Tattle's Show for Freedom

TSFF - Intermission 1

There was a loud, childish laugh from across the room. He darted to the left, avoiding a football heading straight for him. It slammed into the wall. Glancing back, the other pointed fingers and blew a raspberry. "You didn't stop it from getting into the goal!" He teased. She huffed and walked over to the ball, moving it softly forwards. He had to play nice with the other - he was far younger than her and therefore had more positive energy for these kinds of games. "The score is 2-1!" A slightly older, female voice chimed in. She wasn't a fan of playing ball games with the boys, and wasn't the best at it either, so she took scores and acted as a referee. He moved the ball softly with his foot in the grass, aiming carefully, anticipating. She examined the movements of the one across the pitch with a keen eye. He wasn't good at the game - better than their 'referee', of course, but not as interested in it. His goalkeeping was especially bad, and team coordination. It was lucky they were playing a one-on-one game. He was snapped out of her thoughts as the smaller one came darting towards him, and he ducked out out the way with the football. He ran forward and kicked it with all of his might, directly into the white netting of the goal. It hit the brick wall behind and came bouncing back, though, hitting him on her leg. He blinked in surprise as the smaller one came running at him, and out of panic she knocked him over to stop the football going flying. There was a whistle and the referee came over. "That's a yellow card!" She barked, pointing at the fallen child on the ground. He was sniffling in pain, and from where she stood he could see the trembling one had a scrape on his knee. He winced as the referee called for their parents to deal with it.
That night, trying to sleep was particularly painful in more ways than one.

Paper Ball sighed, rubbing the injury on his knee. The wound had reminded him of that day, just without anyone getting in any trouble afterwards. Sure, The Bells and Catnip got a scolding from Clawey, but that wasn't too bad compared to any other punishments. He sighed, resting on his back and looking up to the awfully dark ceiling. As he looked, he saw it represented a night sky, but more of a... cartoony one. Like those childish ones you would see in a young child's room. Like... Bell Ball's room. He still had his night sky ceiling after these years because nobody could paint it over. Bird Ball could fly up, but couldn't handle a brush. Paper Ball was never asked to help. He glanced down and sighed. So many things reminded him of how his family once was. How it once was...