The Bull Behind the Bleachers

Marcus stood behind the abandoned baseball field, clutching the coaxial cable like it was a lifeline. The bull from the neighboring farm had somehow escaped again, and somehow Marcus had gotten roped into helping catch it.

"You got this, Marc!" Lena called from the bleachers, where she sat filming the whole disaster for TikTok. Her sweatshirt said "BEAR WITH IT" in cracked letters — a reference to their school mascot that Marcus couldn't bear to look at without thinking about how badly he'd embarrassed himself at last week's game.

The bull snorted, lowering its head like it was preparing to charge. Marcus's heart hammered against his ribs. This wasn't exactly how he'd planned to spend his Saturday afternoon, but then again, nothing about freshman year was going according to plan. Not his GPA tanking, not his crush on Lena being painfully obvious to everyone except Lena, and definitely not him becoming the weird kid who volunteered at the animal sanctuary.

The cable in his hands was supposed to be part of the makeshift fence they were building to contain the bull until its owner came. But right now it was just a really long, really useless rope.

"Throw it!" someone yelled.

Marcus didn't throw. He didn't run either. Something in the bull's eyes — tired, maybe, or just done with whatever BS life was throwing at it — made him pause. He slowly approached, cable dragging through the dirt, and held out his hand.

"Hey buddy," Marcus whispered. "We're both just trying to survive out here."

The bull didn't charge. It didn't run. It just looked at him with those soulful eyes, then leaned forward and sniffed his palm. A wet, bovine exhale ghosted over Marcus's skin.

Behind him, the baseball diamond stretched empty in the fading light. Somewhere in the distance, a game was probably happening. People were living normal lives. But here, in this moment, Marcus felt something shift inside his chest.

He looped the cable gently around the bull's neck. Not tight, just enough to guide. When he tugged lightly, the bull followed.

Lena stopped filming. "No way," she breathed.

Marcus led the bull back toward the fence, feeling like maybe, just maybe, he wasn't completely hopeless after all. The cable felt lighter in his hands, like something heavy had finally let go.