Disclaimer: I do not own anything.

Goalie Training

The months passed by and my leg healed. True to his word, my stalker left me alone for the time being. He had said that he would come for me when I least expected it. I couldn't help but lay awake at night, wondering when that would be.

I didn't tell anyone about the email. If my mother ever found out about it, she would freak. The fact that they guy knows my new name proves that I will never be safe. So what's the point in worrying my mother? After the email, I decided the best way to solve this would be to wait him out and come face to face with him.

As I mentioned, my leg has healed. Hockey season has now ended and it's time for me to begin my goalie training. I was looking forward to meeting Riley's uncle and getting back on the ice. I convinced Riley to come with me on my first day. I didn't want to meet the man alone and I thought it would be better if there was someone o knew there.

Riley and I met his uncle at the pee-wee hockey rink. "Uncle Jack, this is my good friend, Scooter Vanderbilt." Riley introduced us.

"So you are the young man I am supposed to turn into an efficient goalie?" Coach Riley asked me, as he looked me over.

"Yes, Sir." I answered nervously.

"Have you ever played the goalie position before?" he asked.

"No, I played center before I tore up my leg." I answered.

He nodded, excepting my answer. "Did you read the books I sent you?"

"Yes, Sir." I answered. "I read them."

"And you have been cleared by a doctor?"

"Yes." I answered one final time.

"How long has it been since you have skated?"

"I don't know." I answered honestly. "Probably about six or seven months."

"Alright, then the first thing I want you to do is skate 30 laps." He told me. "You will do this at the beginning and end of every one of our sessions. You need to get into tip top shape to play at a high level."

"Come on man," Riley told me. "I'll skate with you."

"Thanks." I told him as we started skating.

"It's no problem. I need to stay in shape as well." He told me.

I nodded in understanding. "So, is your uncle pretty tough?"

"Yeah, I played for him in the pee-wee's. His motto is, it's not worth winning, if you can't win big. He's pretty tough on his teams."

I looked around the rink. "He sure has won a lot of titles."

"Yeah, but he's lost to the Ducks the last two years. The Ducks used to get pounded by everyone, then they got that fancy new coach and suddenly they are the champs and playing in the Goodwill games." I could see the bitterness in his eyes. "My uncle was robbed."

"Yeah, but that girl goalie is hot." I told him unconsciously.

"What did you say?"

"I said they just think they are so hot." I lied and he seamed to buy it. We skated the rest of the laps in silence, which I was grateful too. I didn't want to accidentally say something that would incriminate myself.

"Finished?" Coach Riley asked as we pulled up next to him.

"Yes," I answered.

"Alright," he told me. "Get in the net. I want to see what you can do."

"But I've never…" I stated.

"Just get in there." He yelled at me. "Riley grab a stick and some pucks and take some shots at him."

Riley did as his uncle asked and started flying pucks in my direction. I was kind of surprised to learn that it didn't hurt when the puck hit you. I was able to block some of Riley's shots, but plenty of them got by me as well.

"Now that I know where you are, we can get started." He told me. "You're biggest problem seams to be your agility. So guess what we are going to work on first?"

"My agility?" I guessed.

He nodded. "The first drill I want you to is called the jumping bean drill or figure eights."

"I've done them before." I answered.

"Good." he yelled at me. "When I blow my whistle, I want you to start and when I blow it again rest. Afterwards we are going to go in the opposite direction."

He blew his whistle and I got to work. I jump for corner to corner of the imaginary square for what seamed like forever, until he finally blew his whistle for me to stop. I didn't get to rest for more then ten seconds before he blew his whistle once more. I did the drill going in the opposite direction. The drill continued for ten minutes before we continued on to the next drill.

One hour and six agility drills later, I was able to return to the net. Coach Riley grabbed a stick and fifteen feet away from me and to the right. "Rick, grab a stick and stand on the other side." I watched as Riley grabbed a stick and some pucks and stood on the other side. "We are going to have to take turns shooting at you. Moving quickly from one side to another is a big part of being an efficient goalie."

I nodded and they started taking shots at me. I never realized how hard a goalie's job was until I started moving back and forth trying to stop the shots, coming at me from both directions. I'd like to say that I took to it right off the bat, but that is just not the case. I hardly stopped any of their shots the first few minutes of the drill. After a while, I did better and stopped what I would call about 40 percent of their shots. Not bad for a beginner, if you ask me. After that drill was over, I had to contend with another variation of the drill. They were going to pass a puck back and forth to each other before shooting at me. It was while doing this drill that I realized I had a long way to go before I could be a great goalie. I didn't stop many of the shots, ten at the most. Afterwards I was told to do my 30 laps and we would be finished for the day.

As the weeks passed by, I got better and better and was actually starting to look like a goalie. "I think you are finally ready to play in a game against a team." Coach Riley patted me on the back. We were a month into my training and I had yet to do anything but drills and conditioning.

"Really." I asked, excited to finally get to play against a team.

"Yeah," he answered. "You are going to scrimmage with my Hawks team."

"A pee-wee team?" I asked.

"You are just getting the hang of things. I want to see how far you have come. The best way to gain the experience is to start off small." He explained to me. The more I thought about it, the more I agreed. I hadn't played goalie in a game before and this was going to take some small steps.

"I guess you are right." I agreed.

"Good," he answered. "I will set up the game for tomorrow."

When I arrived back at Riley's place that night, the first thing I did was check my email. What I didn't realize is that when I checked it, my life would be changed forever. My stomach turned as I clicked on the message. It was the first time I had heard from my stalker since the email on my first day of school..

Hey Scooter/Gunnar,

I hope you haven't forgotten about me. I haven't forgotten about you. I just thought I would tell you what I have been up to lately.

The next four words were ones that I would never forget. The tears welled up in my eyes as I read over them.

I killed your mother.

I exited off my email and closed my eyes, hoping it was a joke. Just as I did so, the phone rang and I heard the sound of Riley calling for me. "Scooter, your dad is on the phone."

I picked up the phone. "Dad?" I asked.

His next words confirmed what I hoped was a dream. "Gunnar, about your mother…"

Please review and tell me what you think! I skipped ahead because there wasn't that much that could happen until his injury healed. Plus telling about each day at school would get boring. Anyone want to take a guess about who the stalker or stalkers are.