Chapter Four

It took me about a hour to type this because I broke my middle finger playing basketball, and since I still want to play; I just have tape on it. I'll explain what caused me to have such a long time between updates tomorrow. Sorry :(



Chapter Four
Marie’s POV

It was a normal day. I was working my normal shift at Starbuck’s. It was normal weather. Chilly and sunny. It was a normal time. Nothing was supposed to be happening today. Just one of the 365 days of a long, tedious year. But one, simple phone call can always wreck that.

Flashback
“Marie Haefner, please come to the front office.” The loud speaker called into the classroom. I sighed and began to gather up my books, they had probably busted me for skipping so much school recently. I trudged my way to the office, stalling as much as possible by going to the bathroom and tying my shoes over and over again. Eventually though, I got there and sat down in one of the stiff chairs. If they are about to yell at you, they could as least do it when you’re comfortable. The receptionist peered at me and immediately said. “Honey, you can go back now. Principal Tonks is ready for you.” Oh shit, meeting with the principal, not the vice-principal. This must mean some serious trouble. Maybe something like a suspension, that would not sit well with my parents at all.
“Marie, sit down please.” Mr. Tonks said and I hesitantly sat down, this was it. To my surprise though, Mr. Tonks didn’t start yelling at me. “Your father is on the phone.” He explained and pushed it towards me. Okay, Great-Grandma Agnes finally bit the dust; we all knew it was going to happen sooner rather than later.
“Marie?” My dad asked. I could tell that he had been crying. I frowned; I hadn’t expected my dad to be this upset about it.
“Dad?” I replied
“You’re mom left.” He choked out before going silent. I grabbed the desk tightly, digging my nails into it. “What do you mean?”
“She left a voicemail. She said to tell you, Charlie, and Mike that she loved you guys more than life, but she couldn’t stand being with my negative attitude anymore. She said she found another man and she’s moving in with him, but she wouldn’t say where.” Dad said guiltily.
My throat began to burn. “But she wouldn’t do that to us!” I shrieked. Mom wouldn’t do this, she loved me too much. She couldn’t just leave like that.
“I’m so sorry. I’ll ask the principal to send you home.”
*End of Flashback*

I began humming and scrubbed down the counters. We were going through the mid-day slow time. Clara, my manager, waved me back.
“Marie, a woman named Jane has been calling all morning. She says it’s important.” My heart began beating fast; Jane never called about anything while I was at work. I sprinted towards the phone and dialed her number. “Jane?” I asked breathlessly, praying that she just called because she couldn’t find something.
“Marie! I’ve been trying to get a hold of you all morning! Scott is sick!” She exclaimed. I had to remind my self to keep breathing. “How sick?”
Jane took a deep breath. “I think you should take him to the hospital.” I bit my lip, forcing myself not to cry.
“I’ll be there in five minutes.” I promised before swiftly hanging up. I explained the situation to Clara and she quickly let me off work. Then, I called the only person I knew in Raleigh.

Eric’s POV

The phone buzzing woke up right when I was about to fall asleep for my pre-game nap. No one in my family would dare call me at pre-game naptime; they knew how superstitious I was.
“What?” I said into the receiver annoyed.
“Eric?” I heard Marie’s voice ask. But something seemed wrong, something seemed really wrong.
“Are you okay Mar?” I responded now worried.
“No.” She said before beginning to weep. A million thoughts ran through my head. Marie was always strong; she would never call anyone crying.
“I need to take Scott to the hospital, but I’m at work. Can you come pick me up?” Marie asked her voice thick. That’s all I needed to hear, my nephew was in trouble. I jumped up and began shoving a pair of jeans on and tried to find a clean t-shirt. I grabbed my keys and wrote Tanya a note and took off to my car. I drove to the Starbuck’s a recklessly, but I got there in record time. Marie was sitting on the curb, her eyes were bright red. It was obvious she was crying, but since she didn’t want to cry in front of me, she forced herself to stop. She opened the car door before I even came to a complete halt and sat in the passengers seat.
“Jane is taking him to the hospital, we’re meeting him there. What are you waiting for? Drive!” She barked.
I hastily pulled back out onto the road and began speeding to the hospital. “What’s wrong with him?” I asked concerned.
Marie wiped the corner of her eyes. “ I don’t even know,” She admitted, “but Jane knows what she’s talking about, so it has to be serious.” She said before crying again. I squeezed her arm. “Scott’s going to be okay, he was Staal cells.”
She let out a shaky chuckle. “He has to be.”

I dropped her off at the entrance of the hospital before parking. I jogged to get into the lobby room and saw her talking to a doctor, she was crying again. I walked up and put an arm around her.
“ Your son has a severe lung infection that is compromising his breathing, so we have him on a ventilator. With him only being around four months, this puts him in risk of the rest of his organs shutting down. We are also afraid that one of his lungs might collapse, which might make him have to have surgery. We believe that if he would have to have surgery, he wouldn’t survive it.” The doctor explained.
I exhaled loudly and rubbed my eyes. That did not sound good at all. Jordan’s son could die before he even knew he had one. I could not let that happen.

Jordan’s POV

I was on a road trip on Atlanta rooming with TK; we were both taking our pre-game naps when my phone began to obnoxiously go off. I groaned and looked at Tyler, I know he would kill me if it woke him up. Luckily for me, he was still on his stomach clutching onto the pillow. I snorted and took a picture of him before answering the phone.
“What’s up bro? Do you really not want the Penguins to win so bad that you wake me up during my pre-game nap?” I asked jokingly.
“Jordan, I need to tell you something.” Eric said unusually serious.
“Okay, shoot.” I said walking out into the hallway.
“You know how you had sex with Marie at Christmas?” Eric said bitterly.
My jaw dropped. “How did you kn-“ I began to ask before he rudely interrupted me.
“Jordan,” He said kindly, “you don’t know this, but Marie got pregnant that night. And now your son is dying in the hospital.”
I began laughing like a crazy man, that’s the only thing I knew what to do. It seemed eerie to my own ears, like it wasn’t real. Like this whole mess couldn’t be real. “Ha ha, very funny Eric. You got me.” I finally squeaked out.
Eric didn’t flinch. “I suggest you get a flight to Raleigh as soon as you can, I’ll tell Mom and Dad if you want me to.
“No, don’t tell them. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” I said my voice hollow before throwing my cell phone down the hallway. I sank down and leaned against the wall, putting my head on my knees. No, no, no, no. I couldn’t have a child. I couldn’t have a dying child with Marie Haefner. My high school sweetheart. How did she raise it without me? I was stunned, how could she not tell me?! It was my fucking child too, but she kept it from me. I’m supposed to marry a girl this summer. How am I supposed to get married when I have a child? A little-itty, human being that’s half of me. Something that I made. Some one that I’m supposed to love, support, and always, unconditionally be there for. I knew that my child was dying, but I didn’t even know if it was a boy or girl. I was just twenty-one, I wasn’t ready for a child. I was just an immature child in a man’s body. I was engaged, yet I have had sex with women besides my fiancée. I still love to drink and play foolish games. A father cannot be doing this. A father has to be responsible, stable, and always ready for disaster. This whole time I’ve been living a lie. I’ve been thinking I’m some one, but for some one else, I should be playing a completely different role. And Marie. Thinking of Marie made my head pound unbearably. Beautiful, compassionate, eighteen year old, Marie. How was she being a mother? How was she dealing with whatever is going on with the child in the hospital? How the hell did Eric know, but I didn’t? How many other people knew before I did? Finally, I got myself together enough to go back into the room. I grabbed my suitcase and called Coach Dan. It went straight to his voicemail. “Dan, I’m sorry, but there’s a family emergency.” I tried to explain, not wanting to tell him the whole thing. “Some one very close to the family is dying, I have to be there. Call me later and I’ll explain everything. Tell the guys what I told you.” I said before flipping my phone shut. I considered telling Olivia, but I quickly decided not to. If I thought I was flipping out, she would flip out even more. I couldn’t deal with her anymore. I took a cab to the airport and somehow managed to snag a ticket to a flight that I had to run to catch. I leaned back for the hour and a half flight. The whole time questions were flying through my find. Is it a boy or girl? How sick is it? How did Eric now? How is Marie doing? How is Marie supporting it? How is Marie going to college? How is Marie living on her own? I knew I would just be torturing myself if I kept wondering, so I put in my iPod and tried desperately to stop thinking.

&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&
“Can you take me to the hospital please?” I asked the cab driver.
“But that’s so far away!” He complained. I swiftly took out my wallet and showed him three fifty-dollar bills.
As soon as he saw the bills, he snatched them and began driving. I watched the familiar city fly by, no longer finding it was beautiful as I used to. The cab finally got to the hospital and I walked into the waiting room. I saw her beautiful brown curls right away. She was hunched over in a chair with her face in her hands, her whole body shaking from sobbing so hard. Eric was next to her, gingerly trying to comfort her. I ran towards the scene skidding to a stop in front of them
“Marie? What’s going on?” I asked finally let my emotions run wild. I was fucking scared.
She looked up at me, her eyes a scary red before standing up slowly. I expected her to hug me, begging for comfort and forgiveness. Turns out I didn’t know Marie as well as I thought I did, because all I got was a harsh slap in the face.