Chances Risked

The game was over; we lost to the Flyers with the final score of six to two. I was back at home, just sitting on my kitchen counter staring at the spot that Mike would stand in when after we got to my house after a game. I looked down and saw Stan sitting next to Jazz who was lying on the floor.

‘…Stan…’ I thought and then thought that I was out of tears before, but nope, they were starting to come down again. I heard my front door open and then close, quick feet were moving through the house.

“Maggie,” I heard and looked up to see Nick, he had been out with some of his friends, the one weekend home game that he didn’t want to go to because he and a bunch of his friends were having a football game, “I got a text,” he said and took a step forward holding up his phone, “GameCenter said that Mikey- That Mikey-“

“I’m sorry, Nicky,” I got out as I slid off the counter and walked over towards him, pulling my little brother into a hug, “I’m sorry, Nicky.”

“He’s really not- He can’t be!” Nicky said and I held him tight as he started to cry.

After the game, an ambulance came and took Mike away; they were going to have him at the hospital morgue until my parents came and decided what was going to be done. When the game finished, they had asked the fans to stay seated as they made an announcement saying that Mike had died from his injuries. The text that Nick was talking about was GameCenter sending out a notification about what had happened, I knew, I had gotten one too. A press conference was going to be held at the Consol, Mario didn’t want me to be there, he was going to handle this.

“Where’s Emma?” Nick asked and I looked at him.

“She’s up in her room, she wanted to be alone,” I said and he nodded his head, “Mom and Dad will be here tomorrow.”

“All right,” he said and then leaned against the wall and slid to the ground, his knees bent, his elbows leaning on his knees and he was holding his face.

I didn’t know what to do, Stan got up and walked over towards Nick and sat next to him. Animals were smart creatures, I looked at Stan, he wasn’t acting excited to see us like he usually was, it was like he knew. It was like Stan knew that his owner, his best friend was gone. I knew that my brother, my best friend, my twin was gone, I knew it, but I didn’t want to accept it.

-Kane-
I had just flown into Pittsburgh, it was just after nine, I rushed to rent a car managing to get there right before they closed at nine thirty. I had flown out of Chicago at five, booking my ticket at two and then rushing home to grab some clothes and heading immediately for the airport. I thanked Jon because he’s the one who got me there and then talked Coach into giving me tomorrow’s game off. It really wasn’t that much of a hassle; he understood that I needed to be there for Maggie.

I pulled in front of Maggie’s home just after ten and parked the car on the street. I got out and grabbed my bag in the backseat. I walked up the driveway, looking at the four cars in her driveway and I had parked behind one. I figured her teammates were here; I took a deep breath and rang the doorbell. A few minutes later the door opened and James Neal stood there.

“You came?” he said and I looked at him and nodded my head.

“Is she all right?” I asked, a stupid question and he must have seen me regretting asking it.

“We finally got her to fall asleep,” he said and then moved out of the way so that I could come in, “Basement,” I placed my bag on the couch and then followed Neal downstairs.

“Who was it, Nealer?” I heard a voice and I turned the corner and saw Sidney Crosby, Jordan Staal, Evgeni Malkin, Matt Niskanen, Paul Martin, Tyler Kennedy, Marc-Andre Fleury and two girls, one I recognized to be Fleury’s girlfriend.

‘…Lot of Penguins…’ I thought as I walked deeper into the room.

Fleury, Staal and the two girls were on the long couch against the wall; Niskanen, Martin and Kennedy were sitting on the floor, their backs against the wall, looking at the couch that I was standing in front of. Crosby and Malkin were on it and Maggie was lying down, her head was on a pillow on Malkin’s lap and her feet on Crosby’s lap. Neal stood next to me and we both just looked down at the red puffy eyed sleeping girl.

“What’s gunna happen to Kokorin?” I asked and Crosby looked at me.

“We don’t know yet,” he said and I sighed and nodded my head.

Malkin moved and so that I could sit with her, I just nodded my head and took his spot and looked down at her, feeling the eyes of the Penguins looking at me. I heard yelling going on upstairs and wanted to get up to see, but I didn’t. There was a crashing sounded and Maggie stirred.

“What happened?” she said sleepily.

“I go look,” Malkin said and he and Neal headed up the stairs again.

“Pat?” I heard and looked back down and saw her looking at me.

“Hey,” I said and rubbed her back, “You should go back to sleep,” I said and moved some hair out of her face.

“I thought I heard something,” she said and I looked towards Crosby who was just looking towards the stairwell. I turned and saw Neal appear and he motioned for Crosby to come with him.

“It’s probably nothing, just lay back down,” I said and watched as Sidney stood up and headed for the stairs. Maggie laid back down and I rubbed her back and felt her lace her fingers with my hand.

-Sidney-
“What the hell is going on?” I asked as I walked up the stairs and closed the door to see a lamp broken on the ground.

“Kitchen,” James said and I followed him into the kitchen to see Kris leaning against the island counter and Geno holding Nick.

“The fuckin’ kid punched me,” Kris said and I looked at him and sighed.

“Yeah well you put my sister through a hell of a lot worse! You should get more punches!” Nick yelled and I looked at him and then back at Kris.

“What are you doing here? Maggie doesn’t need this shit, not now,” I said and Kris nodded his head.

“I just wanted to see if she was doing all right,” he said and I sighed.

“What do you think?” I heard and turned my head around to see Kane walking into the doorway.

“What are you doing here?” Kris asked and I rolled my eyes.

“What are you full of stupid questions tonight?” Kane barked and I held out my arms.

“Enough guys, we all don’t need this tonight,” I said and Kris nodded his head, “Go home Kris,” I said, “If Maggie wants to talk to you, she’ll come to you,” I said and then looked at Kane, “You go back downstairs, you’re more help down there then up here.”

Kane just rolled his eyes and turned around and left. I sighed and watched as James leaned out into the hallway and watched as Kane walked away, turning back towards us when I was guessing when Kane was downstairs.

“Sid-“

“Kris, if you want to help Maggie, then go home,” I said and looked at him, “I know she told you to leave her alone, just- just for now, go home, she doesn’t need to be even more upset.”

“Fine,” Kris said and then headed for the kitchen door, Geno held Nick when Kris passed in front of them and Nick tried to get out of his arms.

I watched as James followed Kris and Geno let Nick go, I watched as he walked over towards the sink and turned cold water on and let the water run on his hand. I sighed and walked over towards the freezer and grabbed a cold back, grabbed his hand and slapped it down on his hand, knowing that it probably hurt from punching Kris.

“Next time, don’t take your frustrations out on my teammate,” I said as I looked at Nick.

“Yeah well, your teammate hurt my sister,” Nick snapped and I just looked at him.

“You don’t think that I’m not aware of that?” I asked and he looked at him, “Why do you think I’ve been trying to get Kris to leave Maggie alone. He fucked up and I’m trying to help him make sure he doesn’t make his situation worse.”

“Just keep him away from here,” Nick said and then walked out of the kitchen and I sighed and looked towards Geno and saw James walk into the kitchen.

“What’d I miss?”

“Nothing you don’t already know,” I said and James looked at me, “Marshall’s are hotheads,” we chuckled a little and then all sighed.

“What are we gunna do, Sid?” James asked and I looked at him and rubbed my face, “How do you handle this kind of situation?”

“I guess it all depends on how the league decides to handle this,” I said and then leaned against the counter, “I mean- Something has to be done, a player died,” I said and then ran my fingers through my hair, “I mean, it wasn’t from a cut or internal bleeding or anything like that.”

“I heard,” Geno said, “Doc said he broke neck.”

“At least he didn’t suffer,” James said and I nodded my head, “It’s some kind of comfort for Maggie and Emma.”

“Shit, Emma, what she do?” Geno asked and I looked at him, “She pregnant and engaged.”

“Was,” I breathed, “Not even a week that he proposed.”

“Can we just take back the last couple hours?” James asked and I looked at him, “Go back to yesterday when we were all having fun at the rink.”

I looked at him and sighed, “I wish.”