How AAOOOSC! Got Started!

Chapter 16 I Can't

The lights whirled, but there was no goal horn since the Blackhawks scored the game winning goal in overtime against the Sharks in San Jose.
Antti watched as the defeated team lumbered into the hall dolefully. Gorman is right, there is no one with powers on their team--they are not strong...

The next day, Antti flew over to Ottawa and rushed to Brian's house; he knocked on the door.
The door opened and Brian appeared in the doorway. "Hello, Antti. Come on in." Brian swooped back into his house with Antti following him. He lead him to his library, which was impressive with the walls lined with shelves, full of books and the floor scattered with chairs and coffee tables.
"So, what's bothering you?" Brian sat on a red, cushy chair. "You don't look that good."
"Well, um, I talked to Gorman about a week ago..." Antti just remained standing up.
"Oh, that's great! How was it like meeting the founder of the NHL?" Brian smirked a bit.
"It was nice, I mean it was interesting...and yea... But what he told me is something...that I don't really like."
"And what did he tell you?"
"Um...that this is my last year with the Blackhawks...and that I'm gonna be traded to the Sharks."
"Well, what's so bad about moving to a new team? It happens to almost every player in the NHL."
"It's just that I like being in the team and I'm happy with them...I don't wanna move."
Brian shrugged. "That's how life in the NHL is like. You go to one team, play a bit, move on to another team. Unless you're Sidney Crosby, then you stick to your team until you can't play anymore because you're so good."
"But am I a good goalie...?"
"Antti, if you weren't a good goalie, then you wouldn't be here--trust me."
"So why am I gonna be traded? Wouldn't the Blackhawks keep me if I'm good for their team--?"
"Look, it's just how it's gonna go. We have no control over it. Just let it go and move on...okay? Just focus on trying to make the most out of your team, going to the playoffs, getting the Stanley Cup. This is going to happen...for a reason--"
"What reason?!" Antti blurted out. "Ugh, that's what Gorman told me: 'Everything happens for a reason,' but what is the reason? I see no purpose for trading me!" He waved his hands in the air.
"We do not know yet--it'll come soon, after the trade happens."
Antti closed his eyes tight and turned his back on Brian. "Why am I even here?" he muttered. Then he raised his voice a bit louder. "Why am I in the NHL? All this time here holding back my powers, then finally I meet up with someone else who has powers, then suddenly I'm being traded?"
"Antti, you just got to let go. You'll be fine alone, I know you will. But I'll help you get through this--"
"No, no..." Antti faced Brian. "...I don't need your help. I just want the trade not to happen."
"The trade is going to happen no matter what; I can't help you stop that. But Antti--" Brian stood up. "--you are here in the GHP, in the NHL for a reason. Everything that is happening right now is happening for a reason...and it's something that is inevitable. You are here to bring something great to the GHP, great to the NHL, because you are here...for a reason. Just be patient and you'll see how it works out..." Brian looked down and saw that he was stepping in a puddle of water. "Water?" He stepped backwards.
Antti looked down and saw that a pool of water was forming beneath his shoes. "Oh, shoot." He took a step back as well, but it just stretched the water longer.
"What's going on with your powers?" Brian asked with a somewhat terrified look.
"Um, water beings to form under me when, um, I'm in fear or confusion or anxiety... This has been, um, happening to me ever since I was, um, little."
"Antti, why be afraid or confused? There's no need to be. I just told you that everything will work out perfectly fine. Relax."
"I-I can't..." Antti looked down to see the water spreading out.
"Yes, you can, just push those feelings outta the way--"
"It's okay, I got it!"
"It doesn't seem like it! Just listen to me--!"
"I don't need your help Brian, I'm fine--"
"No you're not, I can see that you're not--"
"Please, just stop talking--"
"No, Antti, just listen to me and the words I say for once. You're bombarding yourself with thoughts that bring you down, that say that what's happening is bad, that you can't do anythin--"
"Because it is true!"
"No, it's not!"
"You don't understand, Brian, you just don't--"
"Listen to me and you'll see that I do...."
Antti gave up trying to contain the water that is now almost as big as the floor in the library in width and began to sing, "It seems like, I can't, do what, I can. I am here, in fear, drowning, but can't." The lights went off and a spotlight shone on him. "Don't help me, I'm fine--" The spotlight disappeared and on him and spotted him in a closet, holding onto the door. "--I can just hide." Then he closed the door, shutting himself inside. The spotlight went back to the middle, where Antti was at again, but this time he was walking around cautiously, looking at the darkness around him, "Go away, it hurts, when I'm in first."
Spotlight redirected its attention to Brian, who had a clipboard and pencil with him. "First, I need to help out Antti."
"Don't you dare, come close, to me-,-ee now," Antti sung as the spotlight went back on him. A computer screen and desk popped out from the darkness, similar to Tommy's; he began to press random buttons, look at the screen. "I know how, to con-,-trol this, not you. Out of my mind, outta my mind, I don't need someone elllllse, to control me, to tell me, what to dooo, that's enooooooough!"
Then the spotlight disappeared for the moment of silence. Then it reappeared, this time on both Antti and Brian.
But Brian was the one singing this time. "Listen to me, you don't knoooow, how much you're worth, don't look back now." Antti looked back. "Don't let the past lock you uuuuuup--" A bird cage fell on Antti, locking him up. He tried to move forward with it, but he didn't get that far. "--resist you from going ahead. Look at meee--" Brian pulled out a key from his pocket and unlocked the door, pulling Antti out of the cage and into his own spotlight. "--you are freeeee, you can fly-aiy, up to the sky." Antti began to rise up with a wave of water holding him up. "Don't think that you once hit down--" The wave dropped, bring Antti down as well. "--you can never get off the ground--"
Antti got up and cut into Brian's sentence. "I have my, own mind, don't think, for me. I know what, to do, don't underestimate me." The spotlight that was shining on Brian disappeared. "You might think that I've been weary--" Antti leaned against the wall with the back of his hand on his forehead. "Yes, I have, I have been my whole life. Every time I try to do right, it always crashes right back to me--" The spotlight disappeared on him.
Then it focused on Brian. "Don't you give up--"
It turned off on Brian and turned on for Antti. "I can't try again."
Off of Antti and on to Brian. "Don't you dare--"
Back to Antti. "I've tried too many times."
"You are more."
"No one even cares."
"More than the stars--"
"I never saw that before!"
"You are unique--"
"And no one loves me for that!"
"You are here now--"
"It's not gonna be easy."
"You're livin' your dream--!"
"Nightmares are followin' me!"
"Don't look at the dark side--"
"That's all there is now!"
"Now you are here!"
"You're makin' this harder!"
"Here to help--"
"I don't need you, go away!"
"Here to tell--"
"Tell me a bunch of lies."
"Thatcha here for a reason--"
"A reason to fail, yea--"
"A reason to save--"
"Save no one, that's why!"
"Save the NHL--"
"Now that's too much noooooow..."
Brian took in a deep breath and began to sing again. "You can do this, I know you can. Don't turn down this, don't turn down yourself. Let go of the past, that'll make you better, better than ever, trust me on that. If you're here for nothing, you'll not be here--I am not blind, you are here now. Don't look down but way up high, you can touch the sky, only if you try." Antti faced his back on Brian; his fury inside him made the water on the floor rise up and circle around them also creating wind and tension. "Don't get mad now just because you can. You can do more than you think you can. I am tryin' to tell you the truth, not to torture you with lies of my own!" Then Brian began to sing calmly. "Be still for a moment, don't think about the past. I know it was hard, you now you're over that." His hand turned into a fist. "I believe in you, I have trust in you, that you'll being us to victory--"
"NO!" Antti conjured a glowing ball of water and thrusted it straight at Brian.
The room turned back to the library and the water subsided as Brian flew backwards, slamming his back into a bookshelf, having some books topple over him; he slumped to the ground.
With a frightened gasp, Antti rushed over to Brian's side. "Oh my gosh, Brian are you okay?" In horror, Antti saw as Brian's chest, the place where his powers struck him at, glowed for a moment.
"I'm...I'm fine...," Brian groaned.
"You sure?" Antti's eyes were wide.
"Yea...don't worry, I'm not gonna die."
Antti chuckled mirthlessly at that as he pulled Brian up to his feet. "I think I should go... I'm sorry."
And like that, Antti took off.