Chasing Cities

Solution

~Sinikka's POV~

I honestly thought it was a strange theory when I first conceived it. The only reason I even brought it up to my father was out of desperation. We couldn't figure out our mystery, and that was the only possible solution we had left.

Before my mother appeared in front of us, I didn't even believe in ghosts. I held the belief that there was an afterlife, but I could not imagine the souls coming back here to haunt houses or communicate with living people.

That all changed in a moment, though. My mother floated above the coffee table, staring at my father and I with her shining green eyes. Both my father and I knew that we were not hallucinating. She was definitely real.

"There is this portal that keeps appearing to the two of us when we say the names of different cities or towns," my dad explained to her. She was about to leave, but I stopped her due to my curiosity about the portal. Now, she continued to float about the coffee table, listening to the explanation of our odd situation.

"Does the portal proceed to open up and take you to the cities and towns whose names you say out loud?" Mom questioned.

"You've put the pieces of the puzzle together, Anja," answered my father. "That's exactly what's happening. Well, that's exactly what was happening until a few days ago. Sinikka and I had an argument while we were in Savonlinna, and she went back to Tampa. I was then told that she was in serious danger, but when I tried to open the portal up to get to her, it wouldn't budge. I shouted and cried and begged, but nothing worked. The portal finally opened after many tries, but I don't understand why it didn't open up immediately like it had before."

"I got way too angry," I explained further. "You know how I get when I'm angry better than anyone. Considering who my father is, a short temper is expected. Still, I realized as soon as I got kidnapped that I should never take him for granted. I have no idea when I will see him for the last time. I could lose him, and he could lose me."

"You're exactly right," Mom lowered herself slightly so she was at eye level with me. "Sinikka, Tuukka, I made the portal. I don't control it, which I believe is obvious. I would never separate you two, especially if Sinikka is in danger. However, I did engineer it for a specific purpose. I wanted it to be a sort of device that showed you two how to connect as a father and daughter should. Lately, it seems as if you have been drifting apart."

"To be fair, Dad is often away on road trips with his Bruins," I stated. "It's hard to spend family bonding time with him because of the high demands of his job."

"I understand that," my mother responded. "I still want you to connect as much as possible. When he is home, all you two do is spend time in your bedrooms, reading or watching movies or the like. Not talking to each other. Not enjoying a meal together or practicing saves together. Nothing."

There was a beat before she spoke again. "Understand that I'm not trying to be mean or insult you. I am just saying that the level of communication between a father and daughter should be more than what you guys have."

"Especially when the father is the only living parent of the daughter," Dad spoke up.

"Exactly," Mom smiled at him in a way that I had never seen her smile at anyone else before. "Tuukka, I see that you are very busy with your career and that your career is very demanding. I cannot begin to understand every detail about a job such as yours, but I do know this: you have some free time. I am not asking that you give up all your free time in order to bond with Sinikka, but I do suggest that you spend at least some of it with her. You're the only parent she has."

My dad looked her right in the eye, although I could tell that he was still a bit uncomfortable with looking directly at a spirit. "I understand, Anja. I will call her when I'm away on road trips with the team, and I'll spend as much time as I can with her on off days. I'll bring her to games, let her talk to the team. All of that."

"Good," my mother beamed at him, and it seemed to me like she came alive for a brief second. "I trust that you will keep your promise. You were never one to break promises, as far as I know. I think that this is one more praise that you can keep. Don't let me or Sinikka down, Tuukka. Okay?"

My dad swallowed. "I promise, Anja, I swear."

"I trust you," Mom responded. "There's no need to be nervous. I won't hurt you. I'll admit that it was a dumb mistake to create a portal without knowing what it would do, but I assume that the portal will treat the two of you a bit more kindly now that you are making an effort to bond."

"I hope so," I sighed. "Being trapped in that random building in Tampa was not fun. I was afraid that the man would rape me or kill me or something else that is horrible. When he knocked me unconscious, I thought I was done for!"

"One of my teammates called me to tell me that she had been abducted," my father explained. "The panic in his voice told me that he was being truthful. That's probably the worst feeling I've ever felt in my life, next to the despair I felt when you died. I didn't want to believe that someone was evil enough to have taken someone her age—taken someone in general and intended to not give them back, but it was true, no matter how much I tried to deny it and make up my own truth."

"My poor baby girl..." Anja sighed, almost in pain. I looked at my mother, trying to comfort her without words or movements. The look that she gave me told me that she understood and appreciated what I was trying to do.

"My daughter," Dad started again, then corrected himself. "Our daughter. My teammates and I had to find and rescue her from  that bastard that stole her and was probably going to try to kill her. He had her tied to the leg of a chair, completely unconscious. Thank God my teammates and I were able to get her out before he could catch us."

"Patrice Bergeron said that Dad went crazy like he'd never done before," I jerked a thumb at my father. "He punched the dude that kidnapped me in the nose and kneed him right in the balls before knocking him out with a metal bar."

My mother blinked at my father, her face showing pure appreciation and maybe a hint of love. "I don't condone violence, but I'm so glad he went so far just to save you."

Dad blushed bright red and looked down at his feet. Catching himself, he looked my mother in the eyes.

"Thank you, Anja," Dad said politely.

"Thank you," Mom insisted. "I wish I could hug you, but I am a spirit, so it is impossible. I must go now, but I leave this thought with both of you: connect. Spend time with each other. Love. Bond with each other. If you do that, I believe that the portal will not hurt you again.

And with that, my mother disappeared.