Everest
Chapter 1: Constipated Referee
It was a early Saturday morning, and the Ayalas were at the local gymnasium. Everyone, besides Harry, was in a grumpy mood. Harry had made everyone wake up at 5 AM to come here. Why? Well, his best friend Gloat was playing in the championship for his basketball team. He needed all the support he could get. Besides it being the championship game, there are some rumors of a D1 scout watching the game.
TWEET! The whistle blew, and the gold bracket championship game had begun. Gloat won the tip-off, and ran down the court. He got the ball, and sank a DEEP three. He was guarding the star player of the other team, a league legend, Leon Frayso. Leon sprinted down the court at what had to be 25 MPH. He was even faster than Gloat, and that was saying something. Not only was he fast, he was tall, strong, and GOOD.
He passed it, got it back, took Gloat’s ankles, and dunked the basketball so hard that the rim disconnected from the hoop. Gloat was on the ground, eyes wide with fear, and mouth hanging wide open. The entire stadium was silent, except for the Frayso family.
The family shouted, “Leon, we might have to pay for that!. Leon, why you no slam it harder?! Leon, why the other players still alive? Leon, if you can’t break the hoop, then don’t dunk. IDIOT.”
They were a questionable family. Mom looked horribly tired. She had rings around her eyes, and her hair looked like a tumbleweed. She had not been getting a lot of sleep lately. It had been months since they received the mysterious note from the Ex-Trio. Everyone else had long since forgotten about it, but Mom still worried all the time. She thought the Ex-Trio would find them, and kill them, or worse.
This supposedly 10 minute break had turned out to be more of an hour. The refs had to call the janitor to fix it, and that took about 7 minutes. Then, this ref, Mr. Noah, had to use the restroom. His full name is Rushing Noah, and he had a bad reputation. He was a short man in his late 80’s. He was about 5’2, 85 pounds. He had a goatee, a handlebar mustache, and looked like the average broke hobo. He was known for having constipation and diarrhea at the same time. Gross, yeah. Impossible, yeah. Easy target, yeah. He was in there for about a half hour, when someone went in to check on him.
They asked, “You OK in there?”
“I’ll be right out… hopefully,” Mr. Noah replied. The person seemed fine with that answer and reported back to the group, telling the whole bleachers about the situation in the bathroom. It was just 15 minutes later when the ref finally came striding out of the bathroom. Except, it wasn’t the ref. He looked like the ref to anyone who doesn’t know Mr. Noah, but Harry and Karen immediately realized something was up. The ref started the game back up. The crowds were even louder than before, this one concession guy really getting everybody in the stands hyped up. Karen and Harry eyed each other, and they both knew that the other was thinking the same.
Karen and Harry were about to tell their parents, but the crowd was way too loud. It was going to have to wait. That was their first mistake.
It was the 4th Quarter, with 1:25 left on the clock, and Gloat’s team was down by five. Gloat’s team started with 12 players, but 8 of tem fouled out or were ejected from the game because of arguing with refs. Now, it was up to Gloat and 3 others to win this championship against Leon Frayso, and his crew.
Gloat took the ball down the court, and made a quick pass. He drove the lane, getting past Frayso. He got the ball, and made an easy layup. Score, 57-54. Leon Frayso got the ball, dribbled down the court, and shot a three. He missed, as it rolled around 5 times, and fell out. He expressed his frustration by throwing his teammate into another one. Gloat’s teammate got the rebound, and passed it to Gloat. There were now 3 seconds left in the game. Gloat was running out of time. He dribbled to the three point line, and shot. The ball soared in the air, until Leon Frayso jumped up 4 feet and smacked the ball. The ball instantly deflated, but somehow went into the other goal. Leon Frayso and the Titans had won again. They had just pulled off a three peat. Final Score, 60-54, Titans. The Cavaliers walked off the court sweating and demoralized. They mumbled and grumbled, “ Frayso… Steroids… Bum ref… Benched the ENTIRE game.”
The complaints were worse than the looks on their faces, and those expressions could kill. The concession guy was pumped up, and everyone in the Titans crowd got HYPE. When Leon Frayso announced he was signing autographs, the crowd rushed onto the court, knocking tons of people over. The Ayalas lost sight of the court, Gloat, and each other. All of a sudden, the room went dark. It was a black as the coal that Harry got for Christmas.
Nobody could see anything, and people were running and tripping, blood spilling everywhere. The Ayalas heard a voice, it sounded like Gloat, or someone familiar. They had definitely heard this voice before. The voice called out, “ Mr. Ayala, come here. Harry, come here!”
They couldn’t see and were afraid of being trampled, like everyone else in the room. So, they decided to follow this voice. They believed they were safe, but there was still that thought popping up in the back of their head. What if this person is not who we think? What if they are a murderer, or a villain, or a person from their dark past? They had no way of knowing, and were walking in faith. They walked, step by step as a family, all hands enclosed in anothers. They finally reached the end of the darkness, and realized that they were outside.
It felt so good to see the light. After countless seconds of horror and terror, they felt safe outside. It was warm, and the sun shone brightly. But then they looked around for the person, and could not find them. They were alone in a parking lot, one they had not seen before. This was not the same court. This was not the same neighborhood. Bigger, this was not the same city, state, or maybe even country.
Everyone was confused. They had no idea what was going on and why.
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