You Had Me From Hello

The rest of the day was filled with visitors and tests, when eight o’clock came around I was exhausted both physically and emotionally. Geno sat to my right holding my hand loosely his head leaning back, eyes closed. Vero came busting through the door a rather large smile plastered on her face. “Darling, how are you feeling?” she asked rather loudly making Geno’s head shoot up.

I laughed at Geno’s surprised expression. “Alright I guess” I told her, not really in the mood to talk to anyone. She nodded and smiled taking the seat beside me as Marc came in a duffle bag in his hand. “Hey Marc” he sent me a cute smile before handing the duffle bag to Geno telling him there was at least two days worth of clothes in the bag. “Evgeni Vladmire Malkin, you are not going to stay here with me nonstop until I leave” I scolded him. “I could be in here for another week! You have a job to do, a game to play!”

Marc sent Vero an uncomfortable look but she didn’t see it as she dug through her purse. “I’m not leaving you Madison.” He didn’t give me a chance to respond before he got up out of the room duffle bag in hand and Marc fallowing behind him. I knew he wasn’t going to be happy when I told him that but I didn’t think that he would be angry about it.

“So Madi I’ve been thinking” she began a mischievous look on her face. “What are you going to do with your hair?” I looked at her as she contemplated in her head how to word it, I didn’t exactly have any hair. “Or lack thereof I guess” she giggled a little, looking intensely at me.

I sighed, thinking about her question. “I really don’t want to wear a wig” I began and a large smile found its way onto her face again.

“Oh great! The girls and I were going to go shopping for you tomorrow, you know we all have a little emotional stress to get out, and now we can buy you scarves to wear!” I raised an eyebrow at her and opened my mouth to argue but she interrupted me. “Oh and don’t try to tell me not to buy you anything because I’m going to do it if you like it or not.”

Just as she finished speaking Geno and Marc walked into the room. Geno now wore a simple white v-neck undershirt and a pair of black sweat pants. He set his bag by the window and came back over towards me kissing my forehead before sitting down.

“We should probably get going baby” Marc spoke to Vero as she looked up from her phone. Nodding she stood up and walked over towards me.

“Stay strong darling, I’ll see you tomorrow. And you, mister,” she spoke to Evgeni pointing a finger at his face, “Take care of her, at least until I get back tomorrow.” He nodded with a small smile before we bid them both goodbyes, Marc telling Geno he’d see him at practice tomorrow while sending me a wink.

After they left the room went quiet and just the soft hum of the TV filled my bland hospital room. I looked around a face of disgust evident on my features, I could feel his gaze on me as I scrunched my nose at the musty hospital smell. I squeezed my eyes shut as tears began to fall from them freely. Evgeni’s hand covered mine as he turned so he was closer to me.

I hadn’t truly cried about this yet, and it seemed like everyone was waiting for it to happen. What did I do to deserve this? I didn’t smoke, never did drugs, rarely drank and never put myself in high risk situations. Sure I swore on occasion and every now and then told a little white lie, but there were people ten times worse than me out there. Why was god doing this to me?

“Baby, what’s wrong” Evgeni’s voice was laced with worry and his thick Russian accent became thicker. I couldn’t seem to talk but simply moved over making room for him on the hospital bed. I had recently been detached from all of the monitors and IVs they had connected to me. He ran a head over my head as he placed a sweet kiss on my lips. “Get some sleep, you had long day” just like that I was drifting to sleep in his arms.

--

I woke up the next morning to an empty bed, surprisingly I had slept through the night. There was a note on the nightstand beside a purple rose in a vase.

Baby, went to practice. Be back at 11. Love you. Evgeni.

I smiled at the chicken scratch as I looked around my, now, filled room. There were flowers, cards and balloons everywhere. My walls were no longer bare they were covered with pictures of my family, my friends and of course Evgeni. On the bulletin board beside my bed were two homemade pictures one from Samantha the other from Olivia.

The nurse came into the room a smile on her face as she took my vitals telling me that the doctor would probably be into see me later in the day. My stomach was still in pain so she gave me a shot of morphine through the IV in my arm telling me that I’d start to get sleepy soon but she’d let everyone know what was up so they wouldn’t worry.

I turned on the TV to see my boyfriends shining face being interview. He looked tire though, not his usually dopey self. Max sat beside him an equally solemn look on his face. “So Geno how do you think your girlfriend’s sickness will affect your game?” the look on his face was priceless, his mouth open disgust in his eyes, one eyebrow raised.

“If anything it make me work harder. Not for me, for her.” And with this Max told them that Geno was done for today and the camera went back to the two men sitting in the FSN Pittsburgh studios. They talked for a second about me and how I was doing before wishing me well and moving on. I was glad for that, I didn’t like all the attention.

I was almost completely out when Evgeni, my mom and my step father came into the room. Each placed a soft kiss on my forehead. They talked to me for a while but it all became fuzzy I felt eyes getting heavy just as a bright eyed Vero came in carrying her purchases. I asked her how it was and she began to respond but I couldn’t tell you what she said because as soon as it left her mouth I was out like a light.