The Family Burden: Full Story

[Oatex 298]

 

Alex Bridges IV stood at the edge of the rink, his breath misting the cold air as the Zamboni faded into the distance. The ice stretched out in front of him, glass-smooth, just as it always was. The S98 VHL draft was only weeks away, and the weight of it all seemed to be heavier with each passing day.

A generational talent, they said. Projected top 10 pick. His name had been on the lips of scouts and coaches for over a season now. But it wasn't so much what everyone else thought as much as what his family thought. His father, Alex Bridges III, had been selected #41 in the VHL. His grandfather, Alex Bridges II, had gone #59 in the same draft. And his great-grandfather, Alex Bridges, had been selected at #19 overall. The tradition was rich, a river that flowed through the generations, and Alex was meant to carry it further than anyone.

But the pressure? The pressure was something he had not anticipated.

He’d heard it all his life, "You’ve got it in your blood, Alex. You’ll make us proud." And while the words were comforting, they only added weight to his shoulders. How could he possibly live up to the expectations? His family had been hockey royalty, their names etched in the history of the VHL. The stakes were high, and as the draft drew nearer, so did his fear of falling short, just as he did in the VHLM draft, going at #23.

The rink was empty now, apart from Alex and his coach, who bellowed orders from the other side of the ice. Alex was halfway through a practice session, one of dozens of others that had consumed his life for as long as he could remember. He did not mind the grind - he thrived on it, actually - but lately, it had felt less like practice for someday and more like practice for a moment that frightened him.
 

His routine was the same every day: wake up early, gym, ice, repeat. The physical sessions were hard, but it was the mental side that exhausted him. His head was filled with thoughts of the draft, of all the things that might go wrong, of the possibility that he wasn't the player that everyone believed he would be. A top 10 pick was a dream, but what if it was not his dream? What if the burden of his family's tradition smothered him?

"Focus, Alex," he said to himself, pushing those thoughts to the back of his mind.

The scratch of skates slicing ice was the only thing he could focus on as he practiced his quick turns, his shots, his sprints. It was in these moments, when he was lost in the rhythm of the game, that everything else faded away.

But in the quiet hours of the night, when he was in bed staring at the ceiling, the weight of his family's legacy returned. His father had been drafted into the VHL, true, but hadn't ever quite made the top. His grandfather had amazing potential, but he stepped away early. And his great-grandfather, well, he'd been a legend. But that was the problem: Alex's great-grandfather was a legend. Could he ever live up to that?

Out on the ice, he shook those thoughts away and skated harder, faster. He couldn't do anything about the past, but he could about what lay in front of him. The VHL draft was coming, and soon his name would be called.

But in that moment, as the cold wind swept across the rink, Alex knew this much for sure: wherever he got picked, he would forge his own path. The stress, the worry - they would always be present. But they did not have to define him. He was not just Alex Bridges IV. He was his own skater, his own individual, and his own legacy, which was soon to be written.

With a final push, Alex skated harder, a spark of hope igniting in his chest. The draft was coming, and he would be ready.

Word Count 683
 

Edited 23 hours ago by Oatex
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