Zombie at Home Plate

The brim of my hat kept flopping over my eyes, which was honestly fine with me. If I couldn't see everyone staring, maybe I could pretend I wasn't currently dying inside.

"You good, bro?" Marcus asked, nudging my shoulder. He'd already hit a solid double and was vibing, while I was basically functioning on 2% battery, walking-dead mode.

"Yeah. Just tired."

I'd been a zombie all week—staying up till 3 AM doomscrolling, overthinking every conversation, barely sleeping. Now here I was at the championship game, expected to perform like I hadn't spent the past month anxiety-spiraling about my batting average, my GPA, whether Maya thought I was weird, and the fact that I still didn't know who I was supposed to be.

The baseball felt heavy in my hands. This was it. Bottom of the ninth, two outs, bases loaded. Everyone was watching. Coach was yelling something I couldn't process. My heart hammered like it was trying to escape my chest.

Then—a cat. An actual calico cat, just trotting onto the field like she owned the place.

The whole game stopped. The umpire stared. The other team's pitcher looked confused. And the cat just sat down near home plate, started licking her paw, completely unbothered.

Something cracked in me. I started laughing. Couldn't stop. It was so random, so absurd—this perfect pressure moment interrupted by a cat who literally did not care about any of this.

Marcus joined in. Then Maya, from the bench. The whole team was cracking up. The tension, the expectation, the weight—it all just dissolved.

I adjusted my hat, finally. Actually looked at the pitcher. Suddenly, I wasn't overthinking. Wasn't a zombie anymore.

First pitch? I didn't hit a home run. But I made contact. Got on base. Scored the winning run.

After, as we dogpiled on the field, I saw the cat watching from the fence, looking entirely unimpressed. And somehow, that was the moment I realized maybe none of this was as serious as I'd been making it.

Maybe I didn't need to have everything figured out. Maybe I could just... be.

The cat flicked her tail and walked away. I adjusted my hat again, smiling for real this time.