RYKER'S POV
Game day.
The atmosphere inside the locker room was completely different.
Usually, the air was thick with loud music, aggressive pre-game chirping, and the chaotic energy of twenty guys psyching themselves up for battle.
Today, it was quiet.
Heavy.
Without Landon, the room felt... incomplete.
His locker stood untouched in the far corner.
His jersey still hung neatly against the dark wood, the bold numbers staring back at us.
No one had the heart to move it.
No one even dared to sit on the bench near it.
It was an unwritten rule, a silent tribute to the captain who had carried us on his back for so long.
I leaned forward, wrapping heavy black tape around the blade of my stick, the tearing sound echoing too loudly in the quiet space. My mind kept drifting back to Soph
