“Strike one!”  The umpire hollered.  Roy had been getting the first strike on almost all the batters that day. He was by far the best pitcher on the team.
“Strike two!”  Hollered the umpire.  All Roy had to do was get one more strike on this batter and he and his team were going to the state tournament.
“CRASH!”  A line drive headed right at Roy’s head.  With no time to react, the ball hit Roy right in the head.  Roy’s head felt like it was on fire; he had the worst headache of his life.  He had a concussion.  Then Roy couldn’t see anything at all and, everything started swirling faster and faster.  Then finally everything went black and Roy was out cold.  When he woke up he was not on the pitchers mound where he remembers being.  So silently and fearfully he started looking around and he sees a sign that says London on it.  But he can tell he is not in modern day London because he and his family went to London only a couple of months before.  Then he sees a round building that has a white flag flying on the top of it.  Then he tries to think back to school when he learned about this time and building.  But he cannot recall what this strange place is but decides to go to the round building with the flag.  Then he sees a man everyone knows about.  It was William Shakespeare.
“Hi,” Roy says very shyly.
“Hello, what art thou name?”
“Roy,” Roy said.
“Does thou have a place to stay?”
“No,” Roy said sadly.
“Well then thou shalt stay with me and my amazing wife Anne.”  So Roy and Mr. Shakespeare walked off to Mr. Shakespeare’s house in the city.  But then on the way home Mr. Shakespeare let Roy goest off with some boys and play some baseball and of course Roy was by far the best player on the field.  Some guys admired him but the two boys named Harry and Peter that were normally the best, loathed him.  All afternoon long Roy was showing off and hitting it way farther than anybody and striking tons of batters, including Harry and Peter. This drove Harry and Peter over the edge.  So one day Peter and Harry decided that when Roy was on his way to Shakespeare’s house from the baseball field they were going to meet Roy and beat him up because they just could not stand how good Roy was and how silly he made them look when they were batting and when they were fielding.  So when Roy was on his way to Shakespeare’s house Harry and Peter saw Roy alone and went after him.  When they caught up with Roy that’s when Roy realized he was outnumbered and started to get very scared.  But Roy did not show his fear because he knew if he did then Harry and Peter would make even more fun of him even though he was way better than them at baseball.
“Roy, thy might be better at baseball but when it comes to fighting, we have thou outnumbered,” Harry said.
“Leave me alone,” Roy said.
“No, I’m going to make thou cry and bleed all the way home!”  Peter said.  And before Roy could say another word Harry punched him right in the eye.  Then Peter started kicking Roy when he fell to the ground in pain.  Finally once Harry and Peter stopped kicking him and just left him there.  Roy got up with his ribs in much pain and having a black eye and went home.  When he got home 
William Shakespeare asked.  “Where were you?”  Then he saw Roy’s black eye and just stood there.
Then he asked.  “Who did this to thou!”
“It was Harry and Peter,” Roy said
“I will help you,” Mr. Shakespeare said.
“Thank you for everything Mr. Shakespeare,” Roy said.  The next day Mr. Shakespeare came to watch Roy play.  He had no idea that he was that good.  But then after the game, Harry and Peter went to go beat up but little did they know that Mr. Shakespeare was hiding.  Then right when they were about to punch Roy, Mr. Shakespeare popped out and scared Harry and Peter totally.
“Hey, don’t mess with him unless you want me to tell your parents,” Mr. Shakespeare said.
“Unh uhhh ok,” said Peter very frightened.
“Now go, before I tell thee parents,” said Shakespeare.  But even though Harry and Peter said that they wouldn’t fight with Roy anymore, they didn’t stick to what they said to Mr. Shakespeare.  So after they played baseball the next day again Harry and Peter went up to Roy and started calling him names and saying that he was a sissy because he had to have an adult stand up for him and tell them to stop.  Roy tried to not let that stuff get to him but it did.  So Roy had to say something.
“At least I’m good at baseball.”  He said.  Roy was better at baseball but Harry and Peter were still good, but not nearly as good as Roy.  So Harry and Peter both started punching Roy.  Again Roy came home very sore.  William did not like this at all.  But he already had tried talking with them.  So he had no idea what to do.  Then he had an idea, maybe they should try wrestling him.  Then the next day William asked Harry and Peter if they would wrestle him.
“Sure, if your anything like Roy in your wrestling skills, this will be easy.”  Harry said.  Then Harry tried to punch William, but William grabbed Harry’s arm and twisted it until Harry started screaming.  Then Harry and Peter both ran away from William as fast as they could.  Then William and Roy went home.  Then Roy ran into William’s arms and gave him a big bear hug.
“What was that for?”  William said.
“For everything,” Roy said.
“No problem Roy,” William said.
“Thank you dad, I mean William,” Roy said.
“Roy, why did thou call me dad?”  William said.
“Because thou art the closest thing to a dad or a parent I have ever known,” Roy said with a tear streaming down his face.
“What happened to them?”  William said.
“One night a man broke into our house and stabbed both of them.  I was 2,” William said.
“I am so sorry Roy.  I had no idea,” William said.
“Ever since then, it has just been me and my brother Michael who is 19 years old,”  Roy said.
“Wow, I never knew.  Thank you for telling me that Roy,” William said.  And with that both Roy and William went to bed.  That night Roy cried himself to sleep, he hadn’t thought about his mother and father’s murder for a long time.  That night he had wanted to search the whole entire world, trying to find his mom and dads killer.  He would do anything to have them back.  But he couldn’t, they were gone forever and he needed to realize that.  But he didn’t want to let go of it.  He had only been 2 and could barely remember his parents voices or what they even looked like.  Roy just could not stop crying, he just kept crying for almost 3 hours straight.  Right then Roy wished so badly that his parents would just come into his room and give him a huge hug and come back to life.  But he knew that wouldn’t happen.  The next day he saw Harry and Peter out on the baseball diamond.
“Listen there’s something I haven’t told thee about, my parents got murdered when I was 2,” Roy said.  Harry and Peter both just stood there jaw-dropped for about a minute.
“We are so sorry, we had no idea,” Harry said.
“It’s alright,” Roy said.
“Really?  I promise I will never do that to thy or to anyone else ever again,” Harry said with a little bit of shame in his voice.
“It’s okay.  So are we friends?”  Roy said.
“Yeah were friends,” Peter said as he held out his right hand for Roy to shake.  Roy shook Peter and Harry’s hand and felt as if a thousand pounds had just gotten taken off his shoulders and that he could play baseball care and worry free.  That day Roy played the best he had in probably his whole entire life.  In 5 at bats Roy got 1 single, 2 doubles, 1 triple, and a home run.  He hit for the cycle that day and after the game was over he had Harry and Peter both over.  All the boys seemed like they had been friends forever and it also got Roy’s parents off of his mind for a while.  He was glad that Harry, Peter, and him had made up.  It was way more fun not having 2 mean people always harassing you because you are better than them at a sport.  But then finally when they left he got that alone feeling and realized again that his parents were gone forever and they could never come back.  He and his brother both needed a new father.  They needed someone to protect them and love them.
“Hello Roy, art thou doing alright?”  William said.
“Hi, no not really, I wish that guy wouldn’t have done it,” Roy said.
“I know what you mean,” William said.
“No thy don’t!”  Roy said harshly before he could even recall what had happened to William’s son.  Then Roy just stood there not saying anything and after a very long time of just silence Roy finally spoke up.
“I am so sorry William,” he said.
“It’s ok, it was a long time ago,” William said.  Then they both went to bed and Roy could finally realize that he was here to figure out how to deal with his parents death and he had the answer also.  It was William.  William knew what it felt like to lose a family member, and together William and Roy could get through their grief.  Roy needed William, he needed his brother and William.  So now he had to decide to either find a way to get back or stay here with William.  But he already knew that he had to get back to his brother because his brother needed someone to help him with his grief and he had known and loved his brother for over 12 years.  He hadn’t even know William for 12 days.  He knew that it was going to be hard to tell William and that he probably wouldn’t understand, but he had to.  The very next day Roy told William that he would never see him again.
“What!”  William said with his eyes starting to get watery.
“I don’t have a choice, my brother needs me!  Roy said.
“Well I’m sure your brother really misses thee, so I guess this is goodbye,” William said.
“Yeah, I guess it is.  Bye, I will never forget thee,” Roy said barely being able to see because of all the tears.
“Bye,” William said with tears streaming down his face.  Roy couldn’t think straight, so he decided to go play baseball with the guys that were always playing.  They let him pitch this game because he told them all that it was going to be his last game with them.  He pitched better than he had probably in his entire career playing baseball.  He struck out all of the batters until Harry came up.  He was the best hitter other than Roy.  He watched strike one go blow past him.  Then Roy got back into his wind up again.  Strike two blew past him also.  Then Roy got into his wind up again and threw the ball right down the middle of the plate.  The moment the ball came out of Roy’s hand, he knew the ball was going to be crushed.  But what he did not expect was the ball was going to be hit right at his head just like it had when he time travelled.
“CRASH!”  The ball smacked Roy right in the head and Roy fell to the ground in pain.  Then everything around him started swirling, including all of the boys that Roy was playing with.  Then finally everything went black and he hit his head on something very soft.  Then went to sleep.  When he woke up he knew that he was not in 1599 Elizabethan, England.  He realized he was in 2012 New York City.  He was so happy when he saw his brother come into the hospital room that tears started streaming down his face.  Michael did not know why his younger brother was crying.  But then Michael’s eyes started to get a little watery and Roy could tell that his older brother was trying so hard to not cry in front of his brother.  But Michael did.  All those years of not crying in front of his brother when they started talking about their parents death, Michael just let it all out.
“It’s ok Michael, I’m still here for you, and I still love you,” Roy said.  Then that brought a huge grin onto Michael’s face.
“I love you too, Roy, and I will always be here for you!”  Michael said as the two brothers walked off with their arms around each other.



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Line Drive Time Travelling 6-8