It was a beautiful day in Chicago. The air fresh and brisk on this April day; it was like the Windy City wanted to tell every living souls in town that cold and snowstorm were officially part of the past and that spring was here to stay. The idea of the coming summer was taunting and people couldn’t help but take a deep breath as the step outside and look at the blue sky, letting the sun slowly warming up their skins.

***

It’s a beautiful day, thought Jonathan as he stepped outside and looked up at the sky, exiting the restaurant on this Saturday of April. A few of his teammates enjoyed a meal together in one of their favorite restaurant near the United Center. They were playing in Chicago that night against the Panthers and the morning practice had gone by smoothly. He ran his fingers through his hair before putting his cap back on, distractedly listening to Patrick ‘’Kaner’’ Kane blabbering about a football and knocking off a lamp. Patrick was re-enacting the complete scene, walking backward on the sidewalk. Jonathan was running through his pocket looking for his car keys when a light blue flash of color caught his eye, coming right behind Kaner who was still caught up in his knocking-out-a-pricy lamp scene. He barely had the time to say anything before Brent Seabrook let out a ‘’Kaner, watch out!’’ before the collision.

***

Chloé had been jogging for almost two hours now and was more than ready to be done. As soon as she woke up that morning, she knew it would be the perfect day for a run. Clear bright sky, not too hot, not too cold, and not too humid. This was going to be a terrific day and she was eager to lace up her shoes and hit the roads. But after running for 19 kilometers, she could not understand why she was still so far from her apartment.

She was going up a quiet street, a few people exiting a restaurant 100 meters ahead, as she was wondering how the heck her apartment was as she drank a gulp of water. She was fairly new to the town; she had moved from Montréal to Chicago only a month ago and was just getting used to this new city. She had planned her route before heading out, a perfect 15 kilometers wandering around town and bringing her back up to her place. So why the hell was she still running on the streets, sweating and exhausted, 4 kilometers after she was supposed to be sitting on her porch, enjoying her post-run smoothie?

‘’OH SHIT, KILOMETERS. I forgot to map my route in KILOMETERS. Stupid, you are so stupid, no way you are freaking lost and exhausted in the middle of a 15 MILES RUN.’’

She was dubitably looking at her GPS Garmin watch, considering calling a cab and calling it quit, when she heard a ‘’Watch out!’’ near her. She raised her head just in time to see someone throwing an invisible football ball walking backward and not seeing her directly into her trajectory. Her eyes widened as the muscular guy collided with her. Losing her balance, she was thrown between two cars parked on the street, tumbling and collapsing on the rough pavement.

Notes