Smooth Enchantment ||P. Kane||

Chapter 9

Original dinner plans was a bust because I'm not much of a cooker and I failed at the meal that I tried to attempt. So I decided after that mess was cleaned up to just order pizza for Melissa and I. Even though it's unhealthy, it's food and there's nothing else easy to cook that's in the pantry.

It's been so long since I have eaten a slice of pizza, or slices. I lost count after three pizzas that I already ate. Earlier in the day, I barely even ate a single thing since the whole fluke with Ryan at work and the date with Pat right after work. So much things were running through my mind and I lost my appetite, as my brain declared.

My younger sister only ate one slice and was already calling it a night for herself. It's only eight-thirty and Melissa was already making her way up the stairs to her room. She seems out of it today and I have no clue why. I rather not bother her because she gets pretty annoyed whenever I get a little too nosy and ask her too many questions.

Let's just say I've learned my lesson from that.

For the next hour, I sat on the couch by myself in the living room, all wrapped up in a old blanket that belonged to my mother, just staring up ahead at the wall. The tv wasn't on, my phone wasn't out in my hand, nothing. I just sat there like nothing had happened.

And it hit me. My mother...our mother. She's not home with us no more as she was finally taken to the hospital. It's just a weird long story with why she was kept at home, even if she was really sick.

That's why Melissa is acting differently tonight. The whole thing with our mother took a big toll on her. It took me until now to feel the guilt that I don't have to deal with what my mom is going through now.

I sighed deeply and closed my eyes shut as best as I could.

"There's no need to be nervous, Mackenzie. It's just another game."

I chuckled quietly to myself, thinking about those words my mother always said to me before a game. She always kept Melissa and I going whenever we're sick to our stomachs, or a nervous wreck, before a hockey game.

"I know, but every game is different. Different things happen during it and the ending isn't always the same except who wins and who loses."

I remember the look that day she gave me: a hard, but soft stare and her lips were formed into a firm line until she smiled. My shoulders relaxed once that smile went across her face.

All of this was during my senior year in high school, I had already signed my NLI to play hockey in college with Minnesota back in November that year. I always still played my best even if I already signed. I was captain of my high school hockey team and I wanted to be a role model to every other girl who still had a few years left before they graduate.

I don't remember a lot about this game or what happened. All I know is that my team was playing our biggest rival here in Illinois and these games when we face each other, it gets dirty and rough.

Third period with only two minutes left and my high school team hung onto our lead with the score of 3-2. At this point in the game, the other team was getting really aggressive offensively and defensively in order to either tie the game or win it all.

I passed off the puck to one of my teammates when one of the defenders on the other team decided it was a great idea to get a hit off of me. Out of nowhere, I remember seeing two of them coming right after me on both sides of me. I remember being crushed in between them like a sandwich.

I then remember next being shoved right into the boards. And that's when my whole body went numb and I fell down to the ice, only that my head was the first to take the fall. Everything after that was just a blur. That's all I remember besides some very strong words being exchanged between both teams. Of course, my team was not the happiest out there after what happened to their teammate, their team captain.