Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 114467 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 572(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114467 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 572(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
“The first of November,” I answer her. “The last time I was high was April thirtieth.”
“It’s a Tuesday,” she says, and I look at her weirdly. “Halloween is a big deal, so they are having a party at Karrie’s house for the kids. It’s the day before.”
“Yeah, I got the invite.” Evan sent me an invitation.
“Why don’t you let me plan the dinner?” she says, and her eyes look like they are getting sleepy. “It will be low-key. You can invite Jeffrey and a couple of people from your meetings.”
“I don’t talk to anyone at my meetings,” I tell her. “I get in there, I listen, most times I share my own story, and then I leave.”
“Well, then it can be the three of us,” she says. “Or even just you and Jeffrey, but either way, I think you should acknowledge it and accept it.”
“I’ll think about it,” I tell her, and she yawns. “Go to sleep. I’ll talk to you later.”
“You should go to sleep yourself,” she tells me. “Night, Viktor.” She smiles and then disconnects. I put the phone back on the side table and turn off the television, then fall asleep with the sound of her voice playing in my head.
* * *
“Go, go, go.” I hear ushered next to me, and I jump over the bench and get on the ice. It’s almost the end of the third, and we are winning two to one. All we have to do is hold it off them scoring for the next three minutes, and we can leave with the win under our hat. I skate down the line and look over at Evan who has the puck. He tries to go around the defenseman, but the guy poke checks the puck out of the way, and then the forward takes the puck and turns it around, heading back into our zone. I hustle it to get back there before him, and I put my stick out just in time for the puck to hit it and go out of bounds. The referee blows the whistle, and we take a face-off in the neutral zone. Evan gets into position, and I look up and see that the goalie for the other team is ready to take off for the bench and give them an extra man advantage.
Evan loses the face-off, and we hustle it back into the zone, taking the position of a baseball diamond. Evan stays up in the middle between the two defensemen, and I grab the right winger while Jeremy grabs the left man. The other team starts passing it from one to the other, and we all move with them, not giving them a chance to take a shot on the net. The defenseman gets the puck, and he slaps it toward the goalie, but I get down on one knee, putting my stick on the floor, and the puck hits the inside of my foot. The pain courses through me, but right before I fall to the ice and leave my team one man down, I swing my stick, pushing the puck to Evan who shoots it down the ice and scores an empty net goal.
I put my other knee down and wince out as I try to stand, but putting pressure on my foot feels like someone is stabbing me. “Fuck, are you okay?” Evan says, coming to me and helping me up, and I wince.
“It hit the inside of my foot,” I hiss and make my way to the bench with Evan on one side as I skate with one leg. I get to the bench, and they open the door, and I hop up and then look at the doctor. “Inside of my foot.”
He helps me walk to the back, and I sit in a little room the size of a shoe box. “Take the skate off so we can see,” he says, and I take off my helmet and gloves. The equipment guys come in and grab my stuff and start packing up since we are leaving as soon as we are ready. I take off the skate, wincing right when Matthew comes in and looks at me.
“How bad?” he asks, putting his hands on his hips.
“No idea yet,” the doctor says.
“The puck hit the inside of my foot,” I say and finally take my sock off.
The doctor picks up my foot wearing rubber gloves. He presses it, and I wince. “He is going to need an X-ray,” he says. “He can use the crutches until we get home. I have some painkillers he can take for now.”
“Pass,” I tell him. “I can handle the pain.” He takes the gloves off and wraps my foot in Elastoplast, and I grab the crutches in the corner. “I’ll have someone waiting for us when we land,” he says and walks out of the room.