The Sister of Who?

3 weeks later...

Practice is going awful and to make it worse, I am playing like shit. And ol' Claude, well, lets just say that he is noticing and right now I am about to get picked on in front of the whole team.

"MILAN!!! What the hell is going through your head boy?!? You are not playing hockey like I know you can!!! You have to step up your game if you think that we will be able to do shit this year!!! So, start playing the way that I know you can play!!!" Coach yelled. He threw the puck that he was holding at me before he went to blow the whistle, symbolizing that the next line was to re-start the drill. Only, I didn't get back into line. Instead, I started to skate towards the door that lead off the rink. Coach started yelling after me, but I just kept skating. I needed time to clear my head and getting harrased by my coach was probably not a good way to do so.

You see, the thing that is bugging me so much is what Ellie had said to me a few weeks ago: "it's gonna take a toll on my life and it probably won't be a good one."

Now, what the hell is that supposed to mean? After hearing that though, I gave some serious thought into whether or not I should tell the guys that I even have a sister. Actually, I am still thinking about it and to be honest with ya, the idea is starting to look better and better.

When I got into the locker-room, I quickly stripped myself of my gear and headed towards the showers. I took like a twenty-minute shower and by the time that I was all dressed and ready to get going, the rest of the team started to drift in.

"LOOCH!!! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!!!!" my new team-mate/friend Adam McQuaid hollored at me when he saw me,

"Sorry guys, I just got a lot going through my head right now." I told them meekly, the idea of telling them about Ellie STILL looking better and better by the minute.

"Like what man? You don't got a girlfriend, so what's going through your head that's weighing you down so much?" David Krejci asked. But, as I opened my mouth to answer, my cell phone starts blaring "Highway to Hell", a personal favorite of mine and Ellie's. I held up one finger symbolizing one minute as I answered it.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Milan, oh thank God you've picked up!!! I have been trying to get a hold of you for the past half hour!!!" Pam, a person who I considered my second mother, exclaims.

"Sorry, I've been at practice. Why, what's up?" I asked, my voice full of concern and my thoughts instantly shifting back to Ellie.

"El-El-Ellie, she-she-she got into a really bad car accident and her car, it-it flipped over and off the road." Pam cried. My face went gaunt. "Not Ellie, please, anyone but Ellie." I prayed silently in my head.

"Is-is she gonna be alright?" I whispered hoarsely.

"I-I-we don't know. The doctors haven't told us much yet excpet for the fact that she is lucky to be alive because she's pretty banged up." Pam told me.

"Oh my God." I muttered.

"Look, Milan, can you please just come down here? Please?" Pam asked.

"Yeah, sure. I'll be there as soon as I can. What hospital is she at?" I asked, totally ignoring the shocked looks on my team-mate's faces.

"Mass General. And please hurry!!!" Pam exclaims. I hang up my phone, drop my hockey bag, and sprinted out the door of the locker room, ignoring all the calls that the guys were shouting for me to come back.

When I reached the parking lot, I quickly dashed to my car, got in, started it, and sped off to MGH.

27 minutes later...

"Milan!!! Oh thank God you're here! They just brought Ellie in for surgery." Pam exclaimed as she ran up to me. We shared an awkward hug before I asked,

"Surgery? How bad was the hit?"

"Son, she's only going in for stitches and to get a cast on her leg. So, don't listen to Pam here, she tends to blow things out of proportion." Rex said while walking up to me and clapping me on the back. I just nodded and we went and sat down in the waiting chairs. After a little while, my phone started to ring. "Bergy" said the caller ID. Felling in the mood to talk to him since he was a good listener, I answered his call.

"Hey man, what's up?" I asked casually.

"What's up with me? How about what's up with you!?!" Pat yelled at me, making me think twice about answering my phone.

"Dude, when I picked up my phone, I was hoping that you would be nice to me and NOT yell at me like I just fucked your mother or something like that." I told him while receiving a lot of weird looks from all the people that were waiting in the waiting room.

"Sorry. But, what's up? You NEVER act like this. Is there a girl somewhere in the picture that I don’t know about?” Pat asked, his voice full of concern.

"Sort of, you wouldn't understand." I muttered to him.

"Let me guess... Umm... you're seeing this girl, but you aren't dating her, you're only in it cuz she's good in bed. And now you're at the hospital because you knocked her up and she is now giving birth to your kid." Bergy said. I scowled in disgust.

"Patrice, is this you that I'm talking to? Or is it Horts or Shawny? Cuz, that is NOT the kind of thing that you would say." I said to him.

"Sorry, but that is the kind of thing that you would do... no offense. So, why are you at the hospital then?" he asked. I have to tell him, I mean, Pat's like an older brother to me, and to not tell him...

"Look, I um, well, I haven't told anyone this, but I have a younger sister, Elle. Well, I call her Ellie. And umm... she got in a really BAD car accident And um... she's the only family that I have left and I can't just loose her, ya know? That's why I left in such a rush today. And the reason that I have been playing so bad lately is because she, she said something to me about living that way that she is and it just really put me in a bad slump." I rambled. He was silent for a second, probably trying to process what I had just told him.

"Wow... that's tough Milan, that's tough. What are you gonna do about it?" Patrice finally said.

"Well, when she comes out of surgery, I'm gonna discuss it with her and see what she wants to do, live with me or stay with her adoptive parents." I told him. Again, silence from Patrice.

"What about your real parents?" he asked finally.

"Ohh... uh, well, my dad died in a car accident and my mom, well, she ended up in jail." I told him awkwardly. No one on the team knew about that either...

"In jail? Geez man, what did she do?" Pat asked.

"Long story short: drugs." I told him simply.

"That sucks. And sorry 'bout your dad." Bergy said.

"'S'Alright. So, did I answer all your questions?" I asked.

"Um, one more; do you want me to comedown to the hospital?" he asked.

"Nah, it's fine. But, do me a favor, don't tell anyone about this. Alright?" I said. He agreed and then we hung up.

"Ev'rything alright?" Rex asked immediatly after I put my phone away.

"Yeah, Just had to do some damage control with a team mate of mine." I told him. Rex just nodded and we sat in silence, waiting to hear some news on Ellie.