Pucking Fantastic

Chapter 12: You Didn't See

Song for the start of the chapter!

I woke up startled. Silently, I looked around the clinical room as I worried that this wasn't my hotel room. Panic took hold when I realized I was in a hospital room instead. I had been to enough of these to know, however; I had never been the one in the bed since it was always Paulo.

Questions floated around my head like clouds as I wondered how I got here. I thought back to my long program. Something wasn't right about it and in the end, I was about to get off... and then... I must have passed out in front of everyone. All eyes would have seen me and that thought caused me to worry even more.

After avoiding being the gossip for so long, but it finally caught up to me as I finally would be the gossip. I needed to get out of here. I needed to get back to the rink to do damage control and make those people believe I was fine because I was. All I did was passed out and there could have been several reasons for that.

I looked at the IV in my arm, finding that this was all an overreaction since I was fine. As I reached for it, wanting to take it out, but a voice stopped me.

"El?" I looked over and saw Kris standing at the door with a face full of concern. I had never seen her look so worried before and it added concern to me, fearing she knew something that I didn't.

"Some finish, hu?" I asked, referring to the skate, trying to lighten the mood. Paulo was always so good at joking about serious things and it was times like this when I wish I was like Paulo.

Kris nodded but did not smile as she walked over and sat down in an empty chair beside my bed. "You qualified for Nationals."

I raised my eyebrows in amazement as a smile played across my face. After that hell of a long program? My short must have helped. Excitement filled me as her words sank in. I actually did it. After all that hard work, my dreams were finally starting to come true. I pushed myself up into a sitting position as if that would make me more alert, but it made me feel sick. "What? Really? We need to prepare," I said to her with eagerness, fighting the sick feeling away.

She sighed in silence, and that silence was deafening. There was a heaviness that she carried into this room that set me on edge. "We'll talk about that later," she finally said, but that was enough of an answer for me.

Something happened to me out there on the ice. They were afraid for me. And now not only did I have to do damage control at the rink, I would have to do it in my own home. I felt my eyes well up with tears. With no solid answers, I could only imagine the worse ideas.

Breaking me from my thoughts was the sound of mom's voice. "Oh my goodness, El." Mom said as she walked into the room. Her hair was a mess, and it looked like she had been crying. But this scared me the most, since she never cried. She was the one calmest in situations like this.

My breath caught in my throat. Seeing mom like this really set me on edge confirming that something was truly wrong. "Hi mom," I said to her, unsure what else to say.

Without wasting a moment, she ran out into the hall and called, "Rafa, Rafa, she's up."

I rested my head against the lumpy pillow as I tried to come up with something positive to think about. My mind quickly went back to the words of Kris. Nationals. I was going to Nationals. And dad saw my performance. I just hoped that he was proud. "So dad did come. I wasn't crazy."

Mom nodded as she sat in another empty chair. "Just in time to see your long program."

But that wasn't the truth since I saw him during my practice the day before. I talked to him. He told me to skate. He was there. Why was he lying to mom? Instead of bringing that up, I changed the topic. "So, that was one heck of a performance."