Pucking Fantastic

Chapter 21: Bound To Push Things

Happy Monday! Look out for the <>!

"The treatments aren't working on El's cancer. That being said, we need to remove it surgically," Doctor Wells said to my parents and me in a small hospital room a few days later.

Mom gasped as dad held her, his face stoic. But me, I had braced myself for this for days. I suspected it would come down to this when I heard them whispering in the halls. Things weren't going to plan and I could feel it in my bones.

Surgery. It was a daunting word, but yet I held myself together, since I was only thinking about one thing. "How long is the recovery time?" I asked, knowing I couldn't take much time off. Nationals was so close and I needed to keep training.

She gave a dry sigh. Everyone said that Wells was brilliant and I should be lucky to have her as a doctor, but I didn't feel that way. I didn't like her and she didn't like me either. I was too stubborn for my age, too eager to fight if needed. If she spoke now, it would be another one of those fights she didn't want to have with a 16-year-old. "If you're talking about skating, I would like you to take two weeks off."

I couldn't do that. "Not possible," I stated, as if there could be no discussion about it.

By now, she was too tired of me pushing the envelope. "Ellis, this shouldn't be a discussion. You have already pushed yourself too much."

I shook my head, knowing everything could be a discussion if I wanted it to be. I was a figure skater; I was bound to push things; it was in my blood. It wasn't natural to wear blades on your feet and throw yourself off the ice, expecting to land on one leg. I pushed the laws of nature every time I stepped on that ice. "You know nationals is only six weeks away. That's two weeks shy of a month. There's no time to take breaks. Can we reschedule this surgery for after nationals?"

She puckered her face as if she swallowed a lemon. "No, we can't risk it."

I chewed on her words in silence. I could see that this would be a losing battle. "Fine," I spat as I stood up from my seat. I needed air from this room that was closing in around me.

"Ellis," dad sighed. He didn't want to deal with any of this, either. He should have been on a flight to Saudi Arabia today, but he rescheduled. He said he wanted to be here for me, but his mind was distant. We were all tiring of these hospital trips that were only filled with problems.

"You can talk about the details to Doctor Wells. Tell me what you decide. After all, you guys are the ones that decide everything anyhow," I said with spite, then left the small hospital room, closing the door behind me as if that would shut out their conversation. But it was like duct taping a worn out boot, it would only help for so long.

After all the doctor's appointments, I had realized that I had no real control over these decisions. At the end of the day, my parents were the ones moving the strings. I was their puppet, as much as I wanted to deny it, I couldn't.

I hurried to a bench in the hallway and sat down as I pulled out my phone and quickly texted Callum. I waited as he didn't respond instantly, like he normally did. He had been so hard to get a hold of these last few days. It made me worried. I made me think he was moving on.

He had all those girls at the concert. They could give him time and keep up with him. But me, I was barely keeping up with myself. I was worried that he was getting bored with me.

I looked down the hall and watched as people passed me. As much as I had gone here, I still didn't know anyone of these people wearing bright colored scrubs. I didn't want to know them. After this little drama in my life was over, I would be able to forget all of it and move on with my life. Because of this, I focused on not remembering anything about this place.