Disclaimer: I do not own The Mighty Ducks series or make a profit off of the use of it's plot or characters.
"Death is a tragedy ... but only for the living. We who have died go on to other things."
- Charles de Lint, Into the Green
The sun's rays were just beginning to peak over the grey horizon casting a shimmer on the freshly fallen snow. The ice that clung to the hibernating trees gleamed in the early morning light and a moist dew hung thinly in the air. A light breeze stirred up with it the top most flurries of snowflakes creating a small whirlwind that danced across the ice of the frozen pond, shining in the yellows of the daybreak. It was a majestic act of nature unseen by most as they slept away the early hours of the winter morning. However, a young man stood alone watching the marvel unfold before him.
It had been a long time since he had looked upon the pond. He had grown up on it, learned many a life lessons, gained a tight knit group of friend, just to abandon it all.
Life had been so simple and easy back then. A kid with normal adolescent problems, nothing too far out of the ordinary. He'd survived girl problems, competition, school stress, and even a cause of intense hazing, but none could compare to the last few years of his life because through it all, he'd known he'd have someone he could count on.
But five years ago to the date, Charlie Conway's life had been flipped upside down on him.
It had been a cold February morning. He had just begun his final semester at the University of Minnesota. He was finishing up his final season on the school's varsity hockey team, and they were contenders for the playoffs. He'd had some successfully dating experiences and a relatively good handle on the future (as much as a college senior can have), and a strong support system in his family and friends.
The memory of that day was the most vivid, strongest; clearest memory Charlie had, and it was the one he most wanted to forget.
He had just finished his 'easy A' Theater Appreciation class with some of his friends when he hung back because his phone began to vibrate. An unfamiliar number flashed on the caller ID. It had been a police detective; there had been an accident.
Charlie shook his head and turned away from the all too familiar pond, in attempt to suppress the one memory that he'd been struggling to stifle for years.
It had been five years. Five years to the date.
It was exactly five years ago that Casey Conway had lost her life.
Charlie walked away from the place his mother had taught him to skate, had made countless snowmen with him, and even held his high school graduation at. There were simply too many memories, and it hurt too much to think about that day.
He walked past his old apartment complex without even so much as a glance, the fresh snow crunching underneath his feet the lone sound resonating in the area at that early hour. His body switched to autopilot leading him to his destination as his mind began to blank. It was too hard, too painful to be there, let alone think and take anything in. It's why he hadn't come back before. It was his first time back to Minneapolis since he'd moved away. Always afraid of facing the past, the truth, as well as dealing with the pity from those who he had once trusted with his every secret and his life. He was afraid that they would resurface every painful emotion he'd felt when it had happened, and he simply wasn't strong enough to relive that. So every year on that date he had mourned from far away, but this year was different. It was the fifth anniversary of her death, and he knew he had to come back to see her, if only briefly.
As he opened the rusty graveyard gates, a loud creak filled the air and Charlie remembered the unsolved and long forgotten hit and run case that the police had quickly thrown aside when no leads were easily discovered. 'A freak accident, and a guilty exit,' they had told him. Said that they were sorry for his loss but due to budget restraints as well as a long list of other named criminals out on the streets of Minneapolis that they could no longer spare the time or man power to further investigate the case. But Charlie had known that they were barely sympathetic to his loss or newly orphaned situation. He was over eighteen and a nobody, so there were no further efforts that they were required to administer, and they gave him the bare minimum. And at her funeral, as Charlie watched his beloved mother be lowered into the earth, he knew he could no longer call the city his home. So after a complete emotional withdrawal from his friends and emotionlessly pushing his way through college to graduation, Charlie Conway packed up all of his worldly possessions and left without a word to anyone.
Five years later as Charlie stood before a snow covered gravestone, Charlie once again felt alone and a stranger in the cold city. And on that morning of an anniversary of his greatest loss, he fell to the ground and cried.
Author's Note: I know its grim, but it's been so grey outside that I guess I got inspired. I would love reviews to know what people think of it. Next chapter should be out soon. I promise.
~Ciliegina
