Then the tears came, with greater
intensity than ever before, I felt sick and they wouldn't stop. I jus wanted
everything to go away. I wanted to play hockey and have fun again, stop being
so stressed, understand my mom, make it through my senior year…but most of all,
I wanted my father back.
Despite the man he was, I still
loved him. His death hit me hard, but I covered well, so well that I had almost
forgotten to cry. I remember the night of the funeral. I couldn't sleep
afterwards and I lay in my bed crying silently, wishing the pain away. I had
gone stumbling into the bathroom and looking for some Kleenex, when I saw my
razor left forgotten from my morning shave. I remember seeing the blade as I
pushed it into my flesh, again and again, until all the pain had localized to
my arms. It was so real to me…then I looked down, my wrists where covered in
blood...what the hell?? Suddenly I had no idea what was going on…I couldn't
think straight, the room was spinning and I had the sudden urge to throw up.
Hobbling out of my room, I ran towards the bathroom, awkwardly I tried to
navigate the hallway, as everything had become fuzzy…why was my leg hurting so
much? I had left my crutches in my room, but that seemed to be the worst of my
problems, right now I was dripping blood onto the floor. Turning around, I
checked my mess; it wasn't to bad at least. I want to take another step when
the ground disappeared, and I found myself falling down a flight of stairs. My
body was twisted and thrown like a rag doll and as my head struck the final
step, I blacked out cold, and I lay mangled at the bottom of the stairs.
* * *
Charlie awoke with a start, "what
was that?" he wondered as he sat up in bed. Goldberg stirred in his sleep and
Charlie got up and shook him.
"Goldberg, did you hear that
noise?"
"Go back to sleep," he mumbled as
he rolled over and put his pillow over his head.
Charlie sighed and opened his
door, going to see what was wrong. Fulton and Guy were also coming out of their
rooms, and saw Charlie, "what was that?" Guy asked sleepily.
"I have no idea, but I think it
came from the stairwell,"
Charlie followed his gaze and saw
that Adam's room was open. "That's funny, Bank's door is open."
The three of them looked at each
other and ran down the hallways, notching the spilled blood. They gasped as
they saw his still body at the bottom of the stairs, "Is he-?" Guy couldn't
finish his thought.
"Don't even go there; just get
some help, FAST!" Charlie told him briskly, as he began to run down the steps.
"We shouldn't move him," Charlie
said, "Just in case he has a neck injury, but we should try and stop the
bleeding."
Guy came running down the stairs
with his blanket and said that the ambulance would be coming soon. Averman, who
had woken up when Guy called the ambulance, had followed, and they tried to get
Adam as comfortable as possible without hurting him further.
What seemed like hours later to
the four of them the ambulance arrived and quickly got him loaded up and they
sped away towards the hospital, as more and more of the Ducks had gathered in
the stairwell and watched it go.
* * *
"I just…I don't understand…how
could-?" Audrey Banks was trying to understand the situation as she sat by her
son's bedside, afraid to touch him, afraid to even look at him. Dan Carlton had
placed his hand comfortingly on her shoulder, and stood silently.
"We will have to wait and see. I
have contacted the on staff psychiatrist. She will see Adam as soon as he wakes
up and is ready to talk. For now, however, he will probably sleep for quite
some time. We pumped his stomach to get the overdose of codeine out of his
system, but I'm afraid he may have done some damage to his stomach; we shall
have to wait and see." Dr, Larson emphasized again. Mrs. Banks could only nod,
as the Doctor continued, "His most serious injury is the concussion as well as
some trauma to his neck, but other than that he was very lucky, he re-broke his
leg and had to have several stitches in both wrists, but other than that it
appears to be only bumps and bruises." Dr. Larson summed up as gently as
possible.
She could only nod as she let the
news of her son sink in. "I will be in to check on him later, and after he
wakes up we may be able to find out more."
"Thanks you, Doctor." Dr. Larson
tuned on his heel and left the room closing the door quietly after him.
"Oh, Adam," Mrs. Banks gently
touched her son's bruised face and fought back tears.
The team made a somber crew as
they assembled outside of Adam's room, after they had just barley won their
game 4-3. Adam's presence was deeply missed, and the team had needed his
intellect and confidence to help get some goals. But during the game, all they
could think about was whether or not he would be OK.
"Why can't we see him?" Charlie
complained, slumping to the ground, tired from playing.
"You heard what his mom said, he
hasn't woken up," Julie made a good point.
"I just want them to know that he
has our support," Charlie sighed.
Dan came up behind the group, and
startled them all, "you must be from Adam' team, I assure you, I will send Mrs.
Banks and Adam your well wishes, but for now, it would be best to clear out
from the corridor." Dan opened the door just far enough to squeeze in, as the
Ducks stood in silence.
"Who was that?" Averman whispered
to Goldberg, who shrugged in turn.
Dejected, the team turned around
and headed towards the exit, their friend's well being laying on their minds.