Here is a short story I wrote late one night, just for fun. I hope you enjoy it.

Darrien sits to the left, his blonde hair short and blue eyes glistening in the summer sun. His friend Luke sits off to his left, short red hair sticking out of the hole from the back of his ball cap which is turned backward his face slightly burned from being out in the sun too much earlier that day. They sit on the porch eating their Neapolitan ice cream sandwiches because Luke has been given distinct orders not to spend any more time in the sun for the day, and feeling too confined inside, they made their way to the porch that wrapped around the old farm house. Darrien lived next door, at least during the school year. During the summer he might as well have lived in Luke’s house with how much time he spent there.

Luke’s mother Tina never minded that Darrien spent so much time at her house because Darrien’s father was an alcoholic and every time Darrien’s mother Martha tried to leave, he would lock her and Darrien (if he was home) in the basement and refused to feed either of them until she promised not to leave. Tina thought it was good for Darrien to see that not all parents were as bad as his, and it was important for him to have role models such as herself and her husband to look up to.

Timmy and Paul who lived just down the street came by just after each of the boys had finished their ice cream sandwiches and were working to suck all of the chocolate cookie crumbs off of their fingers. Timmy and Paul were brothers from down the road; they were identical twins, and looked it too, the only difference being that Timmy kept his brown hair short and Paul kept his so that it hung down just above the middle of his forehead. They pulled in the drive on matching red bikes and shouted, “Hey Darrien and Luke, let’s go play ball!” Luke yelled back, “Hang on!” as Darrien went to go talk to their friends. Luke ran inside to check with his mother, and in no time at all was back with a bottle of sunscreen in his hands, and they were making the half mile ride to the old baseball field.

When they got to the field, it was no surprise to see a bunch of their other friends already there playing. There was Bobby, Liam, Nate, Josh, Zach and Andrew. They split into two teams of five. Though none of them had ever hit the ball very far, they always joked that today was gonna be the day someone would finally do it. On the very first pitch, Zach hit a line drive right to Luke who wasn’t paying very much attention and hit him right in the head. Luke was dazed a little, but ultimately okay. Zach only took one base as was customary (to not add insult to injury.) Nate managed to strike out both Liam and Timmy, and then Bobby hit an easy pop-fly to Paul who caught it with no problems. Luke was first up to bat and Liam said, “You thought that line-drive caught you off guard? Check out my spitball!” He spat on the ball and wound up throwing a fastball right over the center of the plate a little high. Luke swung as hard and fast as he could and made a connection with the ball. The crack from the force of the ball hitting the bat was so great it sounded like a firework going off. The shock that went through Luke’s hands and into his arms was so intense, he dropped the bat instantly out of pain as he watched the ball sail through the air. He didn’t bother running; he had the automatic double to go to after the ball landed. Instead, he watched the ball sail through the air and kept going until finally for the first time ever, it happened. Someone hit a homerun. The ball landed about ten feet beyond the shrubs. The boys, every single one of them, jumped up and down as they went to hug Luke. It didn’t matter if they were on the other team because for the first time ever, one of them hit a home-run. They ended right then and went to the store just a half mile down the road from the field. The whole team pitched in and bought Luke a soda. After all, he was the hero of the day. Like their favorite superheroes got the key to the city after saving the girl, Luke got a bottle of Cherry Pepsi. They all drank their sodas, laughing and playing as they did.

The next year, they all tried out for the school seventh-grade baseball team. All ten made the team and all ten started. Year after year, that was the way it went. Nate pitched, Paul caught, Darrien played third, Liam was left field, Zach right field, Josh center field, Bobby shortstop, Josh second base, Luke first base and Timmy was the closing pitcher. Timmy without fail could throw two perfect - if not three - innings, striking out every batter, so he always closed and Nate started. Over the years, Luke’s hitting stayed consistent. The coaches taught Luke how to read the pitch better and strike-outs became less frequent and home runs became more common.

The boys remained close friends through the years, especially Darrien and Luke who did everything together. The two boys even went on their first date together; they took their dates on a double date to a small Italian restaurant. Over time, it came to be that the only time they were apart was when they were with their girlfriends. The plan was for all four of them to attend Auburn College where Sarah, Luke's girlfriend, was currently attending and for Darrien and Luke help put Auburn back on the map with a good baseball program.

Their dreams never quite happened that way. Darrien, Luke and Anna were all accepted to Auburn, and Luke and Darien were to play ball. However, a couple of recruits showed up one day to practice. Luke, Darrien, Nate, Timmy, and Paul were all drafted by the Houston Astros. Luke and Darrien were to go straight to the pros and the other three to go play for the Astros farm team. All five accepted and went out to celebrate, just like when they were kids. They went to the same store as always, bought sodas and burgers, and headed to the house. Once they got home, Luke fired up the grill and started the burgers. His mother, used to the tradition, asked, “What’s the occasion?”

“I’m going pro!” Luke shouted as he showed her the deal that would become official in about week, “Me, Darrien, Timmy, Nate and Paul. We’re all going to the Astros,”

When Sarah and Anna came over, both boys gave their girls the biggest hug and kiss they had ever given to them. When Mr. Peters got home, he couldn’t believe the news and he began to cry as he hugged his son and his "second son" Darrien, proud of all that they had accomplished.

Luke woke up the next morning and woke up the other boys and said, "Hey guys, how about one last morning game at the old field? We leave for training pretty soon." They all agreed. Zach stepped up to bat and hit a line-drive to Luke who, as usual, had his short red hair sticking out of the hole of the back of his ball cap that was backward on his head. Because it was on backwards, he was looking right in the sun and couldn’t see. The ball hit him right in the head, just like years before. Only this time, Luke didn’t get up.

Luke woke up in a hospital bed, confused about what had happened. He asked what was going on to the nurse standing in the room, but the nurse just ran out screaming for a doctor. A doctor came running in and couldn’t believe what he saw.

“You’re awake!?” he exclaimed

“Well yeah, of course I’m awake.” Luke said, confused.

The doctor continued to ask Luke a bunch of questions that Luke thought he knew the answers to. He told the doctor about his friend and his semi-pro career and about college.

The doctor seemed confused and asked Luke, “How old were you when you got hit in the head and knocked out?

“Eighteen.” Luke responded, confused.

“No. You were twelve, you’ve been unconscious for six years. There has been discussion as to whether it was humane to continue to let you live because your body hasn’t moved in so long, but your heart and brain continued to work, so we kept you fed and hydrated through IV’s to keep you alive,” the doctor explained.

Tina and Mr. Peters walked in the room. Tina ran to her son and hugged him as hard as she could, and she began to cry. Luke explained to them how he thought he was alive and how he went day-by-day through school and practice. How he made it to the MLB with Darrien and that he was hit in the head in this apparent made-up fantasy. The first question he asked his parents was, “How’s Darrien?” Tina looked at Mr. Peters with sorrow and more tears filling her eyes.

"Darrien's dead, honey,” said Tina, "He died after you go hit in the head. Darrien had no excuses to get away from his father. We tried to invite him over as much as possible to come visit you and hope you would wake up. We would feed him dinner and send him home with food. Eventually, his father stopped letting him come over. Then after school ended, he wasn’t allowed to go outside. Eventually, we slowly saw less and less of his mother. Then one night, we heard gunshots. Darrien's father killed him and his mother. There was nothing anyone could do."

Luke couldn’t believe it. His best friend was dead. It just didn’t make sense, since to him, it felt like he had been playing ball with him earlier that day.

“But, what do I do now?” Luke asked.

“I’m not sure, but we will figure it out, honey," replied his mother.

A few months later, Luke was out going for a run at night and a truck driver hit him. Luke was once again unconscious. When he woke up, the doctor made a call and a few hours later the Houston Astro coaches walked in.

“Welcome back to reality, kid, You’ll be back on the field in no time.” said the head coach. Luke looked at him confused.

"What are you talking about? This is a dream. I just got hit by a car and came back to my dream world," Luke tried to explain.

“Oh no, Luke. This is reality."

In that moment, Luke started muttering to himself, trying to figure out what was real. He never would. He would be declared mentally unstable three days later and would receive “treatment." Luke spent the next sixteen years medicated and hospitalized until his death at the age of thirty-four. One question remains though: did Luke die from the drugs being too much for a living human in the real world to handle? Or was his death caused by his life support being pulled in the "real" world...