A New Beginning

Chapter One
Middle school.
A confusing time for everyone. Struggling with grades, fitting in, and exploring interest in all sorts of new fields, the least of worries is being…different.
Jason Mcdermott, an only child to a workaholic dad and a sweet and over-bearing mother grew up his whole life in the city. While he wasn’t in school, he was often at the ballpark, where his nickname J-Bomb was hooted and hollered on a nightly basis by his teammates, because when he hit the ball, it was always rocked deep in right field as he put all of his 175 pounds into his big, uppercut swing. A slow changeup left in the middle of the zone was no match for Jason. And when the “cling” of the aluminum bat was heard, you knew J-Bomb had struck again.
Next came the trot around the bases, as the 14 year old, pushing his shaggy, sand brown hair out of the way, was all smiles, the six foot giant arrived at home plate, and was greeted by his teammates.
The game was over, 5-4 in extra innings.
“Nice job, Mcdermott!” Replied his coach, “I’m damn proud of you boy.”
“That ball was fucking crushed man! Way to go,” said his lanky left fielding teammate Nicky.
Jason felt on top of the world, he was named Richmond’s Little League U14 MVP, he completely blew away the team with his excellent performance at first base, and his .400 batting average wasn’t too shabby either.
He dived into his car and was greeted by his father, as usual, on the Bluetooth headset talking about work.
“Hey dad! I…”
“Not now son, I got important things to take care of,” replied his dad gruffly.
So the rest of the car ride was silent, but Jason didn’t care, he smiling that toothy smile of his the whole way past each block. The ride was short, and when they arrived home he took off his dirty uniform and went to the shower.
All clean and still grinning, he went to find mom, she’d be proud and happy to have his company.
Mom looked, worried, a troubled disposition wasn’t the norm for mom. She was a free spirit, tall and had long, curly ginger hair that ran down to her mid back. Jason finally realized she had been crying, as her eye makeup was smeared.
“Mom, what’s the matter.”
“Ja…Ja….Jason. How are you baby?”
“I was doin alright, til I see you in a bad mood, what’s wrong.”
“Jason…there’s no easy way to say this.. so I’m just going to come out and say it. Your dad, he’s a workaholic, he isn’t in love with me anymore, he’s in love with work. He doesn’t sweep me off my feet anymore, he doesn’t seem to care much about you. He’s…turned to drinking, you know that Jason…” Jason’s mom sputtered.
“Mom…I don’t know what you’re trying to say, I know all of this, you’ve said it before,” Jason was listening attentively.
“Well…I’ve…I’ve gotten a job offer. It’s in Johnson City, Tennessee. I’d be making a living to support the both of us…I know this is tough, but it will make us both happy and better off. We’ll be a team, you and I. If you pack your things, we’ll leave tonight, I’ll buy you a new bed, and new dresser, and all that, focus on your clothes, your most valuable, and most personal items. We’ll leave tonight at 3 A.M, if you want sleep before hand that’s fine, just tell me so I can wake you up. We’re going to disconnect our phones, and have new numbers, so don’t go posting on Facebook anything too personal besides you’re leaving.