antihero. f. tatis jr

✿ summer went away

you've got no reason to be afraid.

you're on you're own kid

but you can face this.

you're on your own kid. you always have been.

serena watched the last out of the game, stood up in the stands as she dropped her head when nola hit a shallow fly to right field and ran down the line. castellanos under it.

game.

phills / stros world series. no padres. again.

aj had given her the past few days off and flew her out to phillie to watch the games live, which only resulted in sad gazes from the players after they lost each game. it's hard knowing there's not anything you can do. but similar to the braves last year, the phillies just seem to be the destiny team. they're relentless. the pads still have a long ways to go.

no one expected them to come this far though. hell, she wouldn't say it but she was almost positive the dodgers would take them in four. but it was the other way around, surprisingly. they still have lots of pieces missing. injuries, suspensions, no starting pitching depth. but they defied all odds to an extent.

she could credit what they did this year, but the only other thing she could focus on was wil myers. no way they were exercising the club option and optioning him back this year.

wil myers was the closest thing she had to family. when she first arrived him and his lovely wife maggie took her in and showed her the ropes of living in california. they did everything together.

serena — along with the other families — got the okay to go on the field moments later and show some support for san diego once philly was done celebrating.

she did her best to congratulate all the players, but most of them were sulking in the locker room, rightfully so.

she gave grish a big pat on the back. he struggled this series, but killed it the rest of the postseason. he said it was thanks to her. but she knew he just needed a little extra mental push.

manny and wil came out of the locker room eventually. wil had that look on his face like he knew it was over. serena gave each of them a side hug before manny went to go find his wife. it was just her and wil now.

"i guess this is my big goodbye." he started, a sad smile on his face.

"don't leave, please." she asked, knowing wil myers was destined for the horizon. he wasn't coming back.

"we'll see what happens."

"you try your hardest to come back here before anywhere else." she advised, "here or retirement." s glumly joked.

wil cracked a smile before hugging her one last time. it's been a long couple of years since serena lense first showed up on his doorstep due to her broken washing machine. she was only 20 then.

s hugged him one last time and instructed, "you get back to san diego and high five everyone. every single person you see you you high five. every single bar you go to you buy even more shots than you did for them last time. you're gonna go down as the happiest man in san diego in your last few hours of yellow and brown. okay?"

"okay."

republished 6/21/23