Find the Horizon

The next day, Sidney still hadn’t heard anything from Katie. After practice, he called the hospital and asked for her address. The only reason they gave it to him was because they had seen her with him in the hospital so many times and they knew he could be trusted. He scribbled down the address and inputted it into his GPS and drove over.

He came to the house, a nice looking two-story home with a white picket fence and a beautiful garden in the front. Sidney got out of his car and went to the front door, knocking on it gently.

It opened, revealing Katie’s mother, Rita.

“Sidney,” she said, sounding surprised. “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be getting ready for your game against Detroit on Friday?”

“Yeah, we’re actually leaving for our flight tonight,” he said. “But you see...usually after a game, Katie sends me a text or something and when I didn’t get any news from her yesterday, I got worried.”

Rita sighed, stepping aside to let him in. “You can come in, but I’m afraid she’s not in the best shape right now.”

“What happened?” Sidney asked as he moved into the living room where Katie was lying on the couch bed, a damp cloth over her forehead. Her eyes were firmly closed, her breathing slow and steady.

Rita ran a hand through her hair and leaned against the doorway. “She caught the shingles. It’s all over her stomach. The doctors gave her some medication for it, but she’s been practically unconscious since yesterday. She hasn’t even been able to eat.”

“Is she on any pain killers?”

“She was,” Rita nodded. “But the doctors told her that she would have to quit them cold turkey. She was on morphine and Ativan. She’s in a lot of pain right now and whenever she’s awake, which is rarely, she starts hallucinating. She’s just mentally not there.”

Sidney frowned and sat next to Katie. He watched as she stirred in her sleep, her eyebrows furrowing slightly as her eyes moved beneath her eyelids.

“Don’t stress about her, okay?” Rita said quietly, placing a hand on Sidney’s shoulder. “She’ll be just fine, I’m sure. She just needs time to recuperate. You have your own things to worry about, like bringing the Stanley Cup back to Pittsburgh on Friday.”

Suddenly, Katie’s eyes opened. They were just barely opened, but she could see Sidney forming in her field of vision right before her. “S-Sidney?” she managed to say, though her voice sounded more hoarse than ever.

“Hey, beautiful girl,” he smiled down at her, grazing his hand against her cheek. “How are you feeling?”

Rita smiled. “I’ll leave you two alone.”

Once Rita had left the room, Katie answered, “Like shit.”

Sidney let out a simple laugh. “Did you hear about Game Six at all?”

“I watched it,” she replied, her eyelids drooping again. “At least, I did my best to. Congrats on the win--sorry I didn’t text you about it, I sort of passed out during the third period.”

“Don’t apologize for anything,” Sidney told her, shaking his head. “Your health comes first.”

She grinned and held onto Sidney’s hand. “You should go,” she said. “Go to Detroit, win the Cup, and then come back to me. I told you that you weren’t allowed to come see me during this series because I knew it would distract you. And now look, you’re here instead of practicing for the big game on Friday.”

Sidney leaned over and rested his forehead against Katie’s. “I just want to know that you’re okay.”

“I’ll be alright,” she told him. “The doctors say the first one hundred days after the transplant are the most crucial. It’s only been five.” She paused, swallowing down the dryness in her throat. “I’m not dead yet, Sidney. And I promise you, I won’t be for a while.”

* * * *

Friday was the big day. Game Seven in Detroit, the most important game of Sidney’s career. He received a text from Katie right before the game, saying:

No matter what the outcome of this game is, just know that I’m so thankful that you came into my life. Good luck out there. I’ll be watching.

That message, paired along with the one Mario Lemieux had sent out that morning, made Sidney feel more ready than ever. He and his team stepped out onto the ice and soon the game was underway.

Back at home, Katie sat up and watched the game from her living room. She was still extremely tired, but she knew that this was a game she couldn’t miss. Her palms were sweating throughout the first period as both teams had their scoring chances. Going into the second, it was still scoreless.

Barely over a minute in the second period, the Pens stepped up their forecheck and Max got the puck to Geno. He then passed it back and Max took a shot that went five-hole on the far side and into the back of the net. Katie had been watching the game with everyone in her family, and when the buzzer went off signaling that the puck had gone in, the entire household exploded.

“Yes, Max!” she exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. “Mom, did you see that?”

“They have the lead!” Andrew squealed. “This is amazing!”

But just a few minutes later, Katie felt a pit form at the bottom of her stomach with what happened next. Johan Franzen got a hard hit on Sidney, smashing him up against the boards. She saw his left knee getting caught and he was struggling just to get to the bench.

“Oh, no...” she gasped, covering her mouth with her hands.

“He’s not going to be able to play, is he?” Tim asked as they all watched him getting carried back to the locker room.

Katie shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

“Do you think they can still win without him?”

Katie kept her eyes glued intently on the screen. “I know they can.”

At the ten minute mark of the second period, Max got a hold of the puck and shot it right over the shoulder of Osgood. The house erupted in cheers again and Katie laughed a bit as Max did a little celebration on his knees before his teammates bombarded him with hugs.

The third period was when the Red Wings decided to amp up their game. Katie saw that Sidney was still on the bench, but he didn’t go out and skate. He just watched.

The minutes ticked away on the clock. But the Red Wings wouldn’t be beaten so easily--almost fourteen minutes in, Ericsson took a shot and it went past Flower in to the net. The barrage of shots didn’t stop. Niklas Kronwall nearly tied the game with less than three minutes left, but the puck hit the crossbar and went wide of the net.

With just seconds left in the third, Osgood was pulled from the Detroit net and the Red Wings went for one more attempt to put the game into overtime. There was a shot on net that Fleury stopped, but then the rebound went wide directly to Nicklas Lidstrom’s stick, poised directly at an open net.

“Come on, Flower!” Katie yelled at the TV. “Get across!”

Lidstrom took his shot, but Fleury dove across and the puck hit him in the ribs and deflected wide underneath his teammate Rob Scuderi. The final second ticked away and jubilation rang throughout the Pittsburgh Penguins fans who were at Joe Louis Arena.

Katie felt tears coming down her face. “I...I can’t believe it,” she cried happily. “They did it!”

Andrew pounced on Katie and she hugged him so tightly that he could barely breathe. While her parents were going crazy and celebrating, Katie’s cell phone rang. She picked it up. It was Sidney.

“We did it, Katie! We won the Cup!”

“I know, I saw! I can’t believe it, I’m so proud of you guys!”

“Katie, I have to tell you something. I wanted to tell you this in person, but...I’m just so happy, I can’t wait. I love you, Katie.”

Katie stopped and felt a huge smile spread across her face. “I love you too, Sidney. I’ll see you when you come home.”