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Hopefully after some sleep, I’ll wake up in a better mood.
“Pike. Wake your ass up, man.”
Someone tugs on my beard and I thrash around, knocking my hand against someone’s arm. I can feel the scowl taking over my face as I open my eyes and see Pax grinning down at me.
“I always wanted to wake you up that way,” he says.
“Don’t touch my beard, asshole.” My throat is dry and my words come out sounding a little raspy. “Where are we?”
“Land of the palm trees. Tampa.”
I must have slept through the entire flight. I grab an unopened water bottle someone left on the seat beside me and crack it open, downing it in three gulps. Then I grab my carry-on bag and depart the plane, still groggy.
We start loading onto the bus that will take us to the arena, and Rudy is taking a final head count when I take out my phone and power it back up. I always leave it off when I’m flying, and then I get bombed with notifications when I turn it back on. This time is no different.
When I see three voice mails from Kylie, I sit upright in my seat, now wide awake. It’s not like her to leave more than one message—it must be urgent.
Covering one ear to drown out the sound of everyone talking, I listen to the first one.
“Hey, it’s me.” I hear her sniffling before it sounds like she turns away from the phone and then I hear her sobbing on the message, and I go still.
Eric. Oh, God. Even though we’ve been aware since his injury that he could pass away peacefully without warning, I never expected it to happen. Even with his brain permanently incapacitated, he’s got the heart of a fighter.
Kylie finally gets ahold of herself and continues. “I-I’m at the h-hospital with Jasmine. She’s…she’s really sick, Pike.”
I abruptly move out of my seat and stand in the aisle of the bus, my blood running cold. This can’t be happening. Not to the beautiful, healthy niece I just recently saw, or to my sister, who has experienced more than her share of devastation.
“She said she wasn’t feeling good in the middle of the night and I gave her some Tylenol, but like half an hour later she was worse so I brought her into the emergency room, and…” She trails off, crying again, her breath stuttering as she tries to get more words out.
I start walking toward the front of the bus, and Katz gives me a puzzled look.
“Hey, man, we’re pulling out any minute,” he says.
I ignore him, still listening to Kylie’s message.
“It’s…it’s all just happening so fast. She’s now in a coma and the doctors don’t know what’s wrong with her.” I can barely hear her voice over her uncontrollable sobbing, but she sounds hysterical, and my heart breaks.
The first message ends and I immediately play the second one. In the second message, her tone is flat and exhausted.
“Hey, it’s me again. Mom’s here now. The doctors don’t know anything more. We’re at St. Mary’s but I think she’s going to be transferred to a children’s hospital, they’re calling a couple places now. Just call me when you can.”
I make it to the front of the bus and step off onto the tarmac, looking at my surroundings. The airport. The plane. The bus. The palm trees. Anything to keep me grounded. Reluctant and anxious at the same time, I play the last message from Kylie.
“Hey. She’s still in a coma. The paramedics are loading her into an ambulance to transfer her to the children’s hospital in St. Louis. Mom and I are following them in her car; they won’t let me ride with her.” She takes a deep breath, and I know she’s trying not to cry again. “I checked your schedule and you’re probably on a flight to Tampa right now. Just call me when you can. I’m really scared.”
I pocket my phone and race back onto the bus, my gaze going right to Phil Bear, our head coach.
“I have to go to St. Louis for a family emergency. Right now.”
He knits his brows together. “Is it life and death?”
A lump forms in my throat, and I nod. He nods back.
“Okay. Update me when you can.”
“Thanks, Coach.”
Katz stands up and says, “I’ll meet you guys at the arena. I’m going to make sure he gets on the next flight out.”
“Hey man, you want your bag?” Maverick asks me.
“Yeah, sure.”
The bus has gone quiet, and everyone seems to be looking at me. I can’t even wrap my mind around all this. One minute I was half asleep and the next, more terrified than I’ve ever felt in my life. Maverick quickly retrieves my bag from the seat I was sitting in and brings it to me.
