The Penalty Box

Chapter 37

I slipped on my white jersey and tied my hair up. On my dresser sat a few now broken pictures of Josh and I. I picked up one of the broken frames and took a deep breath.

"Hey honey, we have to go," My mother said from my door.

"Is Jared okay?" I asked.

"He will be, eventually," She replied softly.

I nodded and grabbed my notebook from my bed. I slipped my glasses on and headed for the door. Yesterday, we'd buried Josh. Just the family, and his team. But today was his memorial service. Everyone had been asked not to wear black and, if they played, to wear their hockey jerseys.

Jared didn't say a word in the car. None of us did, although Charlie did try to break the ice, he soon realized it was no use.

The church was already overflowing. I looked around trying to find the rest of the team. They'd all been seated at the front, right behind where Joshua's family would be. I slowly pushed my way through all the people and sat down next to Conrad.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"I wish people would stop asking me that," I muttered," they already know what the answer is. So what's the point?"

"Yeah," he mumbled," I guess you're right."

The was quiet for a minute before he spoke again," There are a ton of people here. I guess everyone else loved him as much as we all did."

I nodded and looked around. There was just a sea of jerseys. Connor slid in next to us and wrapped an arm around me. I leaned into him and closed my eyes.

This could all be a dream, right? I could wake up and he'd still be here. It had to be a dream.

The service started by the preacher reading a ton of letters people had written about Josh.

"Now I'd like to invite one of Joshua's closet friends, Callahan Smith, up to share a few words."

I slowly stood and made my way onto the platform. I set my paper down on the pulpit and took a deep breath. Looking out at everyone, I suddenly had the urge to forget about what I'd written. So I did.

"Hockey, that's what Josh loved. He almost loved it more than anything, but family and God came first for him. When I was a kid, my family was completely broken, but this little scrawny kid came bouncing over to me, and made everything better. He made me a part of his family, just like he did with almost everyone he came in contact with. Joshua, or Mason as he was known to his team, was the most talented and luckiest hockey player I've ever seen . The things he could do when in a crunch were crazy. He did this twirly bird thing to win the game once. He would do almost anything to win," I said trying to hold back tears," That being said, Josh made his team, our team, promise that we'd fight hard to get to Nationals. He made us promise that we would win. I can't speak for my team, but I plan on trying my very best to keep that promise."

I looked over at the team. Connor tapped his chest with his fist, just like Mason would do to let us all know he was okay after a massive hit. One by one the rest of the team started doing it too. Other teams that knew what it meant follow suit.

The moment was more powerful than any win, any hit, or any shot. So many different teams, united under one cause. So many different teams united by the love they all shared for one person.

"We'll miss you more and more each day Josh. Love you man," I tapped my chest with my fist, and walked off the platform. I stopped at the table full of pictures and some of Josh's favorite things. I reached into my pocket and pulled out an MVP metal he'd given to me when we were twelve. He swore that it should've been mine and not his.

"This one belongs to you Mase," I said quietly as I put it on the table.