Chapter 3- Precint

We were all dead silent sitting at the holding area of the police station none of us said a word when we arrived good thing they have 2 holding areas so we were divided by team or else the brawl a while ago will become a shouting contest. The police was bringing us out one by one to do an interview and at last one of the police asked me to come out.

“Name? Age?”

“Alexandra Lee, 15 Sir”

“You are the last one in your group. It looks like all of you are minors”

“Yes sir.”

“Tell me what happened”

I told him the whole story from the beginning.

“When he pitched the ball I knew it was a drop ball so I made my stance wider so I will be able to hit the ball, I guess so did the catcher because he jumped forward as well. I guess he jumped closer than he intended because when I swung the bat his head was where the ball should be.” Remembering what happened only made me sob until I started crying my eyes out.

“This is all my fault! If only I did not swing, If only I did not let them get to us.. If only…” I sobbed and the police officer gave me a hug and tried to comfort me.

“No it’s not your fault none of you and your friends are at fault here.’’

“Is he dead?’’ I asked even if I am scared of the answer.

“Hey its okay don’t worry about it he is in good hands.”

Just then coach and some of our parents barged in the station. When I saw my parents I hugged my mom immediately and started crying. She started stroking my head trying to calm me down and then and there I felt safe, we sat down on one of the benches. I heard coach talk to the police officer who talked to me.

“What happened? Are they at fault? What will happen to the kids they are only kids they are minors.” He said.

“Don’t worry sir just calm down please parents gather around so I don’t have to repeat myself. Please follow me to the conference area so we can discuss this matter privately.” He said and all our parents and some of the other team’s parents and all those people involved started to enter the conference hall.

“So according to my interview with your kids all of them are minors. They just happened to be provoked by college students at the park. They were being bullied and the two groups decided to play baseball to settle everything. Unfortunately they had an accident where Alexandra accidentally hit Mr. Brook the catcher in his head and is now under operation.” The room was filled with gasps.

“Are you sure this was an accident? You said it yourself they had a disagreement before the game! How sure are you that the person who hit my son did not hit him intentionally?!” A man shouted I raised my head and saw a man around his 50’s demand.

“Please calm down sir. Yes they did have an argument but they were settling it through a simple game that went wrong. And I’m sorry sir but we have a witness that saw everything and was the one who called 911. If everyone would settle down please let us hear what happened from him’’

A man in maybe in his 30’s came forward. I had seen him he was watching us, he was at the back of the back stop. (A Back stop is something that catches the ball in case the catcher doesn’t catch the ball so it won’t go any further. The park’s back stop was a soccer goal. We just put some net there so that the ball will be caught just in case.)

“Hello everyone my name is William, I was walking at the park when I saw these kids playing. I used to play baseball and when I saw the girl playing with the guys I was intrigued so I stopped to watch. It was a great game in fact I don’t see a reason why Alexandra would purposely hit the catcher because they were winning. If it was the other way around then maybe it would be intentional because they would have motive but Alexandra didn’t have one. In fact just before Alexandra went to the batter’s box she asked Mr. Brooks to change the helmet he is using and she was even willing to lend him the mask of their team but Mr. Brook waved the offer off. Mr. Brook and the pitcher have signals and Mr. Brook gave the signal which I assumed was the sign for a drop ball. Knowing the pitch Mr. Brook knows the ball will drop on the plate before the pitcher even threw the ball Mr. Brook jumped forward maybe a little more that he should which led to the accident.”

Mr. William explained.

“I don’t care! I will press charges” Mr. Brook exclaimed.

William came forward to him and put his hand on his shoulder.

“Mr. Brook I understand that what you are going through is not easy, but if you press charges it will not do you any good in fact it might give you worst. I’m a lawyer and I advise you not to press charges. These are just kids they are minors and even if you did want to punish them no judge would say yes because clearly it is an accident. In fact your son and his friends might be the one ending up in jail. They are more than 18 years old and I saw them hit Van, they were the ones who bullied this kids and they were they first one to hit these kids a girl no less! If anyone was to press charges here it would be this kids parents.”

My father went to the group where my teammate’s parents are maybe to talk, my mother stayed with me. My father went forward to Mr. Brook and put his hands on his shoulders.

“Mr. Brook I’m sorry for what happened to your son. We have decided not to press any charges yes they are more than 18 but we believe it was all an accident and that they don’t deserve to go to jail for something like this. My daughter has a black eye and a bruised stomach and I want to bring her to the hospital as well what I am trying to say is your son was not the only one who was hurt in this accident in fact most of them are our children because they were beaten up by men while they are just teenagers. But we do agree that your son had the worst one. We are sorry and if you accept we would like to pay half of his medical bills.” My father offered.

Mr. Brook raised his head and looked around him maybe he was not able to realize it earlier because of his rage but now he can see it clearly. Me and my teammates were all sitting on the bench and we all looked like crap. Some of us have black eyes, some have busted lips and I know that if you raise their clothes most of us have bruises as well.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. If you press charges I understand they deserve to learn a lesson! This is not a way to treat children.” He said looking at us wide eyed like it was the first time he saw how badly hurt we are.

“No we will not press charges against them. I believe their parents will give them enough punishments as it is. How about we go to the hospital and visit your son?” My dad asked.