The 7 Nights of Halloween

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

       There wasn't any rain scheduled for today so thankfully, we were back to practicing. It was great for us to get our mind off of the whole anonymous tasks things we were going to have to do. Honestly, I didn't mind watching a scary movie at three in the morning.

       The annoying part was that someone was making us watch it at three in the morning. I didn't like when people told me what to do.

       As we were practicing, I was no longer thinking about whoever was sending those letters. Instead, I was focusing solely on baseball. 

       Crouched behind the home plate, I signed for Ray to throw a knuckleball; his favourite pitch. Nico was standing beside Ray on the mound and whispered the sign I gave. Ray nodded before throwing the pitch towards me. 

       Knuckleballs were one of the most sporadic pitches thrown, making it not only hard for batters to hit, but hard for the pitcher to control and catcher to catch.

       The latter two were never an issue for me and Ray. He could still easily control the knuckleball, like all of his other pitches. Every single one of his pitches would land very close to where my glove was positioned.

       He was the most talented pitcher I had ever worked with. 

       When he lost his vision, he was so heartbroken, thinking he would never be able to play baseball ever again. It took a while, but I was able to convince him to pitch with me anyway since he had always been a talented pitcher. The pitching movements were ingrained inside of him; there was no way he could suddenly lose his ability to pitch despite not being able to see.

       His control wasn't as strong as it was when I first convinced him to pitch again but after a bunch of practice, he was almost back to being where he was. I didn't think he would totally be able to throw the pitch exactly where my glove was positioned, but it was always close enough so I never really had to reach for it.

       I caught the baseball. "Nice job!" I called as I threw the baseball to Nico, who then handed it to Ray. "You see, Nico? That's how you pitch!"

       "Archer," Daisuke says from where he was standing nearby with Mason, talking over some strategies. "Stop it."

       I scowled as I signed for another pitch. Nico relayed the sign to Ray, who nodded then threw the pitch. I caught it and threw it back to Nico.

       We did this for a while before Daisuke told us it was time to take a break. Most of us headed to the dugout where we once again found a letter, just like at last practice.

       "You know what?" Maddox asks. "You're all dumb. We should have assumed that they were going to leave another letter, but no one bothered keeping an eye on the dugout. Stupids."

       "If I recall, you also didn't keep an eye on the dugout," Sterling said.

       "Whoever is doing this probably knows we would have been way too focused on baseball to pay attention," Daisuke said as he opened the envelope. "It's who we are. Or they were watching carefully this whole time and made sure to do it when they were certain no one was paying attention."

       "We'll catch them one day," Mo said as he cracked his knuckles. "So what do we have to do some day? Maybe choose someone to sacrifice? I choose Nico."

       "What?!" Nico said. "Scotty, they're being mean to me again?"

       "I would choose you too," Scott said.

       Nico scowled as he drank out of his water bottle.

       "Alright..." Daisuke said, scanning the letter. "It says at eleven o'clock tonight, we have to go to FunCade Game Junction. We'll get the instructions when we're there."