The Hockey Life - A Patrick Kane Fanfic

Part Sixty-Three - Let the Olympic Games Begin

PART SIXTY-THREE: LET THE OLYMPIC GAMES BEGIN

I thought time would fly, but I quickly realized that I had never been more wrong in my life. The next day, a tragedy happened in Patrick’s family. His grandfather, Donald Kane, passed away. I had met him at Thanksgiving, and he was one of the sweetest men I had ever met. He was very kind to me and it was clear to me then that Patrick had an amazing relationship with him. I had heard stories about the two of them as well - they were basically best friends. Pat had not only lost a family member, but a best friend. Nobody deserved that.

Patrick got the call about an hour before we both had to head to the United Center for a game. When he answered his phone, I didn’t know who it was or what it was about. All I knew was that I could practically feel his heart sink, and his voice was timid as he spoke. As soon as he hung up the phone, I was afraid to ask any questions, but I had to.

“What’s wrong? What happened?” I wondered.

“My grandpa passed.” His voice shook. “Grandpa Kane.”

I wanted to say sorry. I did. But I had lost my grandpa when I was eleven years old. He had Alzheimer’s, so it was difficult for us to have a really good relationship, but we had a decent enough one for him to have nicknames for me and inside jokes with me, and I loved him no matter what. I couldn’t talk about him without crying for a long time, so I hated when people asked me about him. The wake and the funeral were the absolute worst. I didn’t want people to tell me they were sorry, because I didn’t want to have to talk about it. That was why I didn’t tell Patrick I was sorry. I didn’t have to, because he knew. So instead, I wrapped my arms around him and didn’t let go for a good ten minutes. Neither of us spoke, but he cried, and I cried with him.

Patrick was an emotional guy. Every once in a while he would watch a movie that would make him shed a tear or two. I had experienced that before. But I had never seen him cry like this. He had never been this upset about anything around me, and I couldn’t stand to see him so broken. Then I realized that we had to leave soon, because he had a game. He couldn’t play in that game, there was no way. He would be unfocused and all over the place. I told him he should tell Coach and see if he could be excused, but he shot down that idea right away.

“No, I’m not missing this game. I have to play,” he told me. “I have to play for him.”

Sure enough, he did play, but he was by no means unfocused or all over the place. Nobody really even knew what had happened before the game, and if they did, they wouldn’t believe it. Pat was unbelievable. He scored twice, and he saluted the sky after the first goal, a tribute to his grandpa. He wasn’t lying when he said he needed to play for him. For someone who was broken before the game, he sure was a trooper during it. I was unbelievably angry when the reporters ruined that afterwards, asking him about his grandpa. I wanted him to tell them off, or at least kindly pass on their questions, but he was a trooper about that too. He cried a little more, but he answered their questions anyways. He was not too egotistical to show emotion to the world, and I was so glad to find that out. I knew that the funeral and the wake would be tough, but I also knew that he was strong and he’d get through it, and he did, with his parents, sisters, and myself by his side.

**********************************************************

It seemed like the Olympics were happening right after all of that was over. I felt so bad for Patrick. He was under a lot of pressure to do well and he still needed time to heal, but he was still excited to go to Sochi. I was too. I was eager throughout the whole plane ride, and when we finally touched down and got out of the plane, I was amazed just by the fact that I was in such a different country.

Sochi was absolutely crazy. There were tons of people there for the Olympic games. Some were nice, while others seemed to have no compassion for others whatsoever. Things were a little crowded, what with all the people, but it died down a bit once we got to the Olympic Village, although there were a lot more athletes there than I had thought there would be. I guess I forgot about how many different events there were and how many countries competed against each other. The cool thing about it all was that I got to meet quite a few Olympians, eventually. To me, they were all so inspiring, and I was starstruck just being around them.