Time Stands Still

Tyler calmed himself once more from his anger and plopped down on the couch. He looked at his phone in his hand once more. He tapped the on button to his phone and slid his finger across to unlock the device.

The text message came up on his screen once more he read it:

“Star light, Star bright,
The first Star I see tonight,
I wish I may, I wish I might,
Have little Seggy dealt with, without a fight.”

He shivered at the threatening poem. Someone was after him, but who?

“Marchy you would never threaten me like this, what is wrong buddy?” Tyler spoke, as he typed out the reply.

As he waited for the response, he drifted off, leisurely closing his eyes.

Tyler’s Dream

"Why hello again my dear ex-best friend," Brad Marchand slyly hissed. He was lined up across from his ex-linemate, Tyler Seguin, again.

They glared at each other, like deep rivals or jealous girlfriends, who’d stolen each others’ crush.

"You still have that on your mind?" Tyler snarled.

"Of course!" Brad spat back.

"Marchy, you know that I have moved on. Jamie and I have been killing it here in Dallas. I have close to 30 goals now!" Tyler raised his head up proudly and flashed his classic smirk to the Bruin forward.

“Oh really, is that so?” Brad sarcastically responded, rolling his eyes.

“Yes, Bradley.”

"Well, that may be great and all, but I would like you to meet my NEW homeboy, Smitty, here!" Brad casually retorted, nodding in the direction of Reilly Smith.

Reilly turned his attention to the “divorced couple”. He looked lost and confused and unsure of what to do or say. "Yeah, no, we're not homeboys, Marchy!" Reilly teased, shaking his head, still maintaining an awkward look.

"Aw, why not? I'm nice to you; I get you the puck!" Brad whined. “C’mon, man!”

Tyler bit his lip. He frowned, glancing back and forth between Reilly and Patrice. He finally gazed back to Brad, as the puck dropped and the Bruins’ centre grabbed the puck with his stick’s blade and sent it backward to Zdeno Chara. Tyler and Brad jostled with each other.

“Get a life, Segs!” Brad shot.

“Quit romancing with the past! Let it go and let me go!” Tyler retorted.

The Bruin pest slammed into his friend and sent him to the ice. Brad’s stick accidentally swung in and caught Tyler’s lip. The Dallas Star instantly pawed at his mouth, where the blade had made contact with him. Brad saw that he was bleeding. He froze in place. Tyler looked up at him, in awe. He slowly slid off one of his gloves. His hand lightly grazed his lip and then dropped immediately. Brad had drawn his friend’s blood!

“Marchy, quit dwelling on the past and get open down the ice!” Patrice’s voice scolded, nearby. “Now’s not the time to pick a fight!”

Brad felt a breeze on his arm, as Patrice Bergeron skated past him, with the puck. The pest’s mouth opened, but only a short, forced squeak came out. He shot away, down the ice and snapped back mentally into the game.

Tyler scrambled to his feet, shocked. He touched his lip once more and then narrowed his eyes. “So, that’s how you want to play it, March?” Tyler stuffed his hand into his glove and sped for his ex-teammates, as Patrice sent the puck to Brad, who instantly shot it at Kari Lehtonen, who swatted at it with his glove. He then made a rapid move and snatched the puck out of the air, before it sailed behind him.

Brad cursed, gently tapping his stick against the ice surface in frustration. “I had that!”

“Shake it off Marchy!” Patrice comforted him, before Tyler rammed his shoulder into his small friend.

“Did little Marchy miss the net?” Tyler taunted, attempting the pest role.

“You wanna fight me, Segs?” Brad spat, spinning around.

“The question is, do you?” Tyler spat back.

“Yeah! Let’s go!” Brad snarled, dropping his stick and shaking off his gloves, balling his fists up.

Tyler cocked his neck to the side. He had never actually fought anybody before; this would be his first NHL fight and first fight period. He was full of rage and Brad had drawn blood from him, so naturally he HAD to go. The young Dallas Star shook off his gloves and dropped his stick to the ice. “Let’s go!”

“Tyler Seguin’s getting in a fight! Oh! He’s going with Brad Marchand! Two ex-teammates are going to engage in a fight together!” the announcer’s voice boomed over the intercom.

The crowd rose and buzzed. (As well they should!)

Tyler and Brad rounded one another, with their fists up. Tyler launched himself forward first. Brad wrapped his arm around Tyler’s neck, getting him into a headlock. Tyler attempted to swinging his fists and hit Brad, but Brad twirled him around.

In the background, the sounds blurred together. A few catcalls from rebellious fans tore through the noise:

“Go Marchy! Kick the traitor’s ass!”

“Go Segs! He’s a dirty little rat creature!”

“Go Brad Marchand!”

and “Go Tyler Seguin!”

Brad wrestled his friend to the ice and prepared to land a hard blow to Tyler’s face. The ex-Bruin turned to the side and the small, feisty winger halted, freezing in place. He didn’t want to hurt Tyler! He couldn’t hurt Tyler! This man was still a person and still a good, talented player. Brad dropped his fist. He spotted Tyler flinching, closing his eyes tightly.

“Enough!” Brad hissed.

The refs instantly broke up the fight, pulling Brad off of Tyler and pulling him away from Tyler. Patrice shook his head off to the side. Reilly skated around, daring not to make eye contact with anyone.

The other ref grabbed Tyler, who scrambled to his feet. Both hockey players were stunned. They had really attempted to go over the edge and try to harm one another.

Brad felt sick to his stomach and he could see that Tyler was pale and shaking violently. It wasn’t the shivers because he was cold; it was the kind of shaking you get when you fight with your best friend. Brad had fought Tyler; a scene he had never thought he’d witness.

The ref ushered him to the penalty box. His head lolled to the side. He watched as Tyler was helped to his feet and ushered toward his own penalty box. Brad glimpsed Patrice shaking his head at him. The alternate Bruin captain did not approve of Brad’s antics this time, wearing a stern expression.

Reilly helped Brad out with his equipment. Brad thanked him. Reilly kept his mouth shut, but dipped his head.

Jamie helped Tyler out with his equipment, a similar expression on his face.

No one was happy or proud.

The doors closed and Brad shared a look with Tyler. He’d dressed the cut on his lip, which was pretty much just a dried blood scar now. Brad opened his mouth to speak, but Tyler shook his head immediately.

“No, you don’t get to speak, Marchy!” Tyler croaked, fixing his equipment into place.

“Segs, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to hurt you!” Brad wailed, hanging his head low.

“You went too far!” Tyler complained.

“You egged me on! You wanted to fight!” Brad snarled.

“You could’ve backed off!” Tyler snapped.

“I’m not going to fight with you anymore Tyler!”

There was a brief moment of silence between the two.

“I’m sorry too, Marchy. I should have quit. I should know you. You’re a chirping little pest….!” Tyler finally continued, much calmer. He looked down and then immediately back up at his friend, flashing a slight smile. “But I still love you!”

“I miss you so much, Segs. Smitty is good, but he’s not going to be you! He will never be you!” Brad admitted, cracking a small smile as well.

“I can’t return to Boston. You know that, Marchy. I wish I could, but I just can’t!”

“I know….I understand why you won’t….why you can’t!”

“Boston will always be apart of me and I promise to come and visit you and Bergy and the others during the summer.”
“I guess I can live with that. So what can we do?”

“What do you mean?”

“What should we do, when we are on the ice together?”

“We’ve got to look away, we can never think of one another as friends on the ice.”

“Of course, Segs! Duh! But how do we prevent anything like this from happening again?”

“We avoid each other at all costs!”

“I suppose so...” Brad looked to the ice, where the 4-on-4 was occurring.

Their major penalties were almost over and Brad wanted to do nothing more then hug his friend. Tyler blinked and stood up.

“Segs?” Brad started to question, as he stood up as well.

“Marchy?”

“Can-can we hug it out?”

“Sure, buddy, sure.”

The penalties expired and both players emerged from their boxes, onto the ice. They turned to each other and flung their arms around one another.

“I’m sorry Marchy!” Tyler wailed.

“I’m sorry for hurting you Segs!” Brad added.

“The penalties to Tyler Seguin and Brad Marchand expire; they emerge from their penalty boxes. immediately they turn and...they’re going to go with each other again! Oh, wait, no, they’re just going to hug it out!” the announcer’s voice booms over the mic.

“Marchy, what are you doing?” Patrice questioned, skating up.

“Segs, get off of him and get back to the game!” Jamie growled, skidding to a halt beside the Bruin alternate captain.

Jamie and Patrice frowned at one another.