Sammy Keyes and the Hockey Murderer - Chapter 2
I sat there for a minute or two in the darkness as people screamed when Marissa whimpered, "Uh, Sammy, what the heck?"
"Calm down. The power should be back on any minute."
"But...this is scary!"
Giant flashlights were suddenly flicked on. You know, those lights the size of like a box? Of course. They would have emergency equipment.
People started getting antsy so they got up to get something to eat, use the bathroom, or just walk around and warm up.
"Why is it so cold? Even colder than before?"
"Because the power is out...?" I got up and said, "Come on, guys. Let's so check out what's happening."
"They're not going to let us down there with the players!" Billy protested.
I rolled my eyes. "Did I say anything about going by the players? Besides, everything is so hectic that it wouldn't make a difference. They might even mistake me to be Clowe for a minute if they don't look hard enough in this dark light."
"Yeah, because I'm sure everyone thinks of Clowe as having a small, feminine body." Casey grumbled, but he grabbed my hand as we headed down the bleachers anyway.
I squinted as I looked down at players on the arena. A group was standing by a "Playstation" ad printed on the rink.
"Look, it's Patrick Kane." Billy squinted as he looked closer. "Whoa! He's, like, right THERE."
"Oh, really? Patrick Kane from the Blackhawks? HERE? AT A GAME AGAINST THE BLACKHAWKS? I WOULD NEVER HAVE GUESSED!" I guess my sarcasm was at an all-time high.
"Hey, Kane is one of their best players."
I turned to look at him, but he couldn't see my deadpan expression.
"Since when did you care about the Hawks, Billy?"
"Hey, no one calls them the 'Hawks' except for true fans!" Casey protested.
"Shut up! You don't even LIVE in Chicago, you traitor!"
Our bickering was cut short when we realized we had walked through the glass door and onto the ice.
I looked down. It wasn't as slippery as I thought ice would be.
No one even noticed we were on the rink. Casey's eyes bugged out. "We are standing so close to Jonathan Toews."
I rolled my eyes. "Cool story."
"It's Toews hot?" Marissa asked Casey.
"How exactly am I supposed to answer that?"
"Well, is he?"
Billy pulled out his cell phone. "Let me show you a picture off the internet so you can decide for yourself and save Casey the awkwardness of saying 'Yes, I am in love with Jonathan Toews'."
As Billy ticked on his screen, I looked closer. It seemed like the a couple of the players were arguing with the goal judge.
"I don't have reception!" Billy complained.
"Shh! What are they saying?" I got in for better hearing.
"What are you doing?" Marissa hissed.
We got closer and Marissa, who was inspecting the players who had their helmets off, said, "OHMYGOD! He is so hot!"
"What did Casey tell you?" Billy said.
"I never told her anything!" Casey.
"Guys, shut up!"
We were suddenly right next to National Hockey League players.
"We ahh wondering whether thee power vill be back anytime soon, eh?" a Blackhawks player asked.
"That's KRUGER!" Casey said excitedly.
About all six heads turned and stared at us.
"Who are you?" Clowe asked.
You'd think I'd be hit with some starstruck-bone inside me, considering I was wearing his jersey, but instead of going all gaga for one of my favorite players, I wanted to act casual so he wouldn't think I was some loser fangirl. "Uh, we were wondering what happened to the power?"
"Are you kids supposed to be here?"
"Where's your mother?"
"What? No, you don't get it. We're...really good with...electric stuff. Like, kid geniuses. Probably even smarter than the lame electrical workers who are trying frantically to fix this malfunction as we speak." I looked up at the ceiling. "Hey! Do I see the power coming back?" I turned to Clowe. "Do YOU?"
"Uh...no?"
"Exactly."
The goal keeper pursed his lips. "Well, these are unusual circumstances..."
"What do you think happened?" Billy asked, obviously not starstruck.
Casey cleared his throat, probably realizing he was acting like a 12-year-old girl meeting Taylor Swift.
Jonathan Toews looks right at Casey when he said, "Well, it was definitely some prankster doing it on purpose. There is no other way this could have happened."
Patrick Kane nodded. "This has happened back home before, but that was due to a crazy snowstorm."
"You don't think there's a crazy snowstorm going on here, do you?" Billy asked sincerely.
No one really felt obligated to answer such a brainless question.
"Anyway, we still have no idea what happened, so we're waiting." the goal keeper stared straight at me. "Tell me your theories, if you're such geniuses?"
Crap. "Uh, I don't think you'd understand, really. Not that you're stupid, but it's kind of hard to explain in human language."
"Human language?"
"Like, in a way you'd understand."
The goal keeper rolled his eyes and his flashlight beamed straight at my face, blinding me. "Try me. Pretend like I'm ten."
"Well...electricity...uh...went..bad. And we...try...fix."
"Not a caveman, girl. Ten!"
"Okay, okay! Let me think..."
"We have a feeling the electricity wasn't broken, just the electric current that keeps the electricity flowing throughout the whole arena. You know, the electric fields?" Casey to the rescue.
"Could you say 'elecricity' one more time, Case? I didn't get it the first time." I grumbled.
Casey rolled his eyes, but I was suddenly aware of how smart he really was. I felt like an uneducated oaf next to him.
The goal keeper stared at him. Finally he cleared his throat and said, "Okay, I think we can show you the backroom where the whole arena's power is controlled. Montador? Marleau?"
They were both standing off the side talking to themselves.
"Yeah, Byron?"
"Could you show these ki-, uh...these people who think they can fix the power outage problem, to the control room?"
Steve Montador and Patrick Marleau stared at us like they couldn't believe this. "Uh, okay...?"
Suddenly we were being led away from the players by a Blackhawks player and a Sharks player.
As we walked along, Marissa whispered to me. "Who was number 1 in the blue jersey? I was going to melt in a puddle of, 'Oh my god you're so hot will you please eat me' vibes I was getting from him."
I laughed aloud. "Thomas Greiss? Marissa, you would."
We walked out of the arena and into the greying halls.
"This is creepy. Why is everything made of cement?"
"They don't really care to furnish the rest of the arena with plush carpet and state-of-the-art Korean hardwood floors." I rolled my eyes.
We reached a doorway. "Here it is." said Montador.
"Thanks." I said.
"You're cute." Marissa said.
Marleau burst out into laughter and Montador punched his shoulder. Then Marleau said to Marissa, "I like your shirt."
"Thanks, but it's Sammy's." she hitched a thumb to me.
"Do you want to sign my buttocks?" Casey asked Montador.
Three seconds later, a teal and red blur was zooming down the hallway.
I stared at Billy angrily. "You scared them away!"
Casey lifted up his hands so his thumbs were crossing over one another and the rest of his fingers looked like bird wings. "Hawkward!"
"HAWKward?"
"Yeah, see, it's a hawk-"
"Oh, shut up! Let's go." we entered into the room. I looked around. "No one is in here! It's left totally unattended.
The room was filled with screens and buttons and panels and comfy chairs and mics and a mini-fridge.
Billy ran over to a seat. "It's like a real life hockey video game!"
"No, this is serious!"
(Note: "Shawn, I'm serious about this!" LOL GUS. sorry)
They all gave me looks. Even Casey dropped my hand to head over to the mini-fridge.
"No offense, Sammy, but I don't see the big deal. So an idiot nicked the power. It's an intermission. They'll fix it and get back to the game. Why are you so spun up?"
I shrugged. "It seems like there's something bigger to this. Why would anyone do that? Don't they want to watch a game?"
"Well, what if someone really hates the Sharks?" Casey asked, popping open a Dr. Pepper.
I shot him a look. "Oh, so someone can cut the power in a whole arena just because they hate the Sharks, right? What about the Blackhawks? I mean, they are the visitors."
"Well, the person obviously lives in San Jose. Why would anyone in San Jose seriously think enough about a team that comes from across the country to hate them so much and plan to destroy the power when they visit? It's a little far-fetched."
"So someone from Santa Martina can LOVE the Hawks, but someone from San Jose can't hate them?" defensive. That's me.
Casey threw his hands up. "Fine. So if someone really hates Chicago. Or San Jose. Or both. Or hockey. Or a player."
"Who cares?" Billy asked, clicking around on the control panels and looking through different screens. "Sweet! They have cameras in the girls' bathrooms!"
"Ewwww" Marissa screeched. "In the stalls?"
"No, just the open area. I guess in case someone tries something stupid, like hide an explosive."
"Yup, that's totally why they have cameras." I said. Then I decided to stop being such a sarcastic jerk.
"It's not like anyone really watches these, anyway... see? No one is here watching. If they were, they would have caught the idiot who stopped the power. And there's no video streams!"
"They don't videotape anything?" I went over to him. "It's all live?"
"Pretty much." he said as I sag next to him and looked at the screen.
"Let's see who's peeing in the guys' bathroom." Billy chuckled.
"You're disgusting." I said. But Billy clicked onto the mens' bathroom panel anyway.
The live stream popped up on screen.
"Did someone graffiti the bathroom red for the Blackhawks?" Casey asked coming over. "Why is there red paint splattered everywhere?"
Billy maneuvered the camera so we could see the other corner of the bathroom.
A dead body lay there.
That wasn't paint. That was blood.
And there was no mistaking the girl in the teal Sharks jersey that was the dead body.
The only thing I could think of saying was, "I told you someone really hated the Sharks." to Casey.
His eyes were bugged out too, and Marissa was whimpering.
Casey finally choked out, "Very funny."
Then Billy clicked off that screen, and we all turned around and ran. Straight for the mens' room.