Page 75 of Dreams
White walls. Tile floor. Freezing air. Yep, the place was depressing. He hadn’t spent much time in a hospital since Michaela’s car accident a couple years ago. That wasn’t something he liked to think about.
Leaning on the bed, paper crinkling beneath his back, he closed his eyes. He saw the ice rising to meet him in those final moments, and his eyes popped open as he tried to catch his breath.
He was desperate for something to take his mind off of it. Anything. He pulled his phone out hopefully, but that was crushed when he didn’t find any texts from Taylor. No calls either.
Maybe she’s on her way,he told himself. His gut told him she wasn’t. She’d have seen him go down, and he knew it wasn’t the first time she’d seen something like that.
“How stupid could I be?” he groaned.
He’d told her he was fine. He’d told everyone that. It was a lie, and the worst part was that he knew it was a lie. He just wanted to play. He loved the game. That’s all there was to it.
The internet inside the hospital was ridiculously slow, so he watched his phone, mesmerized by the swirling circle on the screen. Finally, it pulled up NHL.com. Tapping his finger on the icon for the game, he sighed when he saw they’d just started overtime.
The clock wound down, the seconds streaming by as he stared at the score.
“Yes!” Throwing his arms in the air, he snapped his head back and laughed when he saw the score change and it go from OT to Final. He scrolled down and saw that Mack scored the winner. “Of course.” He’d give anything to be in that locker room right now with his team, celebrating. He’d just have to get this squared away and miss as few games as possible. It was torture being on the sidelines.
There was a knock on the door and seconds later, a nurse opened it. He took Josh’s vitals and explained to him that the doctor wanted to run some tests. He hadn’t met the doctor yet, but that didn’t bother him. He just wanted to get out of there and go find Taylor.
A few tests and an hour later, he was led back to his room, where Mack was waiting with Coach Peterson and Coach Scott.
“Good win,” Josh smiled at the three very serious looking men. They definitely didn’t look like they’d just won a hockey game.
“Have a seat, Walker,” Coach Peterson said, closing the door for privacy.
Josh obeyed and looked up, suddenly feeling like he was in the doghouse for something he didn’t know he did.
“We need you to be honest with us,” Coach Scott said.
“No more bullshitting.” Mack shut up after sharp looks from each coach.
Josh wiped his sweaty hands on his hospital gown and nodded, his eyes trained on the ground.
“How long has this been going on?” Coach Scott asked.
“How long have you been lying to me?” Mack’s face was growing redder by the second.
“Mack,” Coach Peterson snapped. “Go wait with the rest of the guys.”
“Rest of the guys?” Josh asked as Mack glared at him once more before throwing the door open and stomping out.
“A few of the guys from the team are in the waiting room,” Coach Peterson clarified.
“I’ll bet the hospital is loving that,” Josh snorted. He knew how his teammates could be. Loud. Obnoxious.
“Son.” Coach Scott put a firm hand on his shoulder. “Mack said you weren’t feeling well earlier. Tell us, how long?”
Josh blew out through his teeth, but before he could answer, a woman in a bright white lab coat stood in the door that Mack had left open.
“I’d like to know that myself,” she said, flipping through the papers on her clipboard before finally looking up. She smiled, revealing perfect teeth, but then let it drop as she glanced back down at her papers. “Hello, Mr. Walker, I’m Doctor Johnson. I expect full honesty from all of my patients. So…” she stopped expectantly.
Josh sighed, knowing how much of an idiot he was about to reveal himself to be. “My first episode was about a year and a half ago, during summer training.”
Coach Peterson stood shaking his head while Coach Scott just opened his mouth in shock before closing it again.
Doctor Johnson didn’t miss a beat. “And by episode, you mean what exactly?”
“Waves of extreme dizziness. Pounding heart. Blurry vision. I just chalked it up to fatigue.”
