Death by Car?

It was a sunny and hot afternoon in North Carolina, showing that the summer had come already and summer vacations with it. Shinoda was finishing his part time job with his uncle for the day, he was the boss at a moving service and he payed him a nice salary, enough to cover the costs for food and some other stuff on the house, alongside saving some of it for his sister's future.

He didn't felt comfortable with his mom being the only one working to maintain the three of them, he was 20 already so he was more than capable of working, besides, thanks to his uncle he didn't had strict working hours, allowing him to concentrate on university whenever he needed to.

After unloading the last boxes of the last client for the day, his uncle left him at his house and left. When entering the house he was greeted by his sister with a hug. Despite being 3 years younger than him she was still clingy, and it didn't bothered him in the slightest, he thought that it was cute, after all he loved her a lot too.

''All right, all right sis I know that you are happy to see me but I'm all sweaty and I still have some stuff to do okay? We can talk latter'' Shinoda said that while separating from her and went towards his room to relax for a while. Some minutes later his friend texted him asking him if he wanted to play some basketball and despite how tired he was he decided to swing by.

Shinoda took a liking to basketball since he entered the UNC University due to his friends, they were doing sports related careers and they were always playing whenever they had free time. They even suggested many times to enter the team from their uni so they could get picked up by some recognized team and some other times they rambled about becoming the best players in the state or even in the country.

However, no matter how much he thought about it, he wasn't convinced yet of doing it, he had to worry for his and his sister's future after all. Meaning that basketball was just a way to relief stress and have fun with his friends.

It didn't took long for Shinoda to reach his friend's apartment, since they were lucky enough to live near each other ''Hey Nate, I'm already here, where are the rest of the boys? Are they coming or it's just you and me today?'' he wasn't really surprised with it, some days they were too occupied to get together, he was the same after all.

''Yeah my bad, they said that they are occupied studying for some exams so that's that. But! That aside, I wanna get my revenge for the game from the other day, man I've been losing to you this whole week, I'm pissed off, that shit ends today kay?'' Nate had a big smile on his face, it seemed that he was confident that it would go different in this occasion.

''Oh so you wanna go 1 vs 1 again? I don't really mind but hey, if you wanna get beaten by a guy smaller than you, go ahead, you know the drill, you'll have to buy me some candies after I win'' and with that said, Shinoda wasn't planning on losing because it would be an insult to his friend who played basket with his heart every time and because he was in the mood to eat some chocolates.

It didn't took long for the night to arrive to finish their game, Nate had lost once again and the happy Shinoda was getting some sweets, it couldn't be a better night in his opinion. After Nate angrily declared that he was going to beat him next time, they sat and spoke for a while about nothing in particular but once again his friend looked at him in the eyes and told him to consider playing basketball professionally, he was really good and together they had a chance to become great players.

''Look, you know that I enjoy playing a lot too, it's really fun and we are kinda good or at least that's what I think, but I can't exactly make it a priority, you know I have to attend university and my job, so for the time being I still don't think that it's possible'' Shinoda apologized to his friend and left.

Once in his room he thought about his future ''do I want to keep doing what I'm doing? My job is fine and all but at some point I would like a better paying one, and my career is fine but I feel like I want to do something else aside from it. Should I go with what the boys tell me? Ugh I don't know, I'm not so passionate about it like they are, so that would probably backfire on me… Whatever, I'll think about it later, no use struggling if I can't get an answer''

Two weeks later

During the course of that time something kept gnawing Shinoda, he concluded that he wasn't happy with his current lifestyle, he wanted to try doing something to see if he felt fulfilled, but the problem was his little to none free time. To which he spoke with both his mom and uncle to come to an understanding, luckily for him they were very comprehensive with him and told him to do whatever he wanted, lifting a weight from his shoulders for leaving more responsibilities to his mom, he knew that they would manage, and he was still going to help on his free time.

Wanting to try first with one of his hobbies he began playing more regularly with his friends, practicing and practicing until they convinced him to join their university team, and they were aiming to be the regular players there.

''Heeey bro, tell me, tell me, mom and I heard from Nate that you guys were trying to be the regular players on your university, is it true? Are you going to take basketball seriously? We are happy for you! It always felt like your thing, you even change your personality a bit haha, all calm and focused when playing'' his sister Sarah and their mom were trying to support him as always, and their words were a little surprise for him.

''Yes we are, or at least they are aiming for it, I'm just doing my best to get better so I don't disappoint them, I want to match their spirits you know? And I'm not sure yet if I want to take it seriously, I do enjoy it and it has grown on me a lot more since I took a break from my job but we'll see. Also, whatever do you mean with my personality changes when I play?'' Shinoda didn't knew what she meant by that, he just liked playing seriously to get the best chance at winning.

''Nah its nothing, don't mind me, gotta go to school, so good luck with the practice and remember that I'll swing by to see how you are doing'' Sarah said that, hugged him and their mom and left for school.

''Your sister is right sweetie, you may think nothing of this but I know you very well, whenever I see you playing basketball it feels like you are at peace, you forget about everything and concentrate in the game, it's something that I find impressive. I hope that you give it your all so you won't regret it later, and please, don't you dare think that you are failing me or your sister for putting your work aside for doing what you want, you have done more than enough for us, you should concentrate on yourself for once'' Shinoda was really grateful for having her as a mother, she couldn't be a better mother, and that's why her words eased him and pushed him a bit to consider doing basket in a serious way.

''You win mom haha, I can't really say that I don't enjoy playing basket, and with my friends is even better, so hey maybe I do love basketball, and if that's the case I want to aim at the state tournament. Anyways I gotta go, goodbye mom'' Shinoda finished his meal and was on his way to the UNC, but something was stuck on his mind, the fact that he said that he loved basketball, it was kinda in the spur of the moment but it could actually be true.

That idea stayed with him the whole morning until practice, where he was more conscious about how he felt when playing and the joy it gave him. Once they were done with their practice for the day, Shinoda had already noticed that he wanted to keep playing basketball, he loved doing it and he wanted to be the best, or aim at the state tournament at least so he could improve.

''Yo guys remember that you all wanted me to be a part of the team so we could aim for classifications and more? Well, now we are part of the university team, I even think that with some practice we can get closer to our goal, but my point is, I just noticed that I really love basket, I considered it for a long time and today I realized it, so I want to go all out with you on this.''

They were all happy with his decision and made the corresponding preparations for it, like speaking to their coach to give them an opportunity with the preliminaries that were going to happen soon, setting up even more hours to practice and polish their skills and if possible some friendly games against other universities.

Things were looking pretty good for Shinoda, he was on his way to accomplish his dream and he couldn't be even more excited.

The days passed and their skills grew as well, they were training almost nonstop for the next month so they would be good enough to win. And near the end they decided to throw a little celebration in one of their houses that weekend.

The day of their celebration arrived and Shinoda decided to do some work during the day until it was time to meet with his friends.

Some hours later when he arrived home to shower and leave for the reunion he noticed that his sister had gone out, apparently she was going to spend the night with her friend.

After getting ready Shinoda left his house and started heading toward the meeting spot. As he was walking he noticed someone look familiar. As he turned his head towards the left he saw his sister walking back home alone.

"What is she doing walking alone a night, oh well I guess I'll walk her home" thought Shinoda.

Shinoda quickly walked toward his sister's direction as he was walking towards her he noticed she was crossing the street but was focusing on her phone. She did not notice a car coming at her direction.

*Beeeeeep!*

"Get out the way" Shinoda screamed on top of his lungs. Shinoda was fast enough to push his little sister out of the way but instead he got hit by the car.

*Bang!*

"Huh, why do I feel warm" Shinoda thought. As he tried his best to look around he saw his sister crying by him as he laid on top of her lap.

"I'm.... sssooo... sorry brother" she tried her best to complete the sentence but because of her crying Shinoda could only hear bits and pieces.

"Someone call 911" yelled a bystander.

As Shinoda was looking around he noticed the he was losing light. It slowly kept getting darker and darker until he could longer see. "I guess this is it huh, what people said were right when your time is up no matter how hard you struggle its futile."

"Brother why aren't you talk... brother" said Shinoda's sister with tears coming out from her eyes.

"Let me check young lady" said a bystander. As he came up to Shinoda he put his fingers on his neck to feel a pulse. After several attempts he noticed he could not feel any pulse, he put his head down and looked at the young girl.

"I'm sorry to say this young girl but it appears your brother has left you" said the bystander with sad expression on his face.

"Please no this has to be wrong..... brother I'm so sorry I promise I will not use my phone ever again please brother come back.." said Shinoda's sister as she was holding her brother.

"It's my fault brother.... why did you jump and pushed me out..... I should have died not you please brother come back..."