Caitlyn Catowize's story Pt. 10

[CrazyCaityCat 65]

Part 9 here:  https://vhlforum.com/topic/97288-caitlyn-catowizes-story-pt9/

 

What. A. Fortnight. First there was the championship run. The Reapers were in it to win it, you could tell right from the first. The team ran through the lower rounds and went up against a real tough team in the finals. Caitlyn was dreading one thing the entire time, and surprisingly even though she was quite the competitor, it wasn’t losing. It was the ringing of her cell phone with that one unknown number. The unknown people on the other end of the line might ask her to do anything and she would have to do it for now. The night before the first game of the finals her phone rang and it was, in fact, that same unknown number. She sat staring at her phone for a second or so, too afraid to answer, too afraid not to. When she finally picked up it was the usual voice on the other end of the line but he didn’t ask her anything this time. He wished her well and said that she should do her best to win. When she hung up Caitlyn was shaking. The adrenaline had been coursing through her in anticipation of being asked to do something horrible to someone again. Of being forced to say yes. She was so glad that she wasn’t going to be made to do anything that she broke down into tears.

When it came to game time Caitlyn felt freed. She was all over the place on the ice, flying at top speed. She played well, though not so well that she felt she’d capped out on her potential yet. The Reapers went on to win the Cup, Caitlyn was a champion! 3^rd line winger only, but still! A champion! She was still riding the high from having won a real cup that she never expected she’d win as a minor leaguer that when she got the call from the World WJC team she absolutely could not believe it. They wanted her on the team! What a huge honor! When the games got under way she was so on cloud nine that she felt she could do anything on the ice. Until she realized she was woefully underdeveloped compared to some of the top players out there. The World team even won the WJC and although Caitlyn scored a couple of goals, she just played okay overall. Then…then it was time for the thing she’d been most looking forward to. The draft.

 

The week before the draft was a blur. It was workout for this team, interview for this scout, tour this facility, she felt like her brain had been scrambled by the end of it. She had picked out a couple of teams she had hopes would draft her, that seemed particularly excited about getting her and had picks in the area her agent told her she was projected to go. That said she was sure wherever she ended up would be fun, exciting and worthwhile.

 

Then, two days before the draft she got a knock on her door. She was confused at first since no one knew where she lived except a couple of teammates she’d had over once or twice. She thought it must be them coming to wish her luck wherever she went next and answered the door with a smile. That smile shattered the moment she saw her mother standing there looking at her. Her mother greeter her as she pushed past without permission, Caitlyn was so stunned she didn’t think to try to stop her. When she caught her bearing she turned on her mother and yelled at her to get out. Her mother of course took it in stride, used to her daughter not being exactly welcoming. Caitlyn took the opportunity to use a few choice words to let her mother know just exactly what she thought of her after what she’d put her through this last year. Her mother just stood silently and listened. When Caitlyn paused to take a breath her mother asked if Caitlyn was ready to hear why she had come. This got Caitlyn thinking again. What the hell was this woman up to now? She was playing the game again, she was always playing the game, so what was she after. Money was too simple, the fact that Caitlyn would be drafted my a VHL team and sign her first real contract would be interesting to most petty con-men, or con-women in this case, but not her mother. That was small potatoes. So, what was the game? Not being able to guess, and tired already of having to be in the woman’s presence, Caitlyn asked why she’d bothered to show up now? Her mother claimed then to have a plan to save Caitlyn from her debtors. She would work most of it on her end but Caitlyn just had to appeal to on specific general manager and get him to draft her. She had to end up in Washington D.C. with the Dragons. Once there, her mother would enact the rest of her plan and Caitlyn would be freed from her debt. The debt, yeah the debt her mother had placed on her head in the first place, Caitlyn thought. This was the reminder that she needed that she could not trust this woman. Whatever else was true, she was not acting with Caitlyn’s best interest at heart. She had her own agenda that involved Caitlyn only insofar as Caitlyn was a useful pawn. No, this was all wrong. Caitlyn told her mother to get out, she wouldn’t do as she was asked and her mother was wasting her breath. Her mother smiled and slowly walked to the door, but on her way out she said one more thing. She said that Caitlyn really didn’t have any other options available to her.

 

Caitlyn had those last words running through her mind all night. What other options were open to her? She really didn’t even know who she was dealing with, she had no leverage to negotiate with, and she had no one else to appeal to for help. The next day she did find out she had a last minute meeting with the GM of the D.C. Dragons scheduled at their request. That wasn’t a coincidence, she thought, but did her best to act as though it were news to her. The person she met with surprised her, they were very excited about drafting her it seemed, and their excitement was endearing. Caitlyn did what she didn’t want to do, she appealed to them using her natural enthusiasm and by assuring them that she was super excited to play for them as well. It wasn’t even so much that it wasn’t true, it just felt disingenuous because it was forced. She did it because she knew she had no choice.

 

The night of the draft she sat in the green room with about 40 other rookies waiting to see her fate. As it turned out she was drafted number seven overall…by the D.C. Dragons. She was so happy to be drafted 7^th, some mock drafts had her slipping out of the first round altogether, and yet, she felt so guilty for the situation, for whatever fate was to befall whoever her mother was out to get. The GM of D.C. immediately congratulated her when she left the stage, and she had a signed contract later that evening. The next morning she found a note on her hotel door in her mother’s handwriting. It said simply, “thata girl.” Caitlyn threw it across the hall and slammed her door. She’d let her mother have her way, again, as always. As always, it was because she didn’t have any other choice. Her mother had been steps ahead of her. How she wished she could be free of the curse of this woman in her life. How many times had she cried, asking whoever might be listening why they had placed such a terrible human being in her life? Caitlyn did not have any answers then, and she did not have any answers now but to keep moving forward. She was living life on rails, forced to go where they took her. She was a pawn and she knew it. Where would life guide her next? What was in store for her when she arrived in D.C.? Caitlyn hoped that better times were possible.

 

1404 words

 

claiming 1/2

Edited January 16, 2021 by CrazyCaityCat

[CrazyCaityCat 65]

Claiming 2/2