Malkin and Me

On the sixth of July, my mother showed up in the hospital. I don't know how she knew I was there. Some kind of motherly instinct must have brought her to me.

"Lida," she soothed, brushing the hair off my forhead. I winced when her hand rested on my cheekbone. "It will be okay."

It all started eight months ago, when I first began to date Antonio. He was Italian, and I was a sucker for foreigners. We moved into together after only six weeks. Three weeks after that, the problems began. He would drink too much, anger too easily and get too physical. Things slowly escalated, and I let them. I made excuses for him, putting the blame on myself. I would tell myself in the mirror that I would be better and then he wouldn't be so mad. It, of course, didn't work.

On the fifth of July, Antonio beat me worse than he ever had. He smashed my head against the wall twice, my shoulder had three long cuts on it, I had more bruises than I could count and road burn. He had thrown me down the stairs and out of our apartment. A neighbour found me, passed out and called an ambulance.

"The doctor said your MRI results were normal. You're coming home with me tonight and tomorrow you're leaving," my mother said. After finally making it to the car, what she said sunk it.

"Leaving? Where?" I said.

"Oh, Lida. I forgot to tell you, I'm sorry." My mother sighed.

"Tell me what?"

"I bought you a plane ticket. You're going to America!" She forced a smile, trying to encourage me to be enthused.

"Are you coming?" I wondered.

"No, you're going alone."

"Alone? What will I do there? Where will I sleep? How will I live? I don't speak English!" I exclaimed.

"Lida, try to stay calm. Remember what the doctor said," she warned.

"Actually, no, I don't remember!" I half-shouted, getting out of the car before she'd even stopped it in the driveway. I ran into the house and into my childhood bedroom. Everything was blue and white, and there were stuffed bears on the bed. I felt tearful and distraught. Eventually, fighting the tears exhausted me and I fell asleep. In the morning, my sister woke me up by rubbing my arms.

"Ow, Kat!" I mumbled into my pillow. "My stitches."

"Sorry. Mom said to wake you up though," Katryna said, her voice soft. She climbed into the bed with me and I rolled onto my back. We stared up at my ceiling together.

"Lida?"

"Mmm?"

"You look horrible. It was the scariest thing I've ever seen. I'm glad you're going to America. No one bad will be able to get to you there," Kat said. I took her hand, squeezing it. I wanted to tell her there were bad people everywhere but I couldn't bring myself to crush her dreams.

"Will you come and visit me?" I asked.

"Of course!" Katryna's face cracked into a smile. She was twelve and horribley niave. I was twenty two and horribley beaten up. I don't know who I'd rather be.

Downstairs there were waffles. My mother had gone and packed my things from the apartment, with my uncle, when I was still in the hospital. Around the table, there was little chatter. My eyes kept sliding to the boxes against the wall.

"Mama?" I said.

"Don't talk with your mouthful," she reproached. I swallowed without chewing, wincing as the waffle inched towards my stomach.

"You still haven't told me the plan. Where will I stay, what will I do?"

"Do you ever listen? I told you, Evgeni will pick you up at the airport. You will stay with him and you will stay out of harm's way! That is the plan. It's rather simple," she said. I wasn't sure if she had already told me or not.

"Evgeni? Evgeni Malkin?" I asked.

"Yes. You know he is Uncle Valeri's best friend's brother's son. You've always known that."

"I wish I could live with Evgeni Malkin," Kat sighed, her eyes glazing over.

"Everyone is going to be quite jealous, I think," my Uncle Valeri said.

"He is the only connection to North America we have. If we knew someone in Canada, you could have gone there. But we don't. Regardless, I want you off this continent. It is the only way to keep you safe from that monster!" My mother exclaimed. I raised my eyebrows and my uncle gave me a half smile. Sometimes, I was sure my mother had lost her marbles.

I hated the plane. Reading made me feel sick and the inflight movie was in English. I listened to my iPod and tried to sleep. My head pounded. The stitched above my eyebrow itched, as did the ones on my arm. Across the aisle, a bearded man watched me.

"I'm Arthur," he said, eventually. He spoke in English.

"Lida," I said, taking his outstretched hand.

"Long flight, eh?" he said. I bit my bottom lip.

"Er... No English?" I said. I felt like my voice sounded stupid.

"Oh," Arthur said, looking down at his hands. After a few more hours he tried again at conversation. We managed about three words before giving up.

When the plane landed, I felt like I was in a movie. At the bottom of the stairs stood a group of people, holding signs with names written on them. And there, drawing quite a bit of attention, was Evgeni Malkin, number 71, assistant captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Several people snapped pictures of him. He pulled his hat down lower. I stepped toward him, the crowd was thick though.

"Lida!" he exclaimed, waving his paper in the air. I laughed and squeezed through to him. When someone took my picture, a small shriek escaped my mouth. I tried to hide my face against Evgeni. We pushed our way out of the crowd and towards baggage claim. I realized that though I had never met him, I was currently hiding my face in his side. He had protectively put his arm around me. When he stepped away and grabbed my bag, I felt the eyes on us.

"You are a local legend," I said, glancing at all the people pointing him out. "Just like back home. All the girls are so jealous of me."

"Don't worry, soon there will be pictures of you everywhere. At least, if you keep going outside around me." He grinned and I returned the look. In his car, he drove fast.

"It takes a while to get to my house. Are you hungry or anything? We can get drive through," Evgeni suggested.

"I'm not hungry right now, but I don't mind if you eat," I said. It was uncomfortable, being strangers in this car. I couldn't imagine what it would be like in his house.

"You'll want this, believe me," he said. He pulled into a McDonalds, ordering two smartie mcflurries and two fries. He also ordered a big mac. As we drove away, he showed me to dip my fries into the ice cream.

"It is good because of sweet and salt, warm and cold,delicious and delicious," he said. I laughed around a full mouth.

"This is amazing. Why don't we have this back home?"

"You're going to love it here, Lida. I will show you all the best things and you'll never want to leave."

"Hell, I'll stay just for the fries and ice cream!

A/N: Wow, I can't believe I'm sharing this with the internet! Anyway, English isn't my first language so any grammar or spelling mistakes I would totally love you to point out. Any other feedback on the story would be completely appreciated too!

Happy reading!