‹ Prequel: Chances Taken
Sequel: The Three C's ›
Chances Risked
Chapter Twenty Nine
-Maggie-
“How do you feel about not being on the ice?” I heard, sitting on the couch looking at the ground, “Maggie?”
“I miss it,” I said and sighed, “I’m trying to be on it without- without thinking about what happened.”
“About seeing your brother die,” he stated plainly and I snapped my head at him, Andy, the team’s psychiatrist.
“Yes,” I growled, “Seeing my brother die.”
“When was your last flashback?” he asked, writing something down on his tablet.
“What?” I asked but then realizing what he asked, “Oh, um, yesterday, I was on the ice trying to practice my shots- It just happened.”
“And how were you pulled out of it?” he asked and I looked at him and then looked down, “Maggie?”
“I don’t know, I guess Letang pulled me out,” I said and then rubbed my face.
“Kris?” he asked and I nodded my head, “He’s the one who cheated on you, who started a fight with your new boyfriend, Patrick-“
“We’re here to talk about my brother, not my love life,” I snapped and looked at Andy.
“Maybe getting through your love life will help you getting through your brother’s death,” he said and I shook my head and then looked at the time, I still had twenty minutes, “Maggie, I’m just trying to help you here. Mario’s not going to let you back onto the ice until you start opening up and starting to show signs of your old self again.”
“He wouldn’t put me through this round even if I was better,” I said and looked at Andy.
“Yes, we’re playing the Flyers,” he said and I nodded my head, “Will you be ready to play in the next round?”
“I’m trying,” I said and looked down, “I basically have to start all over.”
“Is anyone helping you?”
“What do you mean?” I asked and he wrote something down, “What the hell are you writing?”
“Just notes for myself,” he said and I rolled my eyes and glared at the ground, “So no one’s helping you with your starting all over?”
“Coach won’t let me back at practice, so I can’t do anything with the team, I come here to shoot and do drills on my own,” I said and he nodded his head and wrote something down, ‘…What the fuck is he writing?...’
“All right, Maggie, that’s all we have for today,” he said and I looked at the time, my hour was up, “Try to keep your time on the ice to a minimum, or at least time by yourself, ask one of the guys to help you,” he said and I just nodded my head, wanting to get the hell out of there, “I think if you’re surrounded by teammates, you’ll start to find that you’re having less and less flashbacks.”
“But I get them even if I’m not even near the ice, I had a few of them with Pat when we were still in Texas,” I said and Andy nodded his head.
“We’ll talk about that next time, I’ll see you in three days,” he said and I sighed and nodded my head and he walked me towards the door and watched as I walked out of the office and headed towards the door that’ll lead to the parking lot.
-Sidney-
I woke up, staring at my ceiling and cursed, last night we had just lost in game six to the Flyers, our season was finished and their season was continuing. The only good thing we got out of this was that the league announced that Vladimir Kokorin’s contract was terminated and he was sent back to Russia, apparently a lot of people, fans, players and coaches, signed a petition to get him out of the league.
Maggie didn’t play in any of the playoff games, no one expected her too. I heard the alarm on my phone going off and sighed, it was telling me that I needed to get up and get ready to head to the rink; we needed to clean out our stalls.
I showered and changed, got some breakfast and then headed out of my house, towards my car to head to the rink. Like usual, I was the first one there, but as I walked towards the door, I saw Marc pull up. I waited for him, and just as he walked over towards me, a few other showed up, we all looked as depressed as we felt.
I walked towards the locker room, opened the door and saw the empty room. I sighed and looked around, Maggie’s stall caught my eye, she had already cleaned her locker out, her name and number still on the stall, which would stay there, we just needed to clean out personal items. I sighed though when I looked at Mike’s stall and saw that his was bare, his name and number gone, everything that reminded us of him was just gone.
“I think this is the hardest cleanout I’ve even had to do,” Marc said and I nodded my head and headed over towards my stall, “Mags was already here?”
“I’m sure she didn’t want to be seen,” I said and I sighed.
“Have you seen her?”
“Not since her flashback last week,” I said and rubbed my face, “I know Mario had her got to Andy the next day and she’s seen him a few time, I have a meeting after this with Coach and Mario to talk about her coming back next season.”
“Come on, Sid, she’ll be back,” he said and I nodded my head, though I didn’t know for sure, no one knew if she was coming back.
After a depressing two hours, cleaning the stall, talking to media, trying to cheer each other up and give hope for next season, everyone left to head back to their homes, everyone except me. I met up with Coach in the hallway and we walked towards the elevator and took it to the top floor, the same floor where Mario’s office was.
Coach knocked on the door and then we opened it and walked in to see Mario at his desk and I saw Andy in one of the three chairs in front of his desk, ‘…I didn’t know he would be here…’ I thought and then sat in the chair on the end looking at everyone.
“Sid, Dan, Andy,” Mario said and we all nodded our heads at him, “Well it was a hell of a season, I’m sorry it’s over,” he said and sighed, “But, we’re here to talk about Maggie.”
“She didn’t play nine games, I haven’t let her on the ice for practice because the first time she had an intense flashback and- It wasn’t pretty,” Coach said and Mario nodded his head, “Sid told me that she came last week to practice on her own and they found her on the ground.”
“Was she having another flashback?” Mario asked and looked at me.
“I think,” I said and he nodded his head.
“Well, Andy, you’ve seen her- What? Four times?” Mario asked and Andy nodded his head and then bent down and picked up a notebook, “What can you tell us about Maggie?”
Andy sighed and then chuckled a little, “Well, something you probably already know- You all probably already know,” he said and I looked at him, “Maggie is a hothead,” he said and we all chuckled, “She’s very stubborn and difficult and has a definite attitude,” he said and I bit my lip. Andy sighed and then looked down at his papers and flipped through them, “But she’s definitely hurting,” he said and I nodded my head, “The death of her brother is hitting her hard- Now I never saw or met Mike Marshall, but talking to her- And even the whole team, you’ve got a lot of people hurting, Mario.”
“Maybe the summer can help them heal,” Coach said and I looked up and saw Mario looking at me.
“How are you feeling, Sid?”
I looked at him and then looked down and sighed, “You know, we all took this hard, I’d wanna say that’s why we all didn’t play well in this round, but I don’t know. Mike’s death hit us all hard, Emma’s not back at work- Hasn’t even come back to Pittsburgh because she’s so upset she’s sick, Maggie’s depressed and turning to alcohol, Kris-“
“Whoa, wait- What?” Mario asked and looked at me.
“I mean, I haven’t seen her in a week, so I don’t know if she stopped drowning her sorrows in booze, but she did a few times last week, finished off a whole bottle of something.”
“I wasn’t aware of this,” Andy said and I sighed.
“I don’t think that she wants to admit that she’s turning into an alcoholic,” I said and Mario sighed.
“I wouldn’t call her an alcoholic,” Andy said and we looked at him, “If she’s only doing this because of her brother, than she’s severely depressed and I do recommend starting her on some anti-depressants.”
“Whoa! I mean, she’s not suicidal or whatever-“
“Sid,” Mario called and hushed me, “What do you recommend we do? You say put her on pills, but if she is drinking, you can’t have alcohol with the medicine.”
“I’ll discuss it with her during our next session,” Andy said and Mario nodded his head.
“I’d like to be there for the session, when is it?” he asked and I sighed and wished that I kept my mouth shut because Maggie’s going to kill me.
‘…You know what- No! Stop feeling bad for helping her!...’ I told myself, ‘…She’ll thank me one day…’
“How do you feel about not being on the ice?” I heard, sitting on the couch looking at the ground, “Maggie?”
“I miss it,” I said and sighed, “I’m trying to be on it without- without thinking about what happened.”
“About seeing your brother die,” he stated plainly and I snapped my head at him, Andy, the team’s psychiatrist.
“Yes,” I growled, “Seeing my brother die.”
“When was your last flashback?” he asked, writing something down on his tablet.
“What?” I asked but then realizing what he asked, “Oh, um, yesterday, I was on the ice trying to practice my shots- It just happened.”
“And how were you pulled out of it?” he asked and I looked at him and then looked down, “Maggie?”
“I don’t know, I guess Letang pulled me out,” I said and then rubbed my face.
“Kris?” he asked and I nodded my head, “He’s the one who cheated on you, who started a fight with your new boyfriend, Patrick-“
“We’re here to talk about my brother, not my love life,” I snapped and looked at Andy.
“Maybe getting through your love life will help you getting through your brother’s death,” he said and I shook my head and then looked at the time, I still had twenty minutes, “Maggie, I’m just trying to help you here. Mario’s not going to let you back onto the ice until you start opening up and starting to show signs of your old self again.”
“He wouldn’t put me through this round even if I was better,” I said and looked at Andy.
“Yes, we’re playing the Flyers,” he said and I nodded my head, “Will you be ready to play in the next round?”
“I’m trying,” I said and looked down, “I basically have to start all over.”
“Is anyone helping you?”
“What do you mean?” I asked and he wrote something down, “What the hell are you writing?”
“Just notes for myself,” he said and I rolled my eyes and glared at the ground, “So no one’s helping you with your starting all over?”
“Coach won’t let me back at practice, so I can’t do anything with the team, I come here to shoot and do drills on my own,” I said and he nodded his head and wrote something down, ‘…What the fuck is he writing?...’
“All right, Maggie, that’s all we have for today,” he said and I looked at the time, my hour was up, “Try to keep your time on the ice to a minimum, or at least time by yourself, ask one of the guys to help you,” he said and I just nodded my head, wanting to get the hell out of there, “I think if you’re surrounded by teammates, you’ll start to find that you’re having less and less flashbacks.”
“But I get them even if I’m not even near the ice, I had a few of them with Pat when we were still in Texas,” I said and Andy nodded his head.
“We’ll talk about that next time, I’ll see you in three days,” he said and I sighed and nodded my head and he walked me towards the door and watched as I walked out of the office and headed towards the door that’ll lead to the parking lot.
-Sidney-
I woke up, staring at my ceiling and cursed, last night we had just lost in game six to the Flyers, our season was finished and their season was continuing. The only good thing we got out of this was that the league announced that Vladimir Kokorin’s contract was terminated and he was sent back to Russia, apparently a lot of people, fans, players and coaches, signed a petition to get him out of the league.
Maggie didn’t play in any of the playoff games, no one expected her too. I heard the alarm on my phone going off and sighed, it was telling me that I needed to get up and get ready to head to the rink; we needed to clean out our stalls.
I showered and changed, got some breakfast and then headed out of my house, towards my car to head to the rink. Like usual, I was the first one there, but as I walked towards the door, I saw Marc pull up. I waited for him, and just as he walked over towards me, a few other showed up, we all looked as depressed as we felt.
I walked towards the locker room, opened the door and saw the empty room. I sighed and looked around, Maggie’s stall caught my eye, she had already cleaned her locker out, her name and number still on the stall, which would stay there, we just needed to clean out personal items. I sighed though when I looked at Mike’s stall and saw that his was bare, his name and number gone, everything that reminded us of him was just gone.
“I think this is the hardest cleanout I’ve even had to do,” Marc said and I nodded my head and headed over towards my stall, “Mags was already here?”
“I’m sure she didn’t want to be seen,” I said and I sighed.
“Have you seen her?”
“Not since her flashback last week,” I said and rubbed my face, “I know Mario had her got to Andy the next day and she’s seen him a few time, I have a meeting after this with Coach and Mario to talk about her coming back next season.”
“Come on, Sid, she’ll be back,” he said and I nodded my head, though I didn’t know for sure, no one knew if she was coming back.
After a depressing two hours, cleaning the stall, talking to media, trying to cheer each other up and give hope for next season, everyone left to head back to their homes, everyone except me. I met up with Coach in the hallway and we walked towards the elevator and took it to the top floor, the same floor where Mario’s office was.
Coach knocked on the door and then we opened it and walked in to see Mario at his desk and I saw Andy in one of the three chairs in front of his desk, ‘…I didn’t know he would be here…’ I thought and then sat in the chair on the end looking at everyone.
“Sid, Dan, Andy,” Mario said and we all nodded our heads at him, “Well it was a hell of a season, I’m sorry it’s over,” he said and sighed, “But, we’re here to talk about Maggie.”
“She didn’t play nine games, I haven’t let her on the ice for practice because the first time she had an intense flashback and- It wasn’t pretty,” Coach said and Mario nodded his head, “Sid told me that she came last week to practice on her own and they found her on the ground.”
“Was she having another flashback?” Mario asked and looked at me.
“I think,” I said and he nodded his head.
“Well, Andy, you’ve seen her- What? Four times?” Mario asked and Andy nodded his head and then bent down and picked up a notebook, “What can you tell us about Maggie?”
Andy sighed and then chuckled a little, “Well, something you probably already know- You all probably already know,” he said and I looked at him, “Maggie is a hothead,” he said and we all chuckled, “She’s very stubborn and difficult and has a definite attitude,” he said and I bit my lip. Andy sighed and then looked down at his papers and flipped through them, “But she’s definitely hurting,” he said and I nodded my head, “The death of her brother is hitting her hard- Now I never saw or met Mike Marshall, but talking to her- And even the whole team, you’ve got a lot of people hurting, Mario.”
“Maybe the summer can help them heal,” Coach said and I looked up and saw Mario looking at me.
“How are you feeling, Sid?”
I looked at him and then looked down and sighed, “You know, we all took this hard, I’d wanna say that’s why we all didn’t play well in this round, but I don’t know. Mike’s death hit us all hard, Emma’s not back at work- Hasn’t even come back to Pittsburgh because she’s so upset she’s sick, Maggie’s depressed and turning to alcohol, Kris-“
“Whoa, wait- What?” Mario asked and looked at me.
“I mean, I haven’t seen her in a week, so I don’t know if she stopped drowning her sorrows in booze, but she did a few times last week, finished off a whole bottle of something.”
“I wasn’t aware of this,” Andy said and I sighed.
“I don’t think that she wants to admit that she’s turning into an alcoholic,” I said and Mario sighed.
“I wouldn’t call her an alcoholic,” Andy said and we looked at him, “If she’s only doing this because of her brother, than she’s severely depressed and I do recommend starting her on some anti-depressants.”
“Whoa! I mean, she’s not suicidal or whatever-“
“Sid,” Mario called and hushed me, “What do you recommend we do? You say put her on pills, but if she is drinking, you can’t have alcohol with the medicine.”
“I’ll discuss it with her during our next session,” Andy said and Mario nodded his head.
“I’d like to be there for the session, when is it?” he asked and I sighed and wished that I kept my mouth shut because Maggie’s going to kill me.
‘…You know what- No! Stop feeling bad for helping her!...’ I told myself, ‘…She’ll thank me one day…’