And Then There Was One (2019)

Chapter 1 - Kasperi Kapanen and William Nylander

Toronto, Canada

July 1, 2019

Kasperi Kapanen, the Finnish Maple Leaf forward, sits on a dark colored leather couch with his feet tucked up to his butt. He has on a simple Maple Leaf tank top and black swim trunks. His hair is curly and matted down to his head. In his hand, he holds his cell phone, which he glances up briefly, flashing a coy smirk.

His smirk softens slightly as his eyes lock on another man with wavy blond hair and dressed in a nice white dress shirt and black pants. The sleeves of the shirt are rolled up his arms to his elbows.

"Nylee, do you just do a shit ton of photoshoots during the year and have all these pics saved just to dish at me during the summertime?"

The blond man, William Nylander, the Swedish Maple Leaf forward, snaps his head up. He smiles, biting his lip briefly and blushes a bright pinkish-red. "Maybe...?"

Kasperi leans forward and sticks his face directly in front of William's. "Or maybe you seek my attention?"

William tosses his eyes and tries to play off his blush. "Oh, get over yourself, Kaspi." He looks toward a giant screened TV that hangs on a stone wall over a fireplace. "Oh, look, I TOLD YOU she'd marry him!! Yessss!"

Kasperi chuckles. "You're such a girl!"

"Only around you," William turns back to him, cocks his head and bats his eyelashes.

Kasperi sighs and returns to his phone, typing out a comment under William's latest picture post on the social media app, Instagram. It is a picture of the Swedish forward in a gray hoodie with a tint of black and white to make him even sexier. "You try way too hard to impress me. Joke's on you, you won my heart back with the Marlies, Nylee."

William giggles, tucking a strand of hair behind his ear. "I hate when you get all romantic with me!"

Kasperi crawls across the couch and straddles William, putting his face directly in front of his once more, so that his nose is touching the Swede's. William relaxes and closes his eyes, welcoming Kasperi's next move, but instead, the Finnish player shifts his weight and William blinks open his eyes to find his friend-with-benefits walking over to the door.

"Hey, Nylee, come over here!" Kasperi's voice shouts out.

William sighs, throws his phone down and gets off the couch, padding over to where Kasperi is standing, holding an envelope, which is sealed with a masquerade-style sticker. He has one hand on his hip and his eyebrow is raised up in bewilderment.

"OMG! WE'RE INVITED TO A GLORIOUS ELEGANT BALL!!" William squeals, twirling around in excitement.

Kasperi shakes his head. "Again, such a girl." He opens up the envelope carefully and neatly and pulls out two pieces of paper. He reads one of them with a picture of an amusement park on it with a nice letter addressed to them both. Kasperi then looks up at William, blinking. "Actually, it's not an invitation to a Ball. However, it IS an invitation to a theme park in Florida..."

William bites his lip and folds his arms. "Look, they're not enticing you or I to join the cap hell Lightning! I'm not leaving you and you're not leaving me! I'll be so depressed if you leave me! I'll-I'll die!"

"Okay, Drama Queen, that's enough!" Kasperi chuckles, moving to the next piece of paper. "If it is, we shall humor them and ourselves with the contract pitch offer, huh?"

William wipes his teary eyes and smiles. "Okay!"

Kasperi unfolds this tri-folded paper and proceeds to read it aloud:

"Twenty-One professional hockey players arrived to a thrilling theme park,

One took a fall off a roller coaster, being clumsy and then there were twenty.

Twenty professional hockey players hung out as men,

One was beaten, strangled to death and then there were nineteen.

Nineteen professional hockey players once thought things were fine,

Two were crushed under the broken Serpentine and then there were seventeen.

Seventeen professional hockey players were up really late,

One was tortured between two countries and then there were sixteen.

Sixteen professional hockey players learned they'd been taken to Orlando,

Two didn't want to stay there, so stabbed they were and then there were fourteen.

Fourteen professional hockey players were carefully hanging around the rides,

One was thrown from the carousel, oh how obscene and then there were thirteen.

Thirteen professional hockey players were struggling to survive,

One was shot, while one was tied to the tracks of Seven Heaven and then there were eleven.

Eleven professional hockey players could withstand the gore,

One wandered into the lion's den and then there were ten.

Ten professional hockey players attempted to flee,

One was slashed across the neck with a quick time and then there were nine.

Nine professional hockey players remained wondering what to do,

One fell in love with a woman, who was straight and then there were eight.

Eight professional hockey players thought there was only little time to find the killer,

One was in the wrong place at the wrong time and then there were seven.

Seven professional hockey players tried to get a clue,

One was another red herring with a bizarre fix and then there were six.

Six professional hockey players were scared out of their minds,

One was drowned in a moat, while another escaped only to be hit by the castle's drawbridge door and then there were four.

Four professional hockey players remained wondering how they could break free,

One was suffocated, snuffed and then there were three.

Three professional hockey players were left with nowhere to run,

One was driven to insanity, killed his friend and then himself and then there was one.

One professional hockey player was left all alone,

He walked out of Masquerade Island, alive and then there were none."

Kasperi flips it over.

William looks at him, stunned. "What the fuck was that?"

"I have no idea. Nylee, if I knew, I'd tell ya...I'm curious what this is about though, aren't you?"

William nods. "I suppose so..."

Kasperi grins at him. "Let get to Florida then! We could stand to get out of Toronto anyway..."

"Right."