Page 1 of Wrong Pucking Player

PROLOGUE: DROWNING INTO DEVASTATION

~MACKENZIE~

“MACKENZIE!”

One minute, I’m watching Wyatt’s horrified face.

The next, I’m staring above me, surrounded by dark blue waters, sinking deeper and deeper with every frigid second that passes.

My heart is still hammering against my chest.

My mind still buzzed with the urgency to save the woman who wandered upon the ice.

Everything happened so quickly.

So swiftly that I’m still fighting to comprehend it all.

I moved without thinking, urgency running through my veins to save someone I know is important to another.

A mother, a sister, a grandmother, a woman who deserved to live out her final years surrounded by those who love her dearly.

The memories of the shared dinners, surrounded by friends, always lit up my teenage years. The warmth of her cozy home to the steamy hot meals that filled our bellies to our heart content.

I always wondered what it would be like to have a grandma in my life.

Just like I always imagined what it would be like to actually have a family who loved me.

Instead of being a discarded waste of space like my family thought of me, this woman always reminded me of how special I really was.

That my purpose in this world was too damn bright to let it fizzle away into the pit of darkness…

Maybe that’s why I was here at this moment.

I’d lived out my purpose, and my final act of kindness was to save the woman who never questioned my worth.

I wish I could tell her thank you… and goodbye.

My lungs are burning intensely.

My heart is still palpitating like a wild beat of a drum at the peak of a heavy metal song.

No matter how I flail my arms or attempt to kick my skated feet, I’m sinking farther and farther into the below-zero waters. The cold is unbearable, seeping into the depths of my bones and making it even harder to move.

It feels like all I can do is look upward. Stare at the light from above as cracked ice continues to float upon the surface.

The culprit of my demise.

Oddly enough, the fear I originally felt begins to slip away. With each second that ticks closer to my end, another wave of calmness rushes through me.

My body is begging for breath, and I know I can’t stop myself from gasping for what so many take advantage of.

Oxygen.

Only I’m greeted with chilled water that flows into me. From my nostrils to my mouth, filling me up like a balloon. I won’t inflate like one and lift to the safety of the surface above.

Instead, I sink deeper while my body begins to still.

My desperate moving arms can’t find the energy to move anymore.

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