Love is Blindness

Chapter 29; Revenge

Game three was an easy 5-2 win for the Wings. Pavel, Huds, and Hank scored. We successfully took away the home-ice advantage. Well, so we thought. Dallas stole back their advantage, winning 3-1. They left the ice with heads high, feeling as though they may have finally summoned up a chance at beating us in the Conference Final. Hank, our only scorer was given much praise to his goal.

Back in Detroit for game four was a nightmare. The crowd was ready to go. Ready to pass Dallas by and move on to the Stanley Cup Finals. It was as easy as that. One game. There was a full house that night. All wanting to see Detroit make it to the Finals to win the most prized trophy in all sports.

Most of that full house was gone by the last ten minutes of the game. The Wings were down 2-1. Dallas had returned the favor of us taking away their home-ice advantage. We were disappointed, but they were still two games behind.

A knock at my door made me leave the counter in my hotel room while I was eating my early dinner. I stood on my tippy-toes to peer through the hole on the door. I couldn't see anyone. I opened it and immediately saw a bouquet of flowers resting on the floor. I picked them up and took in the beauty of them. I noticed a note, so I picked it up and it read: I'm going to win this game for you tonight, my darling. But I have a surprise for you. Meet me at the Dr. Pepper Arena, locker room in fifteen minutes. Love you.

I suddenly couldn't help but think about what Chris could possibly have surprised for me. But I didn't want to waste any time. It was about a ten minute drive from the hotel and it'd take me a few minutes to walk to the locker room.

I arrived at the arena. It was pretty quiet except for the occasional car to pass by. Inside was even creepier. You just heard nothing but maybe someone coughing all the way on the other side of the arena. Once I reached the locker room door I found a note. It said to meet Chris in the bathroom. I walked passed the doors and around the corner to the bathroom where I found another note. This one said to go to the closet in the very back of the bathroom, the one that is never acknowledged so no one would suspect anything. As soon as I read that I was too impatient to see what it was going to be.

I opened the creaking door. Inside was dusty with shelves covered in old hockey needs. In the center of the tiny room was a chair. Hanging from it was a rope and duct tape.

"Oh my God..." I breathed. Was Chris really this determined to win that he'd be willing to strap me to a chair and go crazy with me so he could win? "Chris? You there?"

I walked inside towards the chair. The door slammed shut behind me, making me jump. Next, I was pushed down into the chair. My butt sat at the edge of the chair while I leaned against the back of the chair. I was bound by the ankles to the legs of the chair. My wrists were taped together. I could barely move a muscle. I felt the heat rising and I was about ready, if I were able to, get on my knees and ask Chris to begin.

"Chris, hon. Where are you? And I'm sure it will be pretty hard to do what you plan on doing when you've tied my legs together while my pants are still on," I said. There was no answer. Instead, a body emerged from behind me. I couldn't see him because the lights were off. "Christopher John Osgood. If you don't do me now, so help me, I will... God I can't think of what I'll do." The lights snapped on. I looked up. I nearly screamed. Yes, there was a man standing there. But not Chris. Mike Ribeiro. "What the hell do you want from me?!"

"Oh, this is going to be fun," Ribeiro chuckled. He began to circle me menacingly. "As you know, my darling, you and your precious Red Wings have a chance at finishing this series tonight. I'm here to make sure that doesn't happen." He walked to a shelf and pulled out a brief case. It snapped open and there was a ton of money, some even falling from the case. "See this? Well, this can all be yours if you do one simple thing. Make sure Ozzie doesn't play tonight. Either that, or make sure his game isn't top-notch. I was thinking you'd be able to seduce him and take him back to the hotel for some private time."