The Penalty Box

Chapter 48

Sweat dripped from my hair and down my face. I couldn't breath, and was having a hard time focusing on what Coach was saying. My head pounded, I just needed to make it ten minutes. We just needed one more goal to secure a lead. We were all dying, we were gassed and had nothing left to give. But we knew we had to keep fighting. We had to dig deep and pull it out.

"Call it out Callahan," He instructed. 

"Lighting on one!"

"Three... Two... One.. Lightning."

We went back out, needed to score a goal, maybe even two. At this point we were still tied with eight minutes left. We had to do something we just had too. We didn't have a choice, I wouldn't come all the way out here for nothing. I didn't claw my way here for nothing. 

"Switch up!" 

I could't wait to get on the bench and catch my breath. I needed a minute to think, a minute to plan. Their defense was impressive, almost too good. But they had holes. We could  get past them, if we really tried. We just had to get them scrambling, keep them moving, and not let them stop. Our third line was surprisingly good at that, they were a scrappy group of boys.

I gripped my stick tighter and watched the boys. They just had to punch through, rattle the other team. They needed to get in their heads, at this point the winner of the game was going to be who stayed calm the longest. If we could just pull it off, we'd be just fine. 

"They need to crash right," Conrad mentioned," The defense is weaker on that side."

"Shoot top corner on the blocker side too," Kyler added," The goalie can't move as fast there."

I nodded, just needing to be back out there. My whole body was buzzing, adrenaline was kicking in. My body was ready to take over, I knew what I needed to do. I trusted my team, I knew they'd come through. 

By the time I jumped the wall we were nearing only five minutes left. Five minutes left to make my own dreams come true, five minutes to make something of ourselves. Only five minutes left to make our mark. We had to make our mark, we had to leave something behind. Something for them to remember us by. Lighting would not just cease to exist to all but those who were apart of the team, apart of the family.

My legs burned as I pushed off harder. My whole body was ready to give out. As the clock ticked down I started to panic. I wasn't sure if we could pull this off. We had come all this way, we'd clawed straight out of hell, all for nothing. Everything we'd done was going to be for nothing. 

I went into the corner to get the puck. We didn't have enough time. I knew I had someone on my tail, I could feel them getting closer. I had to get out, I couldn't afford to get pinched in. 

"Run back home to your dead teammate little girl," He snarled," It's where you belong."

I couldn't breathe. I was able to get out of the corner, and try and crash the net. But by the time I got close someone else was tailing me. They were on me and I couldn't shake them. 

"He told you to go home."

The player's entire body weight slammed into me.But there was a face I saw before I went down, a face I knew all too well, and never expected to see again. My legs gave out and I was went flying. My head collided with the boards and all I could feel was the pain that came with it. My entire body crumbled against the boards. I tried to force myself up, but I couldn't.

Tears ran down my face, I was going to let Josh down. There was no way around it, I couldn't keep my promise. The whistle blew, I could hear them debating on getting the EMS out here, when Conrad asked them to give me a minute. The entire stadium was silent.