Rapture

1

Once upon a time there was a girl who was numb to the world. Going through the motions of the day, never moving forward. No aspirations for the future and no care for anyone else. Was she content with the dead end she would face after high school? She wasn't. But she couldn't stop the inevitable. She moved through classes in a fog putting a smile on, playing the part. Eventually she stopped. Stop pretending and started acting how she was really feeling. That was a problem though because people started noticing the shift in her attitude. The change. She wasn't herself anymore. But what if that was who she really was now.  It doesn't matter now cause they sent her to a therapist. "To get help". But the only thing she learned was how to hide it better. She would never make the mistake of letting her mask slip again. She told herself it was for her family to show strength but in reality, she couldn't handle it if they looked at her differently.

Why was the girl like this to begin with you ask? Well if your entire life was hockey and was dedicated to the game and then suddenly you found out you were dying; I'd say that would put a damper on anyone's mood. This girl would be waking up at 4 am to train before school and then after school till night. She was forced to stop of course. Cold turkey something that has been a part of her since she was 5. Of course, it was depressing. Her friends drifted away, too focused on others things to notice the girls distance. Basically, two years of high school were ruined.

But at least she was alive. She was in remission now, cancer free. Although she had no hard feelings towards her friends, she couldn't go back to that school. So, her only other option was to go to school two towns over. Nobody should recognize her there.

So, there's the story of Kira Townes or the beginning of it at least.

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It's been two months since I started school at Killarney, and I haven't stepped one foot inside the in-school ice rink. It took me 20 minutes to find the rink on my first day but never could bring myself to go through the swinging double doors. That was until a four days ago. I finally went through the doors, mostly out of curiosity but part of me ached to feel the coldness of the rink surround me again.

The first day I only stayed for a couple minutes.

Then the next day I wandered around the stands.

Then the next day I sat in the stands near a large pillar and ate my lunch.

Only today I stayed long enough to watch the team come out for their practice. At first, I tried to shove my sandwich in my face and hightail it outta there, worried I might be recognized but then I started watching them play.

The next day I ate my lunch in the rink again. Watching the team practice was therapeutic. It felt as if my mind was back in the game. Analyzing and reacting. Only this was more frustrating. Every time they should do something, they do the opposite. It made me irritable and restless.

The next day (which is today), I went back to rink. It was sort of becoming a habit. I had no one to hang out with so it was inevitable that I reverted back to what was familiar in this unfamiliar school. Everything was normal all practice. Near the end they started practicing their shoot-out shots. They all lined up at the center line and one by one they went and skated at the goalie to try and score a goal. There was so much going wrong I didn't even know where to start. I tried to remember back to the last game I saw between Killarney and Mountainview. They were a pretty decent team and it breaks my heart to say but they might have even been better than us. Correction: Mountainview. Better than Mountainview. I am no longer on their team anymore. Wait, do I still support them? Anyways, this was not the team I remember. These guy's sucked. But they could definitely get better. There is potential. I refocus on the next player to go and shake my head as he goes at the goalie in a straight line. The goalie sees it coming from a mile away and saves it.