Love, Hate and Hockey Skates

Nineteen

After my talk with Sylvia, we became closer friends, and I was finally able to say I had made a friend that wasn't Ace, though he counted as a friend in other ways, it was nice to have another girl to talk to every now and then.

She also helped me a ton with my choreography once the day of the competition arrived, I felt more than prepared and had the confidence that I could actually with this thing for once. Especially now that I had a little entourage of Ace and Sylvia to cheer me on in the crowd.

Despite the loud music and everyone else cheering, I was able to hear them the loudest of all and knew exactly where they were in the crowd. It helped boost my confidence and I felt like a butterfly on stage as I floated and moved about.

I just hoped I looked as graceful as I felt.

Come the end, I felt I had this thing in the bag, but there were two more competitors after me before they announced the top three winners and prizes. I jumped off the stage and made my way through to the back where I saw Ace, his tall frame stood out quite a bit.

When I got there, however, Sylvia was nowhere to be found.

"Ace, where is Sylvia?" I asked.

"She said she needed to use the bathroom, some girl pointed her over there," he said and pointed to an empty part of the building. We were in the basement of an industrial plant that shut down years ago – there were no bathrooms down there.

"I have to go get here, there is nothing over there," I said and tore through the crowd.

"Isla, wait!" I heard Ace call, but I didn't stop to wait for him. Wherever she was, she could be in danger.

I made my way through and ran to the other room, but there was no one there.

"Sylvia, where are you?" I called out. I saw there was another room and rushed into it to reveal a staircase that led up. "Sylvia, are you up here?" I tried again, but there was nothing.

"Ah, shit." I took the stairs two at a time and opened the door to another large room that looked like it was a factory room, now left completely barren and pitch black except for the moonlight from the small windows.

"Hello, anyone here?" I called out, but nothing. I took out my phone and turned on the flashlight and was surprised to see that the air was kind of hazy. As I walked further, my lungs started to fill with smoke as I started coughing, the air thick and heavy.

"What the hell is going on? Is there a fire?"

From down a floor, I suddenly started hearing screaming and ran back to the stairs. I made it to the bottom but saw the door was now closed. When I tried to open it, it wouldn't budge.

Someone had locked me in.

I threw my entire body against it and practically broke my arm, but still nothing.

"Hello, anyone there?" I quickly took out my phone, but of course, no service in this dingy basement.

I rushed back upstairs and tried there, but the smoke was getting thicker, and I couldn't locate where it was coming from. I was beginning to wonder if Sylvia had even come this way at all. If so, was she the one who set the fire?

"Isla, are you in there?" I heard someone call and the doors moved again.

"Ace, is that you?" I called through it and tried myself, but it was locked tight.

"Yes, I'm here! Why is there a chain on the door?"

What the fuck? That wasn't there before! Someone was definitely behind this, and I hated to think it was sweet Sylvia.

"Ace, where is Sylvia, did you find her?"

"Yeah, she came back not long after you left! I got her out and the others, there is a fire down here, we need to move fast. Stand back!"

I stood back and he kicked at the door, but it was no use. With that chain on the handle, it wasn't going anywhere. "Ace, just go, I'll find another way out. There has to be another exit!"

"Are you crazy? I'm not leaving you! Stay there and I'll try and climb up and stay below the smoke!"

I knew there was no chance he could climb up to this level with how high and small the windows were, it was a flat brick building. I climbed back up the stairs on my hands and knees to try and stay below the smoke line.

There was no way there wasn't another exit, but it was too dark and hazy for even my flashlight on my phone to see anything, or where I was even going. I just did my best to stay low and move forward until I found another door. But the room was so large, I kept moving and it felt like I was never going to reach the end.

The smoke was getting thicker and the room hotter as I finally saw where the flames were coming from. It looked like a small storage room in the corner, and there was a mop head that fell out and was still on fire.

The whole room was.

At this point, I could barely breathe and it was slowing me down. I felt the strength leaving my body and my brain went fuzzy. I lay down for a second just to catch my breath, but my eyes slowly started to close.

"Isla, are you up here? Isla! Please, say something, anything!"

"Ace?" I wheezed out, but I was too far, and it was too dark for him to see my flashlight still lit on the ground. "Ov...er...here..." I tried to lift my hand, but it fell with no strength left in my body, then I quickly passed out.

"Isla? Isla!"