at the next game. All I've got to do is impress him, and he'll give me a full ride. We won't need the fund, except for books maybe, and I'm certain we've got enough in there. Besides, I'm already pulling part time jobs. A little extra work won't hurt."
Hinata's mother sighed, "You're certain about this?"
Hinata nodded, "I'm certain."
Last inning. The batter prepared to swing, coiling back to strike like a cobra. The pitcher hurled the ball, and the batter smacked it high into the atmosphere. A pop fly to second. The sun glared down upon the field, and Hinata had lost most of his energy in the early innings. He was so thirsty he could hardly think. No one was available to take over for Hinata, so he had been forced to play the entire game. Hinata looked up, lifting his glove feebly. The ball started to drop back to earth, and time seemed to slow. The ball came down, but fell inches away from where Hinata had gauged it to. The ball hit the ground.
NO! Hinata shouted in his mind. As he reached down to grab the ball, the runner rushed past him, and he lost balance, falling to his face. He stood up shakily, but before he could get the ball into his hand, the runner had reached home plate. Hinata's heart sunk. Hinata looked into the stands, where a man in a business suit wrote something on a pad, shaking his head.
Hinata fell to his knees. Everything had gone wrong, and there was no chance of a full ride scholarship, not in the slightest.
The team had lost terribly, but Hinata couldn't celebrate. He'd banked everything on this game, and he'd failed. Hinata sat on the bench, face in his hands. He couldn't hear the coach's words of reconciliation, or anything else.
Someone tapped him on the shoulder, and he turned to face them. It was the boy from the last game.
He smiled sympathetically, "Real bummer back there. Here, take this."
The boy handed Hinata something, a small prescription bottle. He recognized the pills as the same kind his mother used.
Hinata knew he should refuse, he should tell the boy to stay away from him. But then he remembered his mother's expression after she used them. She looked… Detached. As if she were in a different world, almost. Hinata accepted the pills, placing them in his pocket.
Walking home, Hinata took out the small capsules. He opened the bottle, placing two in his hands. Raising them up, he dropped them down his gullet. As he continued to walk, he felt his senses dwindle away. He lost track of what was going on, and did not hear the car horns or the shouts. He didn't even feel the impact…
Hinata-san! I honestly had difficulty with this one, as I didn't really consider Hinata's story to be all that sad. Also, before anyone says anything, Hinata's mother was in fact named Yuri. That's why he called Yuri 'Yurippe', he thought it was weird and felt like he was talking to his mother, so he gave her the nickname. He had a tendency to nickname people, as he was the first to call Kanade 'Angel' and he calls Shiina 'Shiinacchi'. He wanted Yuri to call him Hinacchi, but I guess she just didn't like it. Oh well.
Also, I'd like to thank StormyMonday for helping me out with her reviews. It has helped the story to be more precise and realistic.