Chasing Cities

Separated

~Sinikka's POV~

"I forgot about time zones," my father declared as we sat in the kitchen of my mother's old house, which was now my father's second house according to Mom's will. "It's going to be midnight quite soon here, but it's evening in New York."

"We should probably go back soon," I suggested. "You have to get back to Tampa in time for your game against the Lightning. Also, jet lag during a game is never fun."

"Right," my dad took a sip out of the cup of tea that he'd made for himself. "I want to stay here a little longer, though. I've missed Savonlinna so much, and I just found out that I'm able to come back here without having to take a plane. I was supposed to come here in July, but I'm here now in February."

"Dad, come on!" I gasped. "You can't just stop playing for the Bruins now! You're in the middle of a season!"

"I understand, Sinikka," my father replied calmly. "I will just tell everyone that I'm taking a break for personal health reasons. And it will only be for a few days, so it won't be as big of a deal as you're making it."

"You're lying to your fans!" I continued. "They trust you, and you're going to lie right to their faces!"

"Don't raise your voice," Dad scolded me. "Most Bruins fans don't even trust me. They take a huge crap on me every time I dare to let in a single goal! Look, Sinikka, I won't lie. I'll tell them I'm taking a mental health break. Being here in our gorgeous hometown always helps improve my mental health. That's true!"

I shook my head. "Stop making excuses, Dad. I would be okay with it if you were taking a mental health break for real, but this is a big fat lie. I haven't heard you complain about any depression or anxiety episodes in months!"

He just rolled his eyes at me, and that made me furious.

"Fine!" I exclaimed. "If you want to be that way, go ahead. I'm going to Tampa to tell Cassidy that you are lying!"

When I mentioned Tampa, the portal opened up in front of me. Without having a second thought cross my mind about what I was doing, I jumped out of Finland and into Florida.

I landed on my back again, so I laid down for a few seconds as I massaged my sore back. When I stood up, I noticed that I hadn't landed on a beach or somewhere near AMALIE Arena. Instead, I had been teleported right into the middle of a residential street.

It didn't look like a very nice street either. The buildings all looked abandoned and broken down, and there was all sorts of pollution and smoke in the air.

"Oh, no," I noted to myself. "Of course I landed in the bad part of town..."

My phone started to ring, which startled me. I ducked into an alley so no one would see me, because I knew that as a child in the bad part of a big city, I was certainly not safe from kidnappers and other people who would try to harm me.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket to see who the caller was. When I saw that the caller ID said that it was my father, I immediately declined. I was still angry at him for deciding to stay home in Savonlinna even though he had more Bruins games to play.

"No thank you," I murmured as I stuffed the phone back into my pocket. I'd rather get lost in the middle of Florida than talk to my father right now.

Not even two minutes later, my phone started to ring again. I groaned and pulled my phone out of my pocket, but to my delight, it wasn't my father's name on my screen. Instead, it was the name of Jaroslav Halak.

"Hi, Jaro!" I exclaimed at the Bruins' backup goaltender. "What's going on? Why did you call me?"

"Hello, Sinikka," came Jaro's rough voice from the other end. "I called you because of a message I just got from your father. He says that you ran away from him and...got in a portal? I'm not sure what that means, but he's panicking because you're really far away from him and he can't find you."

I groaned. "Tell him that that's his problem, not mine. You see, we found this portal, and we somehow managed to go to Savonlinna, our hometown in Finland. My father refused to come back to Tampa, even though he's supposed to start in goal against the Lightning, so I just went back on my own. If he wants to stop whining about being homesick and come back to Florida to do his job, then I will talk to him. If not, his situation is his own business."

"Tuukka won't be happy to hear that," Jaro commented, as if that wasn't obvious.

"Of course he won't," I scoffed. "He wants to stay in his little paradise forever. I get wanting to stay in our hometown, because I love it a lot too, but the Bruins season is far from over. He needs to have patience, which starts with hauling his ass back here to Tampa. If he gets upset at that, tell him to get out of Finland and come here to America to talk to me himself. Goodbye, Jaroslav."

I hung up angrily before Halak could get another word in. I didn't like making any of my father's teammates angry at me, as most of them were very kind people who I considered to be my friends, but I had had it with my fathers behavior and anyone who tried to justify it.

Just in case Jaroslav or any of my father's other teammates tried to call me again, I powered my phone off. After that was done, I took a deep breath and walked out onto the streets of Tampa.

I shivered, even though it was hot. I had a bad feeling about the strange area where I had landed.

Before I could even walk five steps, someone grabbed my arm. I barely let out half a scream before the person's hand covered my eyes.

"Who are you?" I asked first, but there was no answer.

After a while, I yelled. "HELP ME!"

The person was ready, though. They took a cloth and jammed it into my mouth as they dragged me even further.

My stomach lurched as I realized I was being abducted.

Strangely enough, though, I was too stubborn to put my anger at my father aside.

In fact, as I was shoved into an abandoned building, I silently hoped that I'd never be saved.