Page 206 of Puck Me Back to Life

Everything happens exactly the way I've remembered.

Until it doesn't.

I lean closer.

My breathing slows.

I'm watching myself.

Not through memory.

Not through guilt.

Through a television camera hanging high above center ice.

I look...

Young.

God. I look so young.

The collision happens in less than a second. Neither of us hesitates. Neither of us makes an unusual play. William loses an edge as we're both changing direction.

My skate comes up.

Then… Everything changes.

I don't see malice.

I don't see recklessness.

I don't see a murderer.

I see two hockey players colliding in a way that happens dozens of times every single game.

Only this time, the impossible happened. The commentators go silent. The arena follows.

Then the screaming starts.

The sound makes every hair on my arms stand up.

For two years, those screams have lived inside my head. I thought I'd remembered them perfectly.

I hadn't.

What surprises me isn't the crowd, but me.

The camera stays on me after the collision. I stumble backward. My stick falls from my hands.

My helmet comes off.

I'm screaming too. I drop to my knees.

Not because anyone tells me to. Because my legs stop working.

I watch younger me trying to crawl toward William before trainers pull me away.

His face…