What I Left Behind

What I Left Behind- Chapter 9

 Chapter 9

Ethan's POV

That fucking noise. Holy shit that noise. What the hell, why won't it stop? I opened my eyes slowly and saw my mom and dad hovering over me with someone I didn't recognize by their side. I groaned at the pain that my chest had. My chest felt like it was about to explode.

I felt pressure on the inside of my arm. I touched to see what it was. I saw that I had a tube going from my vein to a monitor. The fuck is happening? What's going on?

"Sweetheart, you've been in an accident." I heard my mom say.

It took a few minutes to realize where I was and what was happening. I tried concentrating on everything but this damn headache was a killer.

"What the hell is going on?" I blurted out trying to block out the light that the doctor was flashing in my eyes.

"You got tackled pretty hard and it sent you down to the floor. You suffered a minor concussion, was quite dehydrated, and we ran some tests to make sure that was all." The doctor said.

"So I'm fine." I said looking at my mom whose eyes were puffy from crying.

"Those weren't the only problems Mr. Bradley. You suffered something that wasn't detected right away." He said.

"What does that mean?" I asked confused.

"Ethan, your heart stopped beating. You went under a cardiac arrest that caused you to not regain consciousness. You have a serious heart condition that we need to take care of." He said.

Heart condition? What was he talking about?

"What are you saying?" I asked not believing anything he said.

"If it weren't for the big blow tonight, we wouldn't have known what would have happened. You could have suffered this from driving a car or even asleep. It was bound to have happened and just happened to occur tonight." He said flipping through his sheets.

"Your condition is serious and it needs to be acted upon as quickly as possible." He said glaring at my parents and I.

"What can we do?" My dad asked.

"Well there is a procedure that we can do. We'll stick a tube down his throat so we would clear up his airways that are being blocked right now. Thankfully, he didn't suffer from it badly so we won't need to do a surgery. He'll need to take medication daily to keep his heart healthy. The procedure is small and won't take long. It's easy and the safest thing for Ethan right now." He said.

"What do you mean, it's the safest thing?" My mom asked worriedly.

"Ethan's condition is serious. It's not one that will go away over time. He'll need extra attention and a specialist to identify just how serious this is. I have a list of excellent heart specialists in the area for you." The doctor said handing my mom a piece of paper.

I couldn't hear anymore of it. My heart was fine; this is just all one big misunderstanding. This could affect everything I've worked so hard for. My scholarship would be taken away from me. Holy shit, football. What would happen if I couldn't play anymore?

The doctor was talking, "Can I still play football?" I asked staring at hi interrupting his conversation with my parents.

He looked at me and then flicked his gaze to my parent's.

My mom looked away for a split second as the tears started to make their way again. She nodded and the doctor redirected his attention to me, "I'm sorry Ethan. These things are to be taken care of very carefully and football isn't an option here." He said with a small frown. He had sympathy written all over his face.