I had feelings, one good and the other bad. Arthur was going to come tonight, that look he gave me said everything. But, there was a horrible pain in my right shoulder. It was a reoccurring pain but never had it happened during a game so I had coach put muscle reliever on it and KT tape outlining my shoulder blade and collar bone. Tonight was the first night I didn't call my brother. He was suppose to be flying in for a visit and I didn't think he'd receive a call on the plane.
"Jones. Your shoulder is only getting worse, I think you need to take some personal days and get to the doctor before things get worse." Coach patted my back in the locker room.
I just kinda nodded and looked up.
"Yea I will sometime later, can't afford to drop two games this week coach. Especially this one."
"I know, I'm just worried."
There was a kid when Mattie and I were younger, he was a foreign exchange students at some school we played every year but he also played travel. I remember the first time I saw him, he was huge with pale skin that didn't quite fit right with his light blonde hair. His eyes were a cruel blue and he always frowned. He was a masterpiece that always knew just how to kick our asses and break no sweat. Every time the kid got on the ice the tension grew, that and the fact that he wouldn't speak English while playing only made the intimidation grow. Then there was this boy who was always with him, he was a little older than us but so immature. His skin lighter than his younger half, more translucent except for his eyes. They were just as astonishing as his brother only a bright violent red. I had always thought I'd never see a cooler eye color than Mattie's but I was proven wrong that day.
Turns out the little bastard went home after his senior year only to be recruited to a team in North Dakotah. One of his ex-rink mates plays for us now and tells stories about how the kid is just a tank. Everyone on the team called him Blitzkrieg, it was an old World War II saying for the German tactics used for invading France and destroying London, it was befitting.He told us how Blitzkrieg would workout for days straight and never complain a single time about pain anywhere in his muscles. Today for the fourth time in my professional career I would face this stone wall.
As we got onto the ice I rolled my shoulder getting it use to the feeling of the tape and muscle reliever. There were more people in the stands than usual and my eyes moved over every inch trying to find a promise kept to me but so far nothing. Progressively more and more people started taking their seats making it harder for my glassed eyes to pinpoint a specific someone. The game started off steady, it was tied by the end of the second period. That is when I finally spotted the Englishman. He was a few seats down from where he sat the first time I saw him, closer to the locker rooms. His face was stoic as he sat alone this time. He wasn't dressed for a hockey game, he was in a dark grey peacoat and scarf, he made something so plain look good. Our eyes locked for a second before he looked away making me laugh.
The third period is when all hell broke loose. It started when I scored a goal on their goalie which added stress and tension on the ice, that and they started putting Blitzkrieg on my ass. The shoving had begun! There was once when I shoved him into the wall just to have it returned seconds later. Soon it became rough and it wasn't about the game anymore but about showing dominance and superiority. I zoomed down the ice with the puck trying desperately to score within the next 2 minutes so there wouldn't be over time. The German stalked closer and closer so I finally passed it but it was too late. I felt an elbow smash into my neck bending it against the hard glass of the barrier. My head followed soon after with a malicious crack of my helmet. Waves of pain wracked by body as it was slammed against the wall again. I faintly heard the ref as I threw my helmet off and cover my face. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong.
———
For the split second I looked away something had happened on the ice a couple seats down from me. There was a huge fracture in the glass, the crack spreading all the way to the top. There was a disgruntled noise coming from that direction making my head turn dangerously fast. There was blood on the ice and the refs of the game skated swiftly towards the noise. I stood up to get a proper looking at all the fuss and that's when I saw Alfred hunched over on the ice, blood seeping from the figures which incased his eye. There was a light drizzle of blood coming from his temple as well, at this sight my stomach churned as if not knowing how to keep my food in. Quickly I made it for the gate opening.
"Someone get the paramedics!" I yelled before making my way slowly on the ice.
"Sir I'm going to have to ask you to back away and get off the ice."
"Excuse me but that's my friend right there, look your paramedics are sitting outside the stadium doing god knows what right now and hasn't a damn clue that there is a kid in here bleeding out for all we know." He looked at me for a second before surprisingly letting me through. I tried desperately to get to him as fast as I could without falling . Teammates and foes just stood around watching, the noise of the crowd became louder with panick
"Alfred, are you alright?" I carefully kneeled next to his body.
"Alfred look at me."
He slowly looked up with horror. His glasses were slightly crooked on one side, the other was a frightening sight. The frame was bent in and snapped. A gash in Alfred's check bled from where the broken end made contact. The glass shattered on his face and in his eye. his once bright eye now overfilled with red washed tears. You could faintly see shards of the glass stuck. It was so torn up that if I slept tonight all I was going to see is his frightened face as he looked up at me.
"Arthur, I can't see you, it hurts so much that I can't see you." He breathed out. Tears gliding down his unscathed eye.
"Alfred close your eyes!" I said trying to remove my scarf.
"This may hurt a bit but please bare with me. Please." I slowly reached up to his now shut eyes removing the glasses slowly from his face. He grunted when the metal brushed his cut cheek and I stashed the mess in my coat pocket.
"You know, this is what contacts are for." I chuckled nervously trying to get his mind off his eye. Slowly I wrapped the scarf around his head and over his eyes to keep him from opening them and damaging the eye any further.
"Can you stand? Does it hurt anywhere else?"
"My neck, I can't move it, Arthur there is so much pain everywhere." He cried out making my heart become heavy. I could only do so much with what little first aid I could remember. Blood and snot dropped from his nose, from crying, the cold, or the force of his glasses and helmet I couldn't tell. I wiped my coat sleeve against it which only seemed to stain my jacket and smear his face.
"Alfred I really need you to tell me where things hurt. Don't move your head or talk just grunt for a yes." He grunted in response as if to toy with me. I touched his legs but no response. His knees and hands were perfectly fine as well. He grunted when I lightly touched his hip probably due from the ledge that separated the glass barrier from the wall. He cried out when my hand touched his shoulder and slid down to his rib cage, he felt the pressure even under all that padding.
"That brute." I growled and from the corner of my eye watched as the massive man talked to one of the refs. Before I could look back the paramedics were by his side with a stretcher to take him away.
———
There was so much pain everywhere. My face throbbed, my hip, my neck, ribs and then there was my shoulder. The moment I felt his hand press down in just the slightest on my shoulder I saw white. The pain was excruciating. I couldn't see anything under whatever he placed around me but it was like I could visibly see the pain. The medics were touching me with less grace than Arthur but they still somehow got me onto the stretcher without moving much of my body. Although, they took their precious time putting my neck into a contraption to make sure I didn't damage my neck anymore than it already was.
" yes I will be going with you!"
"That's my friend right there prat! I helped him first so hop off!" I could faintly hear the Englishman over the ringing in my ears.
"Arthur." I mumbled out
"Don't be too rude." Even under the scarf my eyelids were getting heavy and the ringing got louder and louder before I just slept.
