We Come Alive 5

Shattered

Saturday morning, the nineteen baseball players gathered on the baseball field for their first practice since winning their baseball game and being off for spring break. Hurst walked onto the field where the players were already lined up, but he couldn't help but noticed their pitcher was missing.

Hurst turned around and looked down at Ricky who was adjusting his sunglasses on his eyes. "Where's Jones?"

Ricky shrugged his shoulders. "She's going through some personal issues. I doubt that she'll show up."

Hurst sighed and turned back to the players to start practice. "Alright, take a few minutes to relax for a second." He instructed.

All the players frowned and mumbled their confused remarks, but did what he asked and sat around the field. Once ten minutes had gone by, they all started to grow irritated.

"We gonna start this or what?!" Baylor yelled from his seat on home base. "Cause if not, I'm going home."

"Yeah, I'm baking in this sun." Ethan complained, laying down with his head on third base and his legs on Jose's thigh. "I'm only suppose to be so tan."

Ricky looked back at Hurst who looked at the parking lot then to the field. "She's not coming. Get a new pitcher." He suggested.

Hurst sighed heavily, leaning against the doorframe of the dugout. "Y'all always complain about doing too much work, now that I've given y'all a free day, you wanna complain."

Jacob rolled his eyes. "Coach this damn team." He huffed out in irritation. His mood shifted when Hurst slid his sunglasses down from over his eyes and stared at Jacob with intense eyes. "Please." He whispered to make up for his outburst.

Hurst blew his whistle, slowly breaking the eye contact with Jacob. "Run your fifteen laps around the bases and then do your stretches in the outfield. Garcia, you're in charge of the stretches today. When y'all finished, grab a ball and a partner and do some catch and throwing drills." He put his whistle to his lips and blew it again signaling them to start.

Hurst walked into the dugout and tossed his clipboard down on the bench. "Where the hell is that girl, Barnes?!"

Ricky leaned against the doorframe. "I don't know." He covered up. "I have no idea."

While they were arguing in the dugout, the nineteen boys were running the bases. Baylor glanced next to him to Diego and nudged him subtly.

"Where's Clover? Why ain't she show?" Baylor said with his breathing slightly erratic.

Diego shook his head. "She knows." He informed. "Ricky finally had to tell her. She was starting to remember. Then she just...disappeared. Went from her drinking her liver away over spring break, then he told her, then she vanished. We tried calling and texting, but it goes to voicemail. Now? She just...her phone is off. We have no idea where she is, what she's doing, and if she's even okay. Clover does this when something really bad happens. She shuts out the world. We'll find her though. Don't worry."

Baylor looked forward and sighed. "Okay."

~**~

The moment the last player left the field and he was cleared to go home, Ricky jumped in his Jeep and sped to see the person he needed to check up on. He parked his car on the side of the road and hopped out, barely turning it off when he did. He went to run to the front door of the apartment building, but he stopped seeing the love of his life sitting on the fire escape staring at the sky blankly. She didn't notice him, so Ricky was going up there first.

He quietly grabbed the ladder that connected to the fire escape and climbed up it. He made his way up to Clover, watching her take a long swing from the liquor bottle sitting beside her before dropping it over the edge. Ricky started running up the stairs when he saw her stand up and step over the railing.

"Clover! No!" He screamed, reaching out and ripping her back over the railing just as she let go; her feet nearly leaving the metal.

Ricky fell back onto the hard metal of the fire escape with Clover in his arms. She tried to get out of them, but he wasn't letting her go.

"Let me go!" She screamed. "Leave me alone! I want to be alone!"

"Not like this." He calmed her. "Don't let him have that. Don't you dare give him the victory of taking everything away from you." Ricky said into her hair.

Clover stopped fighting and continued to sob. "I can't do this." She weeped. "I can't! I can't do this! There's nothing else I can do!"

Ricky pulled her closer as he leaned up against the stairs behind him. "Talk to me." He told her. "Just talk to me."

He could feel her shaking uncontrollably in his arms. Ricky leaned his head back when she threw her head back into his shoulder, nearly breaking his collar bone.

"Just talk to me, Clover. Please just talk to me." He begged. "Anything other than that. I'd go insane if something bad happened to you."

"Something bad already did!" Clover screamed. "He tried to rape me, Ricky! I...I can't." She sobbed. "Every time I close my eyes....I remember it...I can never forget...I can't sleep...I feel so dirty all the time." She cried out in broken sobs, her body shaking uncontrollably and her breathing erratic as her lungs tried to get oxygen between her horrid sobs.

Ricky held her so tightly he thought he'd hurt her. He pressed his lips to her temple and rocked her in his lap until she was calmed, just letting her know that she wasn't alone.

"Let's go for a drive. We don't have to say a single thing to each other the entire time. Let's just go for a drive. Get you somewhere new. Please. I can't let you jump." He begged, holding back his own tears. Ricky took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. "Let's just go for a drive."

Clover shook her head, but Ricky picked her up anyway. He helped her back inside her apartment and held onto her all the way back downstairs. Ricky carried Clover to his car and put her in the backseat so she could lay down if she wanted.

He gave her a blanket that he had bought from the store since his old one was ruined from him using it for so many years. Ricky didn't say a single word to her as he just drove off with her. Eventually, she fell asleep in the car to the soft rumble of the engine. When she woke up, Ricky had parked the car in a field far out of Dallas so they were all alone.

Clover sat up and sniffled to get Ricky's attention. He put down the paperwork he was working on and gave her a gentle smile. Without her saying a word, just doing a motion, he unlocked the Jeep doors, got out, and sat in the back with her. They rolled down the windows as she laid against his chest and let the calmness of the untouched world consume her.