✓ | 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐘 ☁︎ 𝑩𝒆𝒏𝒏𝒚 𝑹𝒐𝒅𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒖𝒆𝒛

Thirteen

"Benny, wait," Smalls spoke up, "It's okay. It was my fault. You don't have to do this."

"Yeah. Come on, Benny, man. You don't have to do it. Forget about it. It's like committing suicide, Benny. Don't do it," Squints exclaimed.

"Yeah, don't do it."
"Yeah. Don't do it."
Timmy and Tommy add on, "It's suicide."

"Yeah, I do, Smalls. I have to do this," The kid replies.

Before he could even move, Jordan spoke, making the team have a sparkle of hope, knowing that she might get some sense into the boy's head.

The girl looked at Benny.
His brown eyes held determination, yet fear.
She knew that no matter what she could say, he would follow through with his plan; it didn't matter if she stops him or the team.

"You promise to come back, right? You're not gonna get your ass chewed by a fuckin' dog," The Watts grumbles loudly.

Benny gave a small smile to his girl. "Of course I will. I'll be right back here."

The entire sandlot team groaned for what Jordan said.
They assumed that since he was gonna face the beast, a massive animal that almost ripped her leg, she would be too scared to let him go, but they were wrong.

Of course, Jordan was scared shitless over Benny.
Her legs felt like glass and her eyes seemed to go in and out of focus. She didn't want him to go over, but she also had faith that he would come back — he promised.

Benny jumped on an old car, that was right beside the fence, standing on top of the hood, looking down at Scotty and Jordan, with the wise words of Babe Ruth calling to him.

'Heroes get remembered, but legends never die. Follow your heart, kid, and you'll never go wrong.'

Benny bravely hopped himself over the fence, landing in the beast territory.

He searched where he stood, looking for the small valuable baseball, in the nasty junkyard, only to be met with the grimy beast, with slobber and growling in his teeth, including the ball, which it dropped to the dirt, almost in a way of mock.

Meanwhile, all the kids waited anxiously for their friend to return, alive, they hoped.

"You think he's dead yet?" Bertram asked everyone.

Watts wasn't in the time for jokes, which made her punch the boy's shoulder, hard, making him wince as he cradles his boney bruised shoulder.

At the same time, Benny stood watching if the dog were to run after him, but he didn't, once he stepped toward him, however, the dog barked aggressively, making Benny take back a step.

The latino boy had to think for a second.
How fast could he be to grab the ball, jump over the fence, without getting his bottom half molded?

His mind was racing until he realized a key to winning: impulse will get him out of here.

No matter how smart he could be, the beat would most likely be two steps ahead, but the beast couldn't outmatch impulsivity.

Suddenly, without hesitation, Benny made a break for it.

With all his might, he rushed to the ball, sliding to grab it, and running away to the fence.
The beast was quick to chase after him, barking madly that he took the ball away.