THE GIRL WHO LOVED TOM GORDON
White fire scratched the sky as the stars fell. First, just one flicker of light, too fast for Trisha to get a good look of it, soon was a second flash light across the night sky, this one Trisha was able to get a better look of since she was already focused on the stars. Quickly appeared a barrage of swift and colorful meteors from beyond the bright stars, “Always look for the good in a bad situation”, Trisha thought while still lost in the woods. Something that her dada always said to her during her 6-7 years-old softball games before the divorce of two years ago. That was back when things were much simpler, when all Trisha had to worry about was getting through the softball without getting hit on the face with a ball so she could get home and play with her Little Pony playhouse set. The colorful meteor shower continued for longer than Trisha thought it should have. Increasing intensity, the shower seemed to be getting dangerously closer to the tree tops towering over Trisha. Soon the shower was covering most of the sky than the innocent stars just beyond the meteors. Trisha soon felt a sense of panic course through her body, sure that something was not right, and sure she had spoken too soon. In panic, Trisha ran in opposite direction of what she previously thought to be the right way back to civilization. While Trisha desperately tries to escape the sky, the sky quickly catches up with her, as a tiny rock from the meteors above hits her head. One rock turned into two, and that instantly turned into a swamp of water.
Where would she be? In the middle of the gigantic forest, where would her family members be? Were they not concerned about her loss? Trisha was full of fear as the night grew thicker and thicker. Her stomach scrambled due to hunger, her throat was irritating due to thirst, and she could not move anymore due to fatigue. Her walkman and the little food and water she had kept her alive in the middle of nowhere in the thick forest. Her walkman updated her on her news about her search or gave her the heart throbbing news about Tom Gordon, who was her favorite player. Baseball was her life, and she gained strength from listening to the games. She kept her hope alive that she would find her way out of the thick forest. She conserved the little foods she had and had an additional from the edible flora that she consumed. Her family, tired of searching for her let the forest, and informed the police who automatically initiated for her search. She found a creek, and she remembered what her Little House in the Prairie, that she would find her way to civilization, only to find herself in a swamp.
As the dark creped in, Trisha was full of hunger, fatigue, and thirst, and she decided to take a rest under a tree. The cops continued with their search with no success. Hallucination was at the highest level as she rested there. She imagined of her father in their family and they were a whole family again. She imagined how happy they were as they played and watched softball together just like in the early days. She met Tom Gordon, her favorite player and mentor and had a chat on playing softball. She was seated in the middle of the stars well protected and vividly exploring the forest, with no fear, hunger, or thirst since she was well cared for. The supernatural powers made her realize that she was well protected and she would finally get out of the forest by all means. She could see and talk to the supernatural powers, that assured of her safety but her journey in the woods wouldn’t be easy. Trisha gets deeper into the woods, as her food and water become exhausted. Tick tock, hours and days passed without any her seeing her rescue or the end of her journey. She knew that she was almost finding the God of the Lost. The worst was yet to come; would Trisha survive the evil that was yet to come. At the age of nine years, she was too young to face the deadly trials, and found it difficult to maintain her sanity. The pneumonia attack led her to the death’s mouth, and as she walked aimlessly in the woods, she found her civilization road, but she encounters a bear, and realizes the bad omen in her finding of God of the Lost.
Desperate times calls for desperate moments, Trisha realizes that she had to everything in her power to close the game and save her life. She had to beat her mentor and her favorite player, Tom Gordon. With no other option left, Trisha threw her Walkman she hit the bear hard on the face enough to make the bear get away, just like Tom Gordon did. Trisha’s confrontation with the bear ends after an intervention from a hunter who witnessed the fight between the two. Trisha realizes that she had met with her rescue. After gaining consciousness, Trisha finds herself in a hospital bed surrounded by her older brother and divorced parents. Full of joy for seeing her father, Trisha wanted to hug them all but the pain in her body does not allow her to move. The nurse monitors her condition, and allows them to have a little chat. They all apologizes to one another, and her father promises to be together with her and help her to play softball, just like in the old days before the divorce. The game closes, as Trisha asked her father to give her the Red Sox hat, but she pointed the sky just like Tom Gordon did when the game closed. Her family was whole again, and her father helped her softball game, she wa no longer angered by the conversations between her mother and elder brother, and they lived happily ever after.