Northpass Devils

Prologue

"What?!"

The boy holding the bat, Tobias March shrugged.

"You aren't that good." He repeated.

"I was in my old school's baseball team before I got here!" Rylan said, exasperated.

"Well this isn't your old school." He said smoothly.

"Obviously, because they would have let me on their team!" He retorted.

"Look stop being so angry, you just didn't make the cut." Tobias said. "You weren't that-"

"Sat that one more time," Hissed Rylan. "See if I won't smash your face in with my bat."

'When he gets older, he's gonna end up being one of those black kids who get shot.' He heard a mumble.

His eyes shot towards the boy.

"What did you just say?"

His eyes widened.

"Nothing." He said.

He clenched his teeth and hands, gripping the baseball bat so hard his knuckles turned white.

"Fine." He spat. "Not like I wanted to share a team with a bunch of spoiled babies."

He turned around, and started to walk away. But then, he stopped for a moment.

"I'm going to make my own baseball team." He said. "And y'all are gonna wish you were never born."

~

He had walked to the the park, holding his bat on one shoulder and gripping a bag of baseballs in the other.

He jogged over to his favorite diamond, but realized it was occupied by two boys.

They weren't really doing anything, one was throwing a baseball at the other, and he would hit it back.

He watched for a moment, leaning against the metal of the cage. He sighed.

He was about to walk away, when one of the boys said, "Hey!"

He turned around. "You talkin' to me?"

He laughed. "Who else?"

Rylan grinned. "My bad."

He waved a hand in dismal. "You here to play ball?"

He nodded. "I need to blow off some steam."

"You can play with us if you want," He offered.

"Really?"

The boy nodded. "Absolutely."

Rylan smiled. "I'd love that."

He walked up and dropped his bag.

"I'm Eliyah King, by the way. You can call me Eli."

He pointed at the other boy.

"That's Carter Bacchus." He introduced.

Carter nodded his head in acknowledgement. "Nice to meet you."

Rylan nodded his head in return. "You too. And the name is Rylan Scarce, by the way."

"Alright," Eli said. "I'm just gonna throw the ball at either one of you."

He grabbed a dust covered baseball, hitched his arm back and brought it forward, putting all his strength in his throw.

It flew towards Rylan, who waited a second before swinging the wooden bat, a loud thwack! resonating throughout the air.

It sailed past Eli's outstretched arms, before landing a few feet away.