Zacharie led The Batter to the station where a car hung on a sort of zip line, its doors opening to the code Zacharie inserted.
"Batter's first. Ha ha ha."
He said, pointing to the open door with his arms. The Batter slowly walked in cautiously, Zacharie following in after him.
"Where do you wish to go?"
"The Post Office, if you will."
The Batter replied, sitting down on one of the benches. Zacharie inserted yet another code and the car lurched forward, starting to go smoothly down the line. Zacharie stumbled over to the bench and sat down next to The Batter, tugging at his sweater. It was quiet between them for a long while, since the ride to the post office was quite lengthy. The Batter glared at Zacharie from the corner of his eye from time to time, as multiple questions about him popped up in his head. He turned himself away from Zacharie, as he placed his chin on the bat, swaying back and forth with the car. Zacharie noticed this, and looked at him curiously. Forcing himself to think it was just his equilibrium off, he looked forward, staring into space. This was one of the times when Zacharie actually had some quiet time to himself, not quite since The Batter was sitting right next to him, but close enough to assume everything was silent, aside from the rattling of the car. He lied down on the bench, adjusting his legs to fit perfectly on The Batter's lap. He chuckled lightly, as The Batter looked at him in concern.
"Don't do that."
He said darkly. Zacharie tapped the ears to his Judge mask and smirked.
"Nice try, Batter."
The Batter rolled his eyes as Zacharie tried to zone out into his thoughts. The car was quiet, and he had successfully zoned out, thoughts whirring through his head about a topic he had never really considered thinking about since the day it happened. It wasn't exactly a jaunty topic, it was a story that changed the way he lived. Just thinking about it made him cry, and it did. He began to whimper lightly, sniffling. It immediately caught The Batter's attention. Zacharie began to snuggle with himself, twisting and turning. He kicked The Batter a couple of times, but he didn't seem to care, or he just didn't feel them at all. The Batter reached over and placed his hand on Zacharie's mask, seeing him instantly stiffen at his firm touch.
"B-Batter…"
"Is there something on your mind you want to talk about?"
"Aren't you a know-it-all."
Zacharie retorted, attempting to chuckle through all the sadness. He sat up, looking at The Batter.
"It's a pretty sensitive topic…"
"Well, I have a sensitive topic on my mind too."
The Batter confessed.
"R-Really? Tell me."
"I will if it'll make you feel better."
Zacharie nodded, and listened in closely.
"It may mean something more serious than it sounds, but I may be suffering from minor memory loss. I remember what happened one moment, and forget the next."
"Mmmhm… I see. I don't know how I can help you with that…"
Zacharie sighed. "I didn't expect you to know how to assist me in these times. Zacharie, If it's so bad, why don't you just tell me so you can get the thought out of your mind? That helps me."
The Batter offered, trying his very best to cheer him up. His fatherly side was showing, as he was treating Zacharie almost like his son.
"Coming from you, it must really work,"
He grinned,
"Okay. It's just… Wow, I… Okay. It was all the way back when I was… What, double digits? Yeah. A-Anyway, it was a fine day, and I was walking around the library grounds like any ordinary kiddo. But then- this is when the story gets intense, be ready- I was taken to the top of the building, so high up, I could look down at the ground and see the people as small as an ant. I was terrified… The strange cloaked man and unhumanly sized bird who took me up there in the first place examined me cautiously. They apparently decided it would be better if they tied me up to a stick, so they did, which made me even more frightened then I was before. I tried to scream, but the dude with the cloak pressed down on both corners of my lip with his thumbs. It seemed to me like whatever he did left a scar, a big enough scar to where I could feel it creep up my face. My face grew numb, and I couldn't stop my eyes from puffing up and pulsing. It was gross, I have to admit. But then, they untied me from the rope and hooked fishing lines onto almost every inch of my arms using those hooks you use to lure in fish. They p-played around with me like I w-was some sort of p-p-puppet…. A-And…"
He wailed loudly and buried his hands in his mask.
"You're lucky enough that mask of yours prevents me from seeing you cry. I'd have to say you had a very emotional story to share."
"LOOK AT ME, BATTER!"
He screamed, ripping off his mask. His face was a pale white, as if it was painted on, but it wasn't. His pupils and iris' were the same exact shade of yellow, the kind of yellow you would see in a Sharpie highlighter, and his sclera was an eerie midnight black. He had what seemed like large black dimples on the corner of his lips, almost like the Pokémon Pikachu, yet lower and larger in size. The tears running down the poor boy's face didn't seem to fade away any of what looked like white face paint or large black dimples, it was all real.
"This isn't normal…! I shouldn't even have to be going through this!"
"Control yourself, Zacharie. You're overdoing it."
Zacharie ran over to The Batter and clinged onto him, sobbing into his shoulder. The Batter did nothing in return, for he knew that all Zacharie needed was something, or in this case someone, to embrace.
"I'm a monster…"
Zacharie whispered to him, lying his head down on The Batter's shoulder. "Don't do that." The Batter said sternly, shoving Zacharie off of him.
"Don't talk to yourself like that. If you want to know who the real monster is, it's the one you would never expect it to be."
"Like that's supposed to make me feel any BETTER ABOUT MYSELF!"
Zacharie bellowed, as the both of them lurched forward unexpectedly.
"We have arrived."
The Batter said flatly, walking out of the car door. Zacharie scoffed and followed behind him.