Chapter 12
June 15, 2026 at 12:00 pm
Joshua was raced into surgery. He had lost a lot of blood. That's all the nurses had told him. Sportacus was told he had to wait in the waiting room but he couldn't sit still. Stephanie, Trixie, and Amanda were with Bessie on the third floor so he went up from the second floor to find them.
Uncle Milford had been moved from his room to down the hall. He had been progressing well and Dr. Rottenstein had hoped to release him soon. The ex-Mayor was talking with Bessie and Amanda when Sportacus busted into the room.
"Sportacus what are you doing here?" Amanda asked.
"Where is Stephanie?" He inquired, completely ignoring her question.
"She went with Trixie to get something to drink. Why? What's wrong?" Amanda tried to get an answer from him but the above average hero just left the room and ran down to the vending machine niche. There he found his wife and Trixie were laughing but their laughter was silenced when they saw Sportacus.
"What happened?" Stephanie asked.
"Joshua… He's been…" Sportacus couldn't seem to get the words out. Stephanie dropped the pop in her hands and grabbed his shoulders.
"Joshua has what?" She asked.
"He's been shot." The words found his lips and her ears.
"Is he…" Stephanie didn't want to say it.
"He's in surgery. He lost a lot of blood." Sportacus saw the tears forming in her eyes. He wrapped his arms around her as she wept. There were no words to express what was running through their heads. Joshua was only twenty; he couldn't leave them now.
WWWWWWWWWWWWWW
Sportacus and Stephanie sat waiting for the doctors to come and talk to them. Amanda had called Robbie and he had brought Samantha with him. Trixie had informed Stingy, who brought Pixel and Ziggy. Once again everyone sat in the waiting room.
"Sportacus, Stephanie, can I have a word with you?" It was Dr. Rottenstein. The two immediately stood up and before they could ask about their son, the doctor spoke.
"There is no easy way to tell you this but the bullet entered his stomach, bounced off a couple of ribs, and exited Joshua's body. He lost a lot of blood and we had to perform a transfusion. Right now he's on round the clock care. Unfortunately, Joshua still isn't out of the woods. You can see him but it will have to be behind the glass of the ICU. I'm sorry." Sportacus only nodded as the information seemed to sink in. Stephanie tried to be strong but tears still formed in her eyes. Her husband pulled her close and whispered,
"It'll be ok. Joshua's a strong boy. He'll pull through." The above average hero's outward appearance was one of grief but inside a raging volcano had erupted. He was angry. How could this happen? Did the world just have it in for his family? Had he pissed someone off somewhere and now was his family cursed to live through all the pain?
Samantha walked over to the couple. She wanted to know what was going on. Sportacus saw her and pulled her into their group hug. Soon the rest of their friends came around and there was a giant group hug.
To Be Continued…
