Crystal Frost's Arc

Chapter 1 of 5

Crystal slipped into the arena twenty minutes before game time, scanning the stands for her seat. Section twelve, row eight, end spot. The corner where the cold air from the rink didn't reach, where she could watch Gerard warm up without anyone blocking her view. Two seasons of coming early had made that seat hers in every way except the one that mattered. Someone else sat there now. A woman with a thick orange blanket spread across the wooden bench, a thermos balanced on the armrest. She'd settled in completely, feet tucked under her, head tipped back like she owned the place. The blanket covered the exact spot where Crystal always set her coat, the corner she'd claimed week after week when everything else in her life felt like it was slipping away. Crystal's hand tightened around her purse strap. She could ask the woman to move. Could explain that this was her seat, that she'd been coming here for two years, that this one hour was all she had. But the words stuck in her throat the same way they always did when it came to asking for anything. The woman laughed at something on her phone, completely unaware. Crystal turned toward the opposite side of the arena, where the view was worse and the cold air would bite at her neck all game. From there, she'd barely see Gerard's face during warmups. But she'd still see him play. She'd still have this hour, even if it wasn't the same. Even if it meant starting over in a new spot, building a new corner, pretending the old one had never mattered at all.