Through A Different Lens {Marina/Maya & Carina}

x8 Magnification (Epilogue)

The sound of a whirling baseball was soon followed by its violent crash against a chain linked fence. The parents standing behind it, fortunate for the cage barrier as they all observed the current baseball game in play. Hard footsteps soon filled the silence, along with a large dust cloud that was caused by a little boy who had bunny hopped his way onto the second base plate.

Once the dust settled, the pigmented red colour of the little boys baseball kit came into view. On the back of his red jersey, printed in large bold white letters was, ‘Deluca-Bishop’ above the number ‘19’. The knees of his white pinstripe pants, covered in a tanned dirt and the shimmer of his red batting helmet reflecting from the sun.

As the boy stood still, waiting for his next run, his thumb and index finger began picking at the uncomfortable feel of the non-cotton pants against his skin. The sound of another loud ping from a metal bat hitting a baseball was then heard. All the eyes in the stands watched eagerly as they followed a young boy beginning to run to second base.

However, number nineteen had not moved. In fact, his head had turned up to the sky, face scrunched as he began to get mildly irritated by the scratchy materials on his skin. His neck twisted and fists clenched open and close, and before he knew it, all eyes were on him as he threw the heavy batting helmet to the floor and began pulling harshly at his jersey.

The stadium grew quiet and the young players all paused, eyeing their stressed teammate who began stomping his left foot against the plastic base.

“Hey Finn? Finn come here bud, it’s okay… it's okay” Finn’s head snapped back, looking directly in the direction of Maya who had now begun walking up to him on the field.

“Mom, I don’t like it,” He uttered, still trying to remove the scratchy texture from his skin.

“I know, I know, come here, we will go take them off, okay?” Maya replied, now standing in front of Finn as he refused to give her eye contact, and instead strained his neck from looking towards the sky. Maya used her figure to shield him from the abundance of people who gawked at him from the stands and the young boys who had begun giggling on the field.

“I want it off” He exclaimed, his head now tilted down to his own hands fisted into his jersey. His knuckles whitening from the sheer pressure he added. He pulled and tugged, soon becoming restless.

Maya looked back, her eyes meeting with Carina who was impatiently waiting at the opening of the baseball field. She turned back to Finn, leaving her with no other option but to pick him up and pace her way to Carina.

Finn kicked and squealed. His mom picking him up caused the fabric to stick to his skin, losing all the progress of his tugging. “Mom, I want to go down!”

“I know, I know, we just-”

“Now!” He managed to wiggle from Maya’s arms as they neared the entrance of the field. His harsh movements caused him to accidentally shoot a blow to Maya’s face. His clenched fist knocked against Maya’s jaw, her head tilting from the impact. It seems as the audience they had obtained from the field had followed them as a few hisses and shocked whispers were heard.

Maya lifted her hand up to rest against her jaw, moving it around to check for any residual pain as she watched Finn run into Carina’s side and desperately asked her to take the clothing off. She lifted the jersey over his head, leaving him in a white tank top. She directed him to go and sit on one of the benches where Andrew and Sam were sitting.

“Are you okay?” Carina hastily asked once Maya had wandered through the entrance gate to the stands. “Let me see” She lifted her hand to the bottom of Maya’s chin where she tilted her head lightly, her eyes catching the small red bruise that was beginning to form along her jawline.