“I’m home.”

Ace’s parents both worked until about 7 p.m so he was the only one home but that wasn’t the reason behind his depressed tone of voice. Every time that Ace came home, he was reminded of something that stung him deeply.

Something that he could never forget no matter how hard he tried, and the harder he tried, the more he remembered. Every time he thought about it, his mood went downhill and he would start to be depressed, so he tried to suppress the thought. He didn’t want to put his mood down after a good first day of school, so he looked up, slapped both his hands against his cheeks, put a smile on his face, and went on with his day.

He quickly rushed upstairs, changed out of his uniform into something lighter, and hopped on the game to find Isa waiting for him in a voice chat.

“What took you so long? We got home at the same time.”

“Shut up, it was only a few seconds longer than you. I’m gonna flick you for that tomorrow.”

“No way, that doesn’t count, that wasn’t dumb compared to what you said about sniffing popsicles.”

“Fine, it cancels out only today. What we playing?”

“Get on the gun game, we haven’t played that in a while.”

“OK, hopping on right now.”

Ace clicked a few buttons on his controller and started to get excited.

“I’m feeling good today, gonna drop way more kills than you.”

“Bet on it, if you drop more kills than me, not only will I buy you a popsicle tomorrow, I’ll buy them for the rest of the week.”

“What if I lose?”

Ace felt his best friend put on a dark grin behind the headset.

“You buy me popsicles for the rest of the week and….”

“…”

Ace started to get nervous at what his friend was going to say.

“You eat your first red popsicle tomorrow!”

“HAHAHAHA, yeah right that’s happening, bring it on!”

Ace, carried along in the heat of the moment, forgot all about how good Isa was at games, specifically at shooting games.

They were playing a team death-match. In this mode, there are two teams who have to reach a certain amount of kills to win.

Ace and Isa were on the same team but that didn’t matter because the challenge was on who could get the more kills, not which team won.

They both tried their hardest, dropping a bunch of kills, without the rest of their team needing to do much work.

When the game was about halfway over, Ace and Isa were about tied. Ace suddenly felt an intense aura coming from somewhere.

There was only one person who could emit such a thing.

“Time to get serious.”

Behind the headset was Isa with a deep tone, ready to go all-out.

“Shoot.”

Ace thought Isa was trying his hardest throughout the first half of the game but, he was mistaken.

Isa knew that Ace was an average player so he played at the same level, keeping their kills equal just so he could brutally destroy him and crush his hopes of winning.

With a dark laugh coming through the headset, Ace already accepted his defeat, decreasing the amount of kills he was getting per every death.

The opposite was happening on the other side of the headset.

Isa was going crazy and wiping out the whole other team while laughing about it the whole time. You’d expect an extreme level of concentration with a string of kills like this, but it was the complete opposite.

“He’s a madman.”

“HAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!”

Ace’s controller was already placed on the floor, unneeded by it’s owner. If the controller had emotions, it would feel like a cat who was kept in a house to keep mice away, only for the owners to realize that it’s allergic to mice, then putting it up for adoption. The controller would feel a great deal of sorrow and would be unable to go on in life without a purpose.

Finally, the game had finished, with Isa winning by a landslide. Ace never wanted tomorrow to come, knowing that he had to taste the poison called the red popsicle.

“Prepare yourself for tomorrow, haha.”

“You’re crazy. I refuse, I can’t eat that popsicle.”

“Hahahahaha, you can’t back out of this one.”

“Putting that thing in my mouth is like drinking raw venom. That’s like French kissing a snake!”

“Oui, oui, get ready to start smooching.”

Ace had to prepare himself for tomorrow, a day that he never wants to see.

“Fine, I’ll eat the damn thing.”

“Hahaha, yes you will.”

After that, they played a few more games, Isa dropping way more kills than the rest of the team in each game. Ace played for a while but decided to take a break and get off the game.

“That was fun, I’ll see you tomorrow Isa.”

“Hahaha, tomorrow, hahaha.”

Ace got completely immersed in the game, forgetting about the bet they made about two hours ago.

“AHHH, SHUT UP ALREADY, DON’T REMIND ME!”

“HAHAHAHAHA!!”

Isa sounded like he was the villain of a superhero movie as he was laughing. Ace had to accept his defeat like a man.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, hmhmhm.”

“Trying to make your laugh quieter doesn’t make it any better, later.”

Ace shut off his console and went downstairs where he saw his dad, returning home from work.

“Oh, Ace, how was school?”

“Not bad, I’m in the same class as my friends.”

“Good for you, after I change, want to go outside and play some basketball?”

“Sure, but you sure you won’t crack your back?”

Ace didn’t talk too much with his parents, but when it came to a challenge, he just couldn’t resist. His dad knew how to get on his good side.

“Hahaha, it’ll hold out long enough to beat you.”

“Don’t think you’ll beat me just because you’re a few centimetres taller.”

“We will see about that.”

His dad went upstairs and changed into some sporty attire to play against his son.

They both went outside and played rock, paper, scissors to see who started with the ball.

“Haha, I start.”

Ace won the rock, paper, scissors to gain first possession of the ball.

“Didn’t really matter to me, I’ll win either way.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, old man.”

“Old man?! You’re gonna regret that.”

His dad said with a deadly smile on his face, his rage showing through his skin.

Ace was the star point guard of his team and his dad knew this but, he also played some basketball back in his day, so he was determined to win.

Ace started with a few dribbles through his leg, a crossover, then drove towards the basket. He zoomed past his dad and started to layup when,

“HAHAHA, as if I’d let that go by me!”

He was blocked by his dad.

Ace was shocked, this was a mental blow that will stay with Ace for the rest of his life, a memory he will have to carry with him, and a bragging right for his dad, usable at any time.

Ace’s determination dropped but, this game was up to 15 so he could still make up for it by winning this game.

“I’m not done yet.”

Ace grabbed the ball that was free from the block and resumed his dribble. They were on the road so there was no 3 point line, but Ace distanced himself from the basket to reset the play.

He played the possession more safe, shooting a mid-range shot that Ace was proficient in. His dad tried to block it, but he was getting older so he was not fast enough to close the distance between him and Ace.

*Swish*

2 points for Ace.

“You may have blocked me but, I’ll still win this game.”

“Hahaha, you got blocked by an old man.”

Ace tried the same play again, but failed in sinking the mid range so his dad now had possession.

Ace’s dad was taller and a little more built than Ace so he had the advantage when closer to the net.

He used his body to slowly move closer to the net, Ace unable to resist the strength of his dad. His dad then rose up and did a layup, Ace not being able to make up for the height difference.

2 points for Joshua Bracker.

The game kept going like this until it was 14-13, Ace having 14 points and it was Ace’s possession.

Ace slowly dribbled towards the net, switching the hand he held the ball as he moved forward. He then did a spin move, his dad being unable to react due to his old age. Ace was going for the same layup he did at the start of the game.

A smile came onto Joshua Bracker’s face, ready to deliver another block.

Ace jumped up, going for a layup on the right side of the backboard, his dad jumping in the same direction when suddenly...

Ace switched to a reverse layup on the other side of the backboard and scored the bucket.

“LETSSS GOOOO!! I WIN! Take that old man!”

You could see the disappointment on his father's face when he realized he missed the block.

“You got lucky this time, but next time, you won’t have that same attitude.”

“Whatever you say.”

A car suddenly pulled up to their house and inside was Ace’s mom, Selena Bracker.

“What’s this? Joshua playing like he did back in high school?”

“You should’ve seen me, I was just like the star I used to be.”

“What’re you talking about, you were a bench player.”

Ace was unable to contain his laughter, his dad being exposed by his own wife.

She parked the car, and they all went inside. Ace and his dad both went to take a shower, while Ace’s mom prepared dinner.

Once they finished up with their showers, there was pasta ready in the kitchen for all three of them.

Ace lost the rush he had earlier and was back to his antisocial-at-home self.

“Looks good mom.”

Ace praised his mom’s food unenthusiastically, but she knew that it was genuine, so she had a smile on her face.

They all sat at the table and ate their dinner. Ace rushed to eat his dinner and went back to his room to indulge his hobbies of watching sports, watching anime, and reading manga.

“Ace! Come down, let’s watch a movie!”

His mom called him down, Ace sighing at the thought, ignoring her request.

“Come down, hurry, or I’ll ground you!”

Ace brought himself downstairs, upset from the blackmail he received from his mom.

Ace sat himself on the couch, away from his mom, but his mom kept a smile on her face. His dad was busy with some work, so he didn’t watch with them.

The movie was about an hour and a half, and it was a basketball movie.

His mom was being considerate since she forced him to watch with her.

The movie was about a boy who was the worst on his team but tried his hardest and succeeded in making it on the starting lineup in his last year of high school and winning the national tournament.

The movie was quite good, a movie that Ace could relate to and one that didn't bore you halfway through.

Once the movie ended, his mom had tears streaming from her eyes. Ace also had a small twinkle of liquid in his eyes, but he quickly rubbed it away because he didn’t want to show his mom that.

His mom hugged Ace really tight after the movie, crying tears of joy at the movie.

“Mom, get off me.”

Ace didn’t forcefully remove his mom from hugging him, but he felt embarrassed, so he tried to get her off.

“Just a little longer, that movie was really sad.”

“*sigh*”

After a few more minutes, his mom took herself off of Ace and wiped away her tears.

“Thank you, Ace. Spend some more time with your mom please, she gets lonely.”

“Ok, ok.”

Ace gave a slightly sarcastic response to his mom’s request. He then got up and went back to his room when he realized that it was getting late.

He watched some anime before shutting off his lamp and calling it a night. He drifted off into a deep sleep for a few hours, when...

He was suddenly woken up, surrounded by nothing but white.