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Matty's brain felt too small for his skull. |
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This wasn't a typical headache behind his eyebrows. This was a hot, throbbing presence at the core of his brain, fuzzing his vision and filling his ears with raucous noises. |
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It had hatched late that afternoon and steadily grew throughout the game. By the end of the third inning, it was nearly impossible to keep a thought from fragmenting under the crush. Worse still, he could not sit still on the bench or keep his hands from jumping around. That was when he took off for the woods and that guy had followed him, the one who had been spying on him for days. Who was he, what did he want? |
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Matty had had bad headaches of late, but this was the worst. Including the other night when Daisy came at him in the backyard. Of that he remembered very little because he had blacked out. All he recalled was her clawso bigand the noise. And then his father waking him up in his bed the next morning. Everything else was a blank. His fear was that he would suddenly pass out again. He considered dropping out of the game, telling his coach that his head hurt, but that would upset his parents, especially his mother, who was already worried about his condition. Worse, the Bully Boys would consider it a wimp-out, that he couldn't face Bobby Gorawlski on the mound. Also, it was bottom of the fifth and he had not yet been to bat. With a runner on second, the ten-year-olds were counting on him to even the score. |
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It didn't help his head that Bobby glowered at him from the pitcher's mound. When his turn came, he selected his favorite bat, a heavy black metal number, and took a few practice swings. Bobby |
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