3 The League

After arriving at the front of the apartment complex I saw the stairs that led up to the third floor. Cold hard steps. Taking each step required a lot of effort. I saw the people coming in and out of their homes entering others or leaving them. Most of the people I saw were mostly down on life.

I made sure to check for my keys and found at least three of them around a ring that had them tied together. I tried the first one and it barely fit because it was small. The second one was too large and had a weird pattern going through it. The last one fit perfectly and then I slowly twisted righty tighty then a pull.

The door opened and what set upon me was mostly darkness and a couch to the left of me with some TV on illuminating through the room with the bright blue rays. I then heard the snoring that came after the background noise from the TV. It seemed to be a woman with dark brown hair that seemed to be messy and had a track shirt and pants that were rather worn a lot on while sleeping.

I'm guessing that is mom. The floor was made with a soft texture of, carpet. Though comfortable could be a disaster if people are messy. It seemed to be pretty clean but then I kept seeing dyes of sorts from either paint of some kind.

I decided to sneakily walkthrough and heard a murmur from behind my back.

"hnngjhf ichiiii"

I quickly ignored it and tiptoed a little quicker towards a room that looked like mine. I walked down the hallway seeing the bathroom and then seeing Mom's room. I then saw the door with a sign on it, saying "TRESPASSERS NOT ALLOWED" from down up and it gave me a small chuckle.

I opened the door and I felt the fatigue I quickly saw the silky smooth red blanket on the bed and fell onto it. I quickly fell into the thought of where I was. I took in the surroundings as I ran. To be honest I've never been this attentive to detail in my life. I've always been tunnel-visioned and focused on just the destination and not the journey.

Seeing as though I'm currently in Japan though I don't know which city I am from. My name is Ichiro Reo as I checked my student I.D which had a kid with a sort of sad smile on his face. He had dark hair with the sides and back cut. The eyes were like a neon blue sort of color. The rest seemed normal apart from a current bruise on his cheek and a scratch on the forehead.

I decided to check on the cracked phone and look up the "NBA" it seems it still exists but the players seem different. It seemed it really is national and all nations are actually involved in the sport, the USA is no longer the one who owns it. It's now named the American League and it seems there are multiple leagues now.

The American League obviously dominated but it seems other countries have started getting more competitive as talent seemed to be on the rise. The European league with its natural finesse and fundamentals. China League popular for American League players retirement homes.

Then there was the J-League or Japanese League for longer terms. It had recently spiked up in ferocity as players seemed to be getting better and taller as well. Japan was known for its playmaking and teamwork plays but never had a true ace. There were other leagues for basketball as well such as in South America and some more civilized parts in Africa.

Becoming a basketball pro seemed so easy at the moment and maybe I could lead a team to the World Tournament. Right now I was this random middle schooler. I don't know what happened on that court, but right now I have a chance to lead a better and more fortunate life.

After that research, it's been about 3 hours as I sort of hyperfocused on it without any thought of other things. I heard a knock on the door. Then the door was opened, there weren't any locks at all. I guess that's what you expect over a middle schooler. I then saw the same woman as before but it seemed she had a look of worry but then it later became a scolding sort of look.

"Who hurt you! I'll call the school about this problem!"

"Oh, these scars? I just fell down while trying to get up these stairs."

I stood up strong and no shaking involved

"Well if you said why didn't you text me about it! Let's go to the clinic right now!"

Well, we went to the clinic to get some small bandages that covered the bruise. Mom seemed to be very worried but over it quickly after seeing me doing alright and well-rested we went back home.

"Okay go do your chores and then your homework I'll be back by the morning to make you breakfast ok?"

"Yes ma"

My mom got close to me and kissed me on the forehead before leaving through the door. I checked to see if I had the backpack or it was still at the school. It wasn't there.

I got dressed and wore some converse along with some shorts and a normal white tee. As I walked the streets taking the same way back and memorizing the places I ran, I got to the school.

I saw that the game was done and the gym was empty. I pushed open the gym door and saw the empty stadium. There was still a ball there though. I saw my backpack at the side where the stands were. I still walked towards the ball to touch it once more. The familiar feeling that he thought would feel wasn't there, in his mind he knew but to his body, it was something new.

It was basketball once again.