Trouble in Tiltown

West's past

We threw our bikes down at the front door step to my house and as I walked in to my bedroom, Jerrick followed from behind.
"Why did you go so fast? I'm out of breath." He breathed heavily.
"I thought I saw something in the woods is all." I replied. I closed my door behind Jerrick and we plopped onto the bed as we began flipping through the books.
"April 5th, 1986. I met a girl with hair that resembled a bright fire in a void. She was the kindest girl in town." It continued onto the next page, but with a new date.
"July 22nd, 1986. We've been dating for a while now. Maybe I'll propose to her someday soon. She's the first good thing since I've moved here."  I flipped the page and realized it was a whole year later.
"February 2nd, 1987. We've been married since September 18th, 1986. Everything has been going so well. However, people have been starting to act strange toward us ever since we got married."  My eyes raced down and up throughout the pages before I realized it was becoming more cryptic.
"March 12th, 1987. We have a baby coming. The citizens of this town eye us up and down, almost as if they're disgusted with us. Or is it anger? I need to protect them." My eyes glanced over at the silent Jerrick who happened to be reading along with me. His eyes looked at me with worry written in his eyes. My head hung back down at the book in front of us. I flipped the page.
"December 19th, 1987. She gave birth and it was the happiest day of our lives. After a while, we got to sleep. Every now and again, I'd wake up to the doctors staring at us as we slept." 
"This is so weird." I spoke up after flipping through a few pages.
Jerrick nods, "Yeah. He was actually really normal back then." My eyes rolled before I landed on a new page.
"January 8th, 1992. It's been a while since I've wrote here. I'm in distraught. My wife has been sobbing everyday since our precious child has gone missing. We will find you, Scott."
I gasped softly, "His son!" I exclaimed and looked at Jerrick who had widened eyes at the page.
"That wasn't very long ago. It's 1997, maybe he's okay." Jerrick trailed over toward the end of his sentence. We held onto hope for his son but it wasn't strong hope and we both knew that. I flipped through a couple empty pages until landing on a new page.
"August 7th, 1995. Amber, the woman who I thought I would be with forever, divorced me and left town. However, I knew deep down, she never got the chance to leave town and the thought of what might've happened to her, haunts me still. I am alone with the thought of knowing the truth." This is insane, I thought to myself.
"So this is why he acts the way he does." Jerrick sits up, distancing himself away from the book.
"He said that she never got the chance to leave. What does that mean?" I inquired aloud.
"Someone is controlling this town and it's not the mayor. It's someone else." Jerrick replies.
My eyes darkly looked up into his eyes, "Or something." I said. A loud thump hit my bedroom window, causing Jerrick and I to practically jump from my bed. Hesitantly, I opened my window and look at the ground. My lanky arm reached onto the cool grass and felt a round object and as I brought my arm back in, I was holding a baseball. It had black lettering on it.
Don't ask, don't wonder. Jerrick and I looked at one another.
Jerrick took both his hands on my window and yelled out as I watched a vein pop from his neck, "Get a life!" He screamed out the window. His voice echoed throughout the town and passed the trees in the woods behind my house. 
"Hey, calm down." I placed a soft hand on his shoulder. He stepped back and nodded, gaining his calm self again. Closing the window, I examined the ball once more.
"Do you know anyone with a baseball?" I questioned Jerrick who sat by me as his eyes examined it.
He shook his head slowly, "I don't think-." He stopped himself.
"What?"
He stared me in the eyes, "Kat does." He suddenly gets up from my bed as I follow him to the phone that hung on the wall. He pushed buttons until putting it up to his ear. I leaned my body in to it, attempting to listen closely.
"Hi Laurence, what's up?" Kat answered the phone.
"It's Jerrick. I was just curious about something." Jerrick spoke.
"Oh hey, sure. What's up?" Her voice came over the phone.
"Don't you have a baseball? I know, it's a silly question." Jerrick responded.
I heard her hum as if trying to think hard, "Oh yeah! But I haven't been able to find it for weeks now. My dad said he would find it for me. Why?" She asks.
Jerrick eyes me for a moment before replying to Kat, "I think we just found it." Jerrick says.
"I'll be over in a minute." Kat says before hanging up.

A few minutes pass of Jerrick and I talking before a knock on the front door sounds throughout the house.
Kat was standing there in striped pajamas with a puffed black coat on top. Jerrick then raised his hand with the baseball.
"Is this yours?" He asks Kat.
Kat takes the baseball and reads the quote written all over it. Her red eyebrows furrowed together before looking up at us.
"It's mine but I didn't write this." She answers, still examining the ball.
Jerrick scoffs as he leans against the wall, arms folded.
"Then who threw the ball at my window a few minutes ago?" I questioned her. Her pink lips pouted out.
"I-I don't know." She stuttered. My eyes darted to a vehicle speeding down the road behind Kat, which then pulls into the driveway. It was her dad.
"How did he know I was here?" She whispered out loud as her head whipped back at him.
"Bye Kat." Jerrick and I said in unison. She jogged to the vehicle and before her dad began driving out, I could tell he was mad with her. His arms flying up in the air as his face became twisted. Her lips trembled but her eyes stayed on us. Kat's question was a good one however. If she snuck out, how did he know?