My Hockey Alpha

Nina

I cocked my head. My mother smiled up at me and pushed the plate containing my sandwich into my hands.

“Eat up, honey,” she said. “Are you alright? You look like you’ve lost a lot of weight.”

“U-Um… I’ve just been stressed.” I picked my sandwich up off my plate and took a bite, chewing for a moment, before speaking again. “Are you sure you don’t know about the Peacekeepers? The school doctor that I’ve been working with–”

“You know what?” my mother interrupted, stretching and feigning an obviously fake yawn. “It’s late, and we’ve got to be up early tomorrow to catch our flight.”

Now, I frowned and watched as she turned somewhat robotically and started to walk out of the kitchen. “But you said that we would be leaving in a couple of days…”

My mother froze again. “Did I?” she asked, her back still turned to me. “I guess I just misspoke. No, our tickets are set for first thing in the morning.”

“Oh…” I paused, looking down at the sandwich on my plate. “Okay.”

“Good night, honey.”

“Good night, mom.”

I sat alone in the kitchen and silently finished my sandwich, puzzling over why my mother acted like she didn’t know about the Peacekeepers. In fact, her entire demeanor was a bit strange, almost scripted. It was unsettling, to say the least.

I was finished, I hopped down from the counter and rinsed off my plate before

on my bed and heard the springs creak beneath my weight, I suddenly felt overcome by a sense of nostalgia that overshadowed my mother’s strange behavior. Sighing, I fell backwards and splayed my arms out on the bed, running my hands along the quilt as I looked up at the old glow-in-the-dark stars on my ceiling that I’d put there

heard something patter against my window. I didn’t get up right away; instead, I chalked it up

then, I heard it again. And

sat up. I turned around to look at my window, only to see something small and round hit it again, as

from behind the curtains. My jaw dropped as I saw

the window open

doing and how did you find me?!” I half whispered,

quietly and nimbly climbed up the tree. I watched as his hand, then his leg, followed by the rest of his body, came

how he’d spoken to me in the locker room and even more so after what his

I acted,” he said quietly. “I’ve been

felt his warm arms wrap around me. My eyes widened, but as I inhaled his musky scent, I

in my eyes. “You can’t stay,” I whispered, taking a step back and wiping the tears away with my hand. “Your father… I don’t know what he’s planning on doing to my mom and

eyes widened. “You spoke

with you, he knows where my mom and my brother live. I don’t know what that means, but I can’t risk letting my family potentially

let out a deep, rattled sigh. When I looked up, he was staring intensely

why you’ve been pushing me

part of the reason,”