The Basketball Game

It was the evening of a Friday night and Sunshine High's Basketball team was about to get their first game of the season. Like the football game, the whole town of Sunshine Valley was invited to the game as people were standing in line outside of the school as well as the same blimp, from the first day of school, that was promoting their game. Even Sunny, the school's mascot, was dancing like crazy in the parking lot as he had streamers, popping roman candle fireworks, and on his roller skates skating around the people in line.

Although some would come to the game, some would stay in their homes instead.

"Honey. The game is about to start soon, I think we should get ready." The wife said as she was about to leave.

"Like hell I'll be going! That school is trying to be a wannabe NBA game. I ain't going to a shitty game that's just a bunch of teenagers!" The husband is on the couch reading his newspaper.

"But honey, we need to go." The wife walked towards the husband.

"Or else he'll send us there." The wife whispered in the husband's ear.

"Pssh. Why do I care? It's not like someone is going to come into my house and put me in there or whatever you are talking about." The husband ignores his wife's eye contact.

"Honey for the last time, I've only met you two years ago and you don't know what this town is like." The wife kept whispering in his ear.

"Oh shut up! It's my right and I prefer to not go to that amateur game. So leave me alone!" The husband kept ignoring her eye contact.

"Well. It's your choice." The wife sighed as she left the house.

"Why doesn't this town make any great newspapers?" The husband kept flipping the newspaper.

"Oh maybe it's because you said we are a bunch of amateur teenagers old man."

The husband got his head out of the newspaper looking around. "What the! Who said that?"

"Me!" Laura pressed her cheek next to the man.

"Jesus! What in the world!" The man jumped out of his couch and stood up looking at Laura.

"What are you doing in my house?" 

"Well! I heard you're not heading to the basketball game and I would really appreciate it if you did come to the game." Laura gives a creepy smile at the husband.

"Look. You might be one of those kids from that high school, but I'm just not that interested in your lame basketball game."

"What did you say?" Laura's smile slowly turns into a frown.

"I said, I ain't going to your lame basketball game you damn kid! Now get out of my house!" The husband yelled in anger as he went towards his room.

In his room, he brought out his shotgun and loaded some shells. As he was about to walk back, something happened.

Suddenly, the man felt some pain.

[And it got worse]

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The man screamed in pain as he saw his severed left arm on the floor dropping his shotgun.

"FUCK! What the hell happened to my arm?!" The man on his knees trying to use his other hand to stop the bleeding.

"You shouldn't yell at me, you know." Laura smiling at the man bleeding.

"Also, I really like this ax from your shed! I think I'm gonna keep it!" Laura holding the ax with two hands.

"W-what are you going to do with me now? Kill me?" The man in pain.

"Well, my boyfriend likes to kill people. However, I have different plans for you!" Laura then karate chops the man, making him unconscious.

"I think you deserve some time out." Laura carrying the man's body leaving the severed arm behind.

Meanwhile, an unknown person, all in black clothing, has snuck into the husband's room looking around. Although they couldn't find something important, they found a shotgun next to the severed arm.

They pumped the shotgun to see what was inside the barrel and as expect a loaded shell was already in there.

"Perfect." They took the shotgun out of the man's house.

Meanwhile at the basketball game, John had front seats for the game watching Liam and his basketball team playing against the team of a prestigious school. 

"Come on guys! Kick their butts!" John cheering the team on.

The basketball team was playing hard as they didn't want to disappoint the King of High School.

"Come guys you heard the man!" Liam yelled at his teammates while passing the ball to Drake.

"Yeah! Let's get this point!" Drake then traveled towards the other team's hoop.

"Sweetie!" Laura walked towards John on the bleachers.

"Where were you at babe? You should've been here an hour ago." John gave Laura a frown.

"Well you see, I was checking to see who didn't come to the game! And there was one stupid old man who didn't come! So I decided to put him in timeout! I hope I didn't disappoint you!" Laura sitting with John.

"Sure you did well." John sighing.

"Really thank you thank you thank you!" Laura gives John a big hug.

"Get off of me you bitch." John shoving Laura away.

In the game, Drake was traveling as the other team's hoop was near his reach. As he was there, the whole crowd cheered on him.

"You got this Drake!" Laura screaming at the top of her lungs.

However, as Drake was about to slam dunk, the captain of the other team negated Drakes dunk slamming the ball on his face.

The whole crowd was in disappointment as Drake was on the floor with basketball marks on his face.

"Wow. You made a terrible choice choosing Drake as a basketball player." John in disappointment. 

"B-but it can't be. I thought Drake was one of the best players." Laura in shock.

As she sat back down, Laura wanted to ask something.

"Hey sweetie. Do you still hate Scott?"

"Yep. He's the person responsible for killing Troy. Why do you ask?" John not making any eye contact with her.

"Well ever since his death, you were somewhat depressed and as your girlfriend, I want to make you happy you know. Will his death make you happy?"

"Sure. If he's dead, we can find another student to replace him and finally have our happy ending." 

"Alrighty! I wonder where Scott is now?" Laura putting her finger on her lip.

On the top floor of the school in a classroom, Jim and Dwayne were playing chess to pass the time while the game was still going on.

"When is this basketball game over? I want to get out of here and stop playing this stupid game." Dwayne is struggling in chess.

"Hey, we don't have a choice either to go to the game or get killed." Jim put his king close to Dwayne's queen.

"Checkmate!" 

"Damn it!" Dwayne flipping over the chessboard.

"How do you do this stupid game?" Dwayne being stressed out.

"Brains my man. Brains." Jim pointed to his brain.

"Do you now think brains are better than brawn?"

"Like hell I'll admit. I think muscles are better than brains."

"Can you both be quiet! I need to write my poem for my club." Scott having difficulty focusing.

"Are you really working on a poem?" Jim looked at Scott.

"Yeah because ever since the pep rally, the whole basketball team kept harassing me as they kept throwing paper at me, trying to eat my refreshments, and always interrupting Natalie's sessions. Laura is so desperate of wanting me to confess about me killing Troy."

"Did you actually kill him? Don't mind me saying that since me and Dwayne weren't there." Jim was a bit hesitant to ask his question.

"No! All I did was self-defense. Troy tried to kill me and I just pushed him back. I didn't know that the car would explode behind him." Scott pressed hard on his paper with his pen.

"So you technically killed him." 

"What? No! The car exploded so the car killed him! Not me!"

"But he crashed into a bulldozer which you made him do, causing the car to leak gas, start smoking and then made a kaboom."

Scott then snapped. "But he tried to kill me with his car! What am I supposed to do about it!"

As Scott realized that he had an outburst, he regretted his decision and saw Jim. But what he saw was Jim a bit terrified of Scott after yelling at him.

"Oh crap. Jim, I'm sorry that I yelled at you. I was just stressed about the basketball team on my ass for no reason."

"It's okay Scott, the basketball team was also harassing my club after they kept messing up Mr. Hazelnut's experiments."

"So how do you and Dwayne handle those guys?"

"Well, Mr. Hazelnut decided to make us visit the classroom at the exact time so we can have the chance to lock our door preventing one of them from entering the classroom."

"What about Dwayne's wrestling match."

"Na bro. I decided to quit the club until those bastards stop harassing my club members." Dwayne puts the chessboard and its pieces back on the desk.

"I mean the team kept harassing some of the members to the point where some people, including me, decided to quit the team."

"Aw geez, that sucks. So those guys are still trying to harass you and not only me?" Scott looked at both Jim and Dwayne.

"Yep." Jim and Dwayne both said at the same time.

Suddenly, the classroom door opened. 

"Excuse me guys. Can I be in this classroom? I need to find some good rhymes for my poem." Bryan came to the room with his poem in his hand.

As Bryan got closer to Scott, he noticed him. "Scott! You're in here too."

"Yep. Didn't want to watch the basketball game so my friends and I decided to hunker in this classroom until the game was over."

"Ah sweet. I tried to finish this poem in the bathroom, but I couldn't focus due to the loud noise from the game."

"Same here Bryan. I wanted to finish mine, but the basketball team kept harassing us so I decided to finish it somewhere else."

Scott then looked at Jim and Dwayne, and Bryan. "Oh shoot! I forgot to introduce you guys to each other. Bryan, these are my friends, Jim and Dwayne. Jim and Dwayne, this is my friend from gym class and poetry class, Bryan."

"Nice to meet you dude!" Jim shakes his hand to Bryan.

"Yeah nice to meet you!" Dwayne putting his hands on Bryan's shoulders.

"Uhh yeah. Nice to meet you too." Bryan chuckled a little bit. 

"So Scott, how did you meet Jim and Dwayne?"

"Well, it was a long and short story at the same time. I met Jim because Troy kept bullying him for answers on his precalc work. When I got to know him a little more, I saw that he had suffered from starvation and hypothermia because of how John abducted him to fit in his 'fairytale' he wanted to pursue. For this, I helped him go to the doctor and gave him a better name which to this day I'm trying to find out what Jim's real name is."

"Oh my God. That's just awful." Bryan covered his mouth with his hands.

"W-What about you Dwayne. How did you meet Scott?" Bryan looking at Dwayne.

"In the library. Compared to Mr. Brain is better than Muscle's story, I was framed by Troy because of my weight, but then Scott helped me not only get my position back but promote me to the captain of the football team."

"Dwayne, can you shut up about the Brain vs Muscle shit?" Scott gives an angry stare at Dwayne.

"Sorry." Dwayne told Scott.

"Wait, Troy? The guy who was exposed for assaulting other students? I heard about that incident on the intercom." Bryan looking at Jim and Dwayne.

"Yeah, he's the same guy who also murdered my best friend, but I couldn't blame him as his pride consumed him." Scott looked outside.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Scott." Bryan sympathizes with him.

"But I also want to confess. I feel like this town has slowly become a nightmare."

"Yeah Bryan. We have all realized since October."

"So I'm not the only one feeling that?"

"No Bryan, there's a lot of things that have been unusual in this town." Scott looked at Bryan.

"Like my apartment used to be a fake video game store with just pictures on the window." Jim added on to Scott.

"Or the grocery stores filled with junk food." Dwayne added on to Jim.

"My God. I never realized. I tried to tell myself it's all imaginary but no matter how hard I tried, it always comes back." Bryan being a bit terrified.

"When I came here when I was sixteen, I remember moving here with my mom after we got off the train. However, after I got my luggage from the compartment, I saw that my mom was missing."

"What happened to her?" Scott questions Bryan as he turns on his voice memo on his phone.

"I don't know. I tried to tell my mom's name to see if she answered, but she didn't. However, one person was instead in front of me."

"Are you Bryan!" As the crowd started to thin, someone familiar was approaching him.

"Who are you?" Bryan shaking with his hands full of luggage.

"Oh me. My name is John Decker, the King of High School." John smiles at Bryan.

"Um hi. Look sir. I don't know you and I don't know how you know my name but I need to find my mom." Bryan walked away from John.

"Oh your mom. I think she's alright. I think she's already in the house you guys are moving into!" John tried to be happy with Bryan, but he wasn't buying it.

"Here let me help you carry your luggage." John snatched one of Bryan's luggage.

"Hey. What are you do-"

"Come on bro! I'll take you to your new house! Just follow me!" John interrupts Bryan.u

"Since then, I didn't have a choice but to follow John. He was very condescending and I tried to find my mom at the station, but he kept grabbing my arm and pulling me towards his bus." Bryan tells Scott, Dwayne and Jim.

"Alright Bryan! Ready to head to your new home!" John introduced his school bus.

"Uh….sure but what about-"

"Get in there!" John buses Bryan on the bus. "And don't worry about your luggage!" John throws back Bryan's luggage at him.

After throwing his luggage, John got on the bus and drove back to Sunshine Valley.

"As I got on the bus, I wasn't the only one there but many people my age ranging from fourteen to eighteen. I saw that they were terrified and were forced to smile as John kept watching them from the rear view mirror." Bryan looked at the parked school bus outside.

"That's weird, John abducted Jim by force, while you were patronized to come here." Scott questions Bryan.

"Absolutely. Even when John showed me to my house, my mom wasn't there. Since then, I've been praying that my mom was somewhere out here and that I can see her again." Bryan cried a little.

"Have you even talked to those kids on the bus?"

"No, even if I tried, the others were terrified as John was having a close eye on us."

"Oh."

"However, after I moved in, one of the students from the same bus lived near me and sent me a message from my mailbox."

"And what did it say when you opened it?" 

"It said, 'Help me. My uncle is missing and I am so scared and lonely. Please help me. Anyone!'with the writing looking like chicken scratch."

"Holy crap. Bryan, do you want to join us? Because ever since hearing your story, it felt like something we also been through. I know you're scared and we all are, but it's better to stick together in order to get out of his hell hole. So what do you say Bryan."

"Yes. As long as we can find my mom." Bryan putting down his hand.

"As I can see my family again." Jim joining Bryan's hand.

"To help you guys." Dwayne putting down his hand.

"And to finally solve this case." Scott putting down his hand.

Outside, there was a noise, as Scott, Jim, Dwayne, and Bryan all rushed to the window, they saw what seemed to be people leaving the school.

"I think the game is over. Let's get out of here guys." 

"Yeah." Jim, Dwayne and Bryan screamed as they left the classroom.

A few hours after the game, it was midnight and Drake was at a basketball court. Holding something.

"You know, it wasn't nice of you to smack me with a basketball. Don't you think so?" Drake talking to what seemed to be a decapitated head from the captain of the basketball team.

"Yeah I thought so." Drake then threw the head to a basketball hoop making it through.

"Ahem. Excuse me Drake sweetie. May I have a word with you?" Laura appeared out of the dark.