The Penalty Box

Chapter 42

I drove around town for what felt like hours. No matter how many times I turned around and went another way, I always ended up at the same place. I didn't want to be here, but I had to be.

I put my car in park and hopped out. I took a shallow breath and walked towards the big slab of stone.

"Hey there bud," I smiled sitting down on the grass," You missed a good game."

The gravestone seemed to weird to me. I hadn't been here since we buried Josh. This place was where his body was, along with his favorite jersey. But he wasn't here. This wasn't where Joshua really was.

"Connor did this insane dangle thing, you would've been proud," I explained," Pretty sure you're the one who taught him how to do it."

"The rest of the boys are okay. Or they're trying to be. We had a few little blips, but we're trying to go all the way. We're going to do our very best to keep our promise. It would be a hell of a lot better if you were here though, it's not the same without you. It doesn't feel quite right."

I pulled my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around my legs. The son was arm on my skin, but I somehow felt cold. Tears slid down my cheeks, but I didn't make any effort to wipe them away.  I needed to cry, I needed to let it out.

"Coach told us that the team is going bankrupt. Lightning is ending this year man, we're the last team. It's kind of sad, I thought lightning would be around forever. So put in a good word for us man," I said," We have to go up against the Badgers for our ticket to Nationals. So we could use your help."

I touched the puck that had been put into the headstone. In pure Josh fashion, he was always going to be a hockey boy.

Conrad texted to tell me to get to the rink. The boys were already starting to get to the rink, and coach wanted to do some speech or something. I think Cartwright was getting really sentimental about this being his last season as a Lightning coach.

An hour and a half later we were all in the locker room with our gear on, ready to go. I could hear everyone in the stands, even above the music we were playing.

"This is our last home game, and the last game any Lightning team will ever play in this rink. But it's not our last game, we still have a tournament to win," Coach said," This year has been tough on all of us, but we made it through. You guys fought. All I ask is that you leave it all on the ice. If you can do that for me, I'll be proud no matter what what outcome. Callahan, would you like to do the honors?"

I smiled and stood up, motioning for the boys to follow," Alright, lets show them that happens when lighting strikes," I said,"On three. ONE,TWO,THREE-"

The chorus of lighting rang out. The vibe in the room instantly changed, the sentimental stuff was over, we were ready to kick ass.

There wasn't time for anything else, we had a job to do.