The Idiot

Tuesday, January 31, 2023

When I woke up, my eyes slowly opened. Looking around the white room, I only saw one person. Patrick. What is he still doing her? Why does he care?

He was still sleeping, so I didn't try to wake him up. The problem was when I went to sit up, I hit his head (since he laid his head on my bed). Honestly, it wasn't my fault, but he did wake up right away.

"W-Winter?" he asked with a tired voice.

"Nooo, this isn't Winter," I sassily said with a huge smile on my face. Patrick smiled as well. "How long have I been out?"

"Three days."

I nodded at that. "Oh, can we leave. I know they have tests to make sure I'm healthy because of protocol. I want to leave."

"I want to leave as well," Patrick said standing up. "I'm going to get the doctor. Sit tight."

As he left, I yelled after, "What else am I going to do?"

While I waited, I saw my phone sitting on the nightstand next to my bed, so I grabbed it. I had so many notifications, but I didn't look at a single one of them. I pulled up Jamie's contact and typed without thinking. "I'm sorry"

After that message sent, I sent the same message to each of my brothers. I didn't get any responses before Patrick and a group of people in scrubs come back in the room. Maybe that's because it was a little after nine in the morning and those three are supposed to be in school right now.

I gave Patrick my phone as I answered numerous questions that I heard a billion times in my life.

I always hated these questions because all I wanted was to get out of this place, but I had to do it anyways if I wanted out quicker. Trust me, I tried to buck it multiple of times. It doesn't work out that well. So, I just sucked it up and answered everything.

After an hour of answering stupid questions and taking stupid tests, I was finally discharged. Luckily Patrick had brought me a change of clothes, but the probable it was a pair of jeans and a Kane jersey. "Really?" I asked.

"Well, it's the only thing you have to wear," he said with a laugh.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Haha, real funny."

"It was Jon's idea. Now go get dressed." He said nudging me towards the bathroom. It didn't take me long to get changed.

The two of us left the hospital as quickly as we could and climbed into Patrick's car. I instantly realized that somebody cleaned the car since it smelled like air freshers. "So, you missed a game?" I asked as Patrick started the car.

"Yeah, I did," he said emotionless as he put the car in reverse.

"Did they win?"

"Yeah, they did." We were on the road by now.

There has been a question that been on my mind ever since I woke up. "Do you hate me?"

He glanced over at me trying to see why I was asking. "I could never hate you." I don't know why, but when I heard his answer I was ecstatic. I couldn't help but to smile at that. "Why?"

"Because everything I have done."

"Nope, how can I hate you for being just like me?"

"You'll be surprised," I grumbled.

The next minute was quiet until Patrick said, "Amanda and I have decided that you are going to a therapist to talk about everything that has happened. The boys are going to go as well since they are struggling like you are."

"They are struggling?"

The car stopped at a red light. "Yeah, they are. Just don't tell them that I told you that." At that moment, I remembered the text messages that I sent at the hospital. I looked down at my phone seeing that all three of them responded.

From William: Holy hell, you actually have the capability to apologize?

From Wyatt: Awe my baby sister woke up. Missed you 😊

From Jamie: U don't have anything to apologize for missed u

"Don't worry, I won't," I said still looking at the messages. I still felt resentment towards these people, but it wasn't as bad as it was before the medical emergency. However another feeling hit me hard since I found out that Patrick stayed with me, love.

This guy just met me, and all I ever did was give him absolutely hell. But even with me acting like that, he would miss hockey games, which is his entire life. I don't know why, but I never thought that he would miss a hockey game for me. But yet again, he did for whatever stupid reason.

He'll never know how much that means to me. Mom normally was never at the hospital when I woke up since she had to work.

We went right to our quiet house. The two of us sat in the living room with the NHL Network playing on the television as background noise.

"When are you rejoining the team?"

He shrugged. "I don't know."

"You can go back, I'm fine."

Patrick looked at me. "I know that you are, but... I don't know. You can return to school tomorrow, but... I don't know."

I looked at him and started to laugh. He didn't quite understand why, so I explained it to him. "Yeah, you said that three times in the last thirty seconds."

"And did you know that you are a pain in my side?"

"That means I'm doing my job."

He rolled his blue eyes at me. "Teenage girls."

"Yeah, that's my excuse, what's yours?"

"Being your father." Both of us laughed at that. I know that this is only a little, but it's a start.

After hockey practice, the my whole team came to visit me. Honestly, it was really nice to have everyone here. It was like a 'they really do like me' cheesy moment, but I did think that. Jamie sat next to me the whole time, while my brothers made me laugh.

It was a really cool moment realizing that these people are my crazy family. Even though I may be very difficult, they will always be there for me.

I'm happy that I am alive. If I wasn't, I wouldn't be here right now wearing my father's hockey jersey (that I do kind of like), joking and laughing with my brothers and teammates.

Sometimes it takes a near death experience to really see what was happening. Yes, I miss my mom, but because of her, I didn't give my dad a chance. Maybe I should given it to him, maybe I shouldn't. I don't know, but I have four more years with him. I know that I'm going to explode at him more, but I just can't continue being like this to him.

This isn't how I was raised. I need to change, but I don't know if it is possible for me to do so. I know I am going to continue to give him attitude, but I'm a teenage girl. Isn't this normal for us?

I know now that Mom wouldn't have given us Patrick's name if she didn't want us to be with him in the end.

Maybe she regretted everything she said about him, but maybe she just didn't want us to end up in foster care or an orphanage. Who knows.

So, this is the end of the story. If you want I could write an epilogue. Please let me know if you want time too. Also, I can't thank all of you enough for all the love and support that you have given me during this story. When I wrote this, I never thought in a million years that anyone would read it. I wrote it because I wanted to tell this story.