Campbell’s eyes flicked over to the scoreboard. The game had only just started, but they already had a small lead. Hopefully they could keep it.

He looked at his brother and felt a knot in his stomach. He didn’t like the fact that his brother was the one in the limelight. He didn’t like that his brother was the only one to score points on their team.

The knot twisted in his stomach, as something in the deepest recesses of his brain whispered to him. Just a couple points won’t hurt, right?

He had crossed the line and found his place just outside the paint while all of this was going on. The rest of his team and the defending team had done the same, and now they were just waiting for the point guard to bring the ball down into play.

He kept himself on the balls of his feet, ready to move around at a moment’s notice. He looked around, observing the other players’ positions so that he could try and make an opening to score.

His defender was close but wasn’t sticking to him. There was a wide enough gap that he would be able to move easily. But at the same time, it meant that he would have a harder time trying to shake his defender off.

It was like the defender could tell that he was getting antsy.

He tried to calm himself down so that he wouldn’t give away anything.

The point guard passed the ball to Dylan, and for a moment Campbell could feel his heart in his throat. But Dylan’s defender stuck to him and stopped him from getting the chance to score.

The ball got passed back to the point guard, then it bounced around between everyone as they tried to find an opening.

Campbell had his back to the hoop and crossed over from one elbow of the paint to the other, crossing in front of the point guard who had the ball.

His defender sped up to get in front of him to prevent Campbell from breaking into the paint. At the same time, he closed the distance between them, knowing that they didn’t have much time left on the shot clock.

The ball passed through the air and over the defending point guard’s head while Campbell was half way through switching sides.

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The ball fell into Campbell’s hands forcing him to make a decision. Should he speed up to get around his defender? Should he try and cut in now while the defender was still running to the left? Or should he try and take the shot from here?

He came to a decision and spun half way around, breaking into a sprint as he charged for the hoop.

All of this happened in an instant, and the defender didn’t have the chance to react. He tried to catch up, but because he had to shift his momentum in almost the complete opposite direction, he still lagged behind.

The defending centre and small forward were also helpless to do anything, as their guys had either were now hassling them and stopping them from getting closer.

The area between him and the hoop was completely open. He bounded forward in a few big strides, picked up the ball in both hands, and leapt into the sky.

He brought the ball back, and like a pendulum, swung it down into the net. The ball crashed through the net with such force that the hoop shook. He stayed in the air for a second as he held onto the hoop.

While he was up there, he looked back and locked eyes with his brother. He felt a wave of superiority wash over him, and that he had clawed back a bit of his pride.

He may not have scored as many points as his brother had so far, but he had done it in a far more dominant fashion.

He shook the thoughts away and landed on the ground. He quickly picked up the pace and caught up with the rest of the team as they made their way to the other side.

He didn’t look back at his brother, but he could feel him watching him. He has to know about what’s going on, right?

The more he played and moved around, the more that he realised that this wasn’t a dream. There was no way a dream could be this realistic.

Somehow, he really was playing a game of basketball with his dead brother.

He couldn’t figure out how. There was nothing he had ever heard of on Earth that could possibly explain it. But he knew it was true.

He also felt that his brother must’ve had a hand to play in all of this as well. Or at least knew what was going on. What is he going to do? He won’t intentionally stuff up so that I score more than him, right?

That thought felt like a bucket of ice cold water had been dumped on his head. If that really was the case, then he didn’t feel like scoring any more points.

I’ll have to keep an eye on him from now on. See how he plays this out.

They reached the other end of the court and got into position defending their men.

Campbell’s head was on a constant swivel. The score was currently 6-2, and he wanted to keep it that way. He hoped that he could make this game just a bit easier later on by taking a commanding lead in the first half.

He stayed close to his man, constantly shifting position with him and not giving him the chance to get away. He also kept an eye out on the other’s that were nearby just so that he could step in and help defend if need be.

The attacking point guard suddenly sped up to try and get past his defender before crossing the ball back between his legs and screeching to a stop behind the three point line.

Before anyone could react, he jumped.

The score was now 6-5.