Note: I've been working with a close friend to try something new and we could use your opinion on what you think and what you'd like to see from this project. Let us know in the comments your thoughts!
And thanks a lot to @ThcLeoDawg for helping me write this!
Amelia
The first time I met Lucia Noceda was like the strike of a match. The start of a fire that continues to burn to this day. Walking back to the hotel, I noticed how the familiar streets of The Knee I've come to know over the past week started to turn unfamiliar. My mind had been wandering back to a fight I had with my mother before I left this morning. I didn't want to go back to my temporary and she wouldn't be there until later. She wouldn't even know how I had not immediately returned anyway.
I never did things like this. I never took risks. But being perfect all the time had been taking its toll on me over the years. I felt as if I couldn't breathe with the hold my mother had over my life. I had wanted to do something for myself, if only just for once. If only to take a longer way back to the hotel just to clear my mind. One that had been cluttered and consumed by what my family wanted, needed apparently, from me. The act I had to keep up and the person I had to portray myself to be just because of a last name.
That same last name drew the eyes of many. The same last name that had been held over my head my entire life. I had to be great, I had to be perfect, I had to be a Blight; all at a cost to me. If there was a price, I had always been the one to pay it. It all hurt and overwhelmed me, but it was also necessary. Because if the eyes on me meant that my younger siblings could live the lives they wanted, then that meant it was all worth it. I had to remind myself I had been doing it for them.
But it wasn't all bad. If there was one good thing that came from this it had been baseball. Something I shared with my Dad. Something my siblings made sure to support me in by coming to every single game. Something that made me happy. And my mind was brought back by the familiar sound of a bat meeting a baseball. Reflex kicked in as moments later I turned to see it flying towards me. I lifted a hand, catching it out of habit but flinching back from the force of the impact.
"Nice catch!" A soft voice called out and I lifted my head to see a girl jogging towards me with a bright grin and a light in her eyes. I froze at the sight of her, my face growing warm as I shifted on my feet awkwardly. As she came to a stop in front of me her grin lowered into an apologetic frown. "Sorry about that." She stated in a gentle tone.
Not wanting to stand there and stare at her weirdly I forced the words from my mouth. "No harm done." I shrugged trying to seem unaffected though I allowed my eyes to analyze her further momentarily before forcing them back to meet her own. She was cute.
"Are you trying to spy on us?" She asked, snapping me from my trail of thought.
"I'm sorry, what?" I asked being caught off guard. She motioned to my clothes and it was then that I noticed I had still been bearing a Hexide hoodie. When I looked back up I let my eyes fall on her jersey and began to realize how my surroundings had grown so unfamiliar. It wasn't because I was in a different part of town, at least, not on my side of town. The side of town where my team's hotel and temporarily assigned practice field were located.
No, while lost in my thoughts and in taking a longer way back, I had somehow found myself on the side of town where the Glandis team had been staying. I had also embarrassingly stumbled upon what looked to be the field, behind their hotel, during one of their practices. "Oh," I whispered.
"Yeah, oh." The girl returned though I only found a teasing grin when I looked back at her. "Don't worry," she took a step closer to the fence and I froze up, "I won't tell if you don't." She said, her grin growing into a knowing smirk instead and I felt my face grow warm under her intense gaze.
