"What the hell am I doing."

As he walked out of the shop, Max stared at the pack of Wilson Tennis balls and racket in his hand.

He made a point of staying alert to his surroundings, half expecting a camera crew to appear.

In fear of being plastered on the morning news, he wore a grey trey tracksuit with a hoodie over his head.

He could almost see the headline now: "Psycho ex wishes for the death of an innocent girl."

Shaking his head, he made his way to the park.

He only agreed to entertain this ridiculous notion because he stood to lose nothing.

He would just add tennis to his list of hobbies until he grew tired of it.

It was early on a Sunday morning, so there were few people in the park at this time.

Looking at his watch, he still had a couple of hours to go so, he spent some time playing tennis against the wall.

Huff Huff Huff

<11:21 AM>

"It's almost time..."

Max muttered as he began packing his belongings.

As he approached the park's entrance, he noticed a family of four entering for what appeared to be a picnic outing.

There were two adults, a man and a woman, a girl on her phone who appeared to be a teenager, and a young boy walking a dog.

Max paid them no mind as he walked towards the park bench and brought out one of the tennis balls he had been using earlier.

'Wait... do I just place it anywhere?'

Max questioned himself as he stared at the bench in front of him.

He placed the tennis ball in the middle of the bench after several minutes of contemplation.

He stood, heart palpitating, his gaze fixed on the time on his watch not daring to let go of the ball.

In the back of his mind, he was questioning what he was doing.

Was all of this really worth it?

He could simply go home, forget about his ex and carry on bettering himself as a person.

Although he was aware what he was doing was a hoax, it was still immoral.

Did he really need to go to such lengths to gain closure?

"..."

<11:35 AM>

Max clenched his jaw as he finally released his hand from the ball.

He wasn't sure if he hit the exact time proposed, as he couldn't react in milliseconds.

But he didn't care anymore.

He decided he would just go home, and become a person that he could be proud of.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

But before leaving, he stayed for several minutes to see if anything occurred.

Unsurprisingly, nothing happened.

He was going to take the ball home but instead decided to leave it as a remnant of his past, his 'closure' to Sarah.

He smiled and walked away, looking towards a better future.

<11:43 AM>

A young boy, no more than eight years old, was playing with his dog while his parents prepared a picnic.

As usual, his older sister was on the phone, so he took it upon himself to be the responsible young adult who would play with their Greyhound, Timothy.

After running around with his dog for a few minutes, the young boy noticed a small green ball on a bench.

As he picked up the ball, an idea struck him.

"Timothy! Let's play catch!"

Like so, the young boy began playing catch with his dog, gradually throwing the ball further each time.

"Timothy, try catching this one! It's my special move!"

"Super powered majestic arm cannon!"

The young boy shouted as he gathered strength to throw as far as he could.

He unleashed his super powered move and threw the ball high after spinning around three times and extending his arm as far back as he could.

Timothy being a greyhound, made quick work to retrieve the ball.

"Billy, lunch is ready!"

A middle-aged woman yelled trying to get her son's attention.

"Coming Mum! Timothy, let's go!"

Billy said as he ran towards his family.

However, what Billy didn't see was the little green ball ricocheting off a nearby slide and rolling through the park fence and into the street.

<11:48 AM>

A middle-aged Caucasian man could be seen driving a white van down an empty road in a hurry.

The man appeared to be a food junkie, as he was surrounded by bottles, empty boxes of donuts, and snacks.

'F*ck, I'm going to be late again.'

"Who the hell wakes up before 2 PM on a Sunday."

The man muttered to himself in a seemingly annoyed tone.

'If they fire me, I'll just leave bad reviews on their website.'

The middle-aged man accelerated his pace, not wanting to be late for work again for fear of being fired.

However, while driving, he saw a dog jumping across a fence and into the road.

"F*CK!"

SCREECH

Fortunately, the man was able to apply the brakes just before the car collided with the dog.

"Stupid dog, you're going to kill someone!"

The middle-aged man yelled at the dog, which stood there staring at him with what appeared to be a tennis ball in his mouth, as if he had done nothing wrong.

What irritated him the most was that the dog bolted with the tennis ball in his mouth and hopped back over the fence as if nothing had happened.

After calming down, the man looked at the radio and saw that it was now 11:51 AM.

Panicking, he restarted his van and sped down the narrow road.

What he failed to notice was that when he hit the brakes to avoid hitting the dog, a half-empty water bottle flipped over and landed beneath his legs.

<11:57 AM>

A young woman with short brown hair and almond skin could be seen driving a red car down a street intersection.

She adjusted her rear view mirror, making sure her make-up was applied properly.

The young woman would normally do this before getting into her car, but knowing these roads for the past year and knowing there wouldn't be many people out at this time, she let her guard down.

She had an important day planned with her boo, so she needed to look her best.

Bzzt

A pop notification appeared on her phone.

She had a wide grin upon checking the contents.

Her boo had apparently reserved a restaurant for them, amongst other activities.

Noticing there weren't many cars in front of her and the traffic light was green, she picked up her phone to send a quick message.

<11:59 AM>

"Almost there, should be able to make it in time..."

A middle-aged man driving a white van was speeding down the street when he noticed the traffic light turn yellow.

He sped up a little, thinking he'd make it in time, unaware that this caused a half-empty plastic water bottle to roll down his feet and underneath the brake pedal.

At the same time, a young woman could be seen texting on her phone while driving, but making sure to steal glances at the road ahead.

'Cant w8! C u soon! 😘'

"...And send."

She happily sent her response as she reached an intersection.

<12 PM>

Noticing what appeared to be a red Ford about to appear in the middle of an intersection, the middle-aged man quickly stepped on his brake pedal to avoid the car.

"What the f*ck?"

"SH*T!"

He yelled, panicking upon noticing that his van wasn't slowing down.

'Hm?'

A young woman in a red Ford turned her head to the side upon noticing a white van.

CRASH

A deafening sound filled the street as a white Volkswagen Transporter rammed into her passenger's side, causing her car to roll over several times, breaking glasses and inflating the safety bag.

Nearby onlookers screamed as some quickly rushed to the scene whilst others called an ambulance.

It felt as if time had frozen for the young woman.

Her eyelids felt heavy, and her body numb.

The silent ringing in her head slowly started to fade.

The last thing she heard was the ever increasing sound of sirens as darkness embraced her.