Suicide, Skittles and Skates [✓]

Prologue

PROLOGUE

White.

There was nothing but pure, glistening white. No marks at all – a completely smooth surface. The ice was new and perfect, just like Kalila liked it. With it, she could do anything. It was like a clean slate; anything she didn't like would be wiped away at the end when the ice was cleaned. No reminders of the error of her ways or mistakes made. Nothing at all.

At the rink, mistakes didn't matter.

Almost every day for the past three years, she skated in the evenings at the ice-rink she worked at. When nobody else was around she glided across the ice, letting the vibrations of the soft music underneath her feet rush through her veins, like a course of adrenaline. Every turn and spin loosened her body more and she smiled in content, losing herself in the feeling.

Most people ice-skated for competitions if they were serious, many more for fun, but for Kalila Woods it was so much more than that.

It was like therapy.

The tranquillity was like an escape from life, this was where she ran whenever she felt overwhelmed. When the pressures piled on her shoulders and it all got too much, her body ached to be here. The coldness of the air hitting her face felt almost homely. Nothing could calm her more than the sound of her skates sliding across the ice, or the firmness of her limbs as she lifted a leg off the ground. There was no other feeling in the world comparable to it.

The feeling of being free.