My Dreams Aren't Nice

Flash

"Let's pick it up!", Doug shouted to his team of 5 he had picked for their first game who were playing the subs. Derek successfully blocked one of the subs from scoring. "That's what I'm talking about", Doug shouted, "Good work, keep it going". A kid called Vic threw the ball in and Patrick intercepted it and passed it to Derek who was free. Derek started dribbling up the court towards the oppositions net, looking to score. "Keep going", Doug called out, "Go". Derek was about to shoot when a bigger kid, Sean, knocked him right off his feet. "For fucks sake!", Doug screamed and called a time-out. Derek picked himself back up as Sean got an earful from Doug. "You good?", Patrick asked, passing Derek a bottle of water. "Yeah", Derek answered, "Just wasn't expecting it". "Sean never plays by the rules", Patrick pointed out, "He got banned from the Football team cause he used an illegal move". "Breaks over guys", Doug said, "Free throw for Derek". Derek held the ball in his hands and closed his eyes. He bounced it twice off the court floor and threw. The ball went perfectly through the net. He just hoped it would go as smoothly on game day. 

When practice was over, Derek said goodbye to the team he was playing with the next week and he started to walk home. He decided he needed a walk to clear his mind and had texted Elle and Gary not to pick him up. As Derek breathed the cool winter air into his lungs, he saw a police car drive by. He had read about a murder that happened a few streets up from him and he assumed it was something to do with that. Derek thought about Marlene and he just knew she was extending the pain by pleading not guilty. He wondered how the other kids were doing ad hoped they were doing okay. The circumstances had brought them together and when they got rescued, none of them took each other's details. Derek thought about them from time to time. But this incident was going to bring them together again if they liked it or not. 

When Derek reached home Elle was just serving the family dinner. "Here's the next Michael Jordon", Gary joked, "How was practice?". "It was great", Derek said, "We have our game next week and I got picked". "Hey hey", Gary said, holding his fist out for a knuckle touch, "That's great". Derek sat beside Gary as Elle took her seat opposite her husband. "Is school going okay?", Elle asked, tucking into her potatoes and pork chops. "It's fine", Derek said, "I just get on with it". Elle nodded, "Yeah school sucks sometimes". Derek ate his dinner and finished first, he washed his plate and went up to his room to complete his homework. Derek watched the news highlights on his phone. "Police are still confused on a series of murders that have taken place over the last four nights", the woman anchor said, "Each woman has been blonde and on her own, so please, lock your doors and keep a weapon handy". Derek turned the highlights off after that and went to bed. He wondered if the police would catch the serial killer. As he went to bed Derek fell into a dreamless sleep. Later, he would learn a terrible truth.