The Ice Hockey Player

Throwing Bricks

Finn sat with Jay in the emergency room. He had been there for two hours already, had some preliminary scans and watched a bunch of other people come and go. Jay was speaking to the girl at the desk. She was young, blonde and pretty and Jay was charming her like a snake. Soon she would be dancing to his tune and Finn would be seen by a doctor.

The fork was still in his arm. Jay told him not to move it when he called, as it would act like a plug and stop the blood from flowing. The pain had slowly turned into a dull, throbbing ache that flared up when he moved his arm. He hadn't seen or heard from Skye since she had stabbed him, after she had run. She looked petrified.

The look on her face when he had walked towards her; it scared him. She looked scared of him, like he was going to hurt her. He was only going to drag her to the sink, yet the minute he touched her, her entire face changed and then she...

Jay sat back down. "We'll be next," he said confidently.

He was right, the doctor calling out Finn's name next. He tried not to move his arm too much as he approached the doctor. The doctor stared at the fork protruding from his bicep, then at Finn's face, with a look of curious concern but said nothing and told them to follow him. They did, down a white corridor and into a room where an older nurse was fiddling around with some tools.

"Sit down," the doctor said, pointing to the bed in the room.

The nurse walked over to the doctor and handed him a needle.

"This is just anaesthetic, to numb your arm," the doctor explained. "After that I can retract the fork and stitch you up. The fork didn't puncture anything major, but you won't be able to use this arm for a few weeks."

"I'll need a note from you doc, I play ice hockey nationally," Finn said. It had only been a day, not even a full one, and already Skye was affecting his ice hockey.

The room was silent while the doctor worked. He didn't ask how Finn managed to acquire a fork into his bicep and Finn didn't offer any explanation. Maybe he'd seen accidents like this all the time. Maybe he just didn't care.

Jay drove Finn home after it was done. He only got four stiches; one for each point the fork went in. The doctor told him once it healed the stitches would fall out themselves, as it wasn't a major operation. If any problems occurred, make an appointment with a doctor first before going back to the hospital.

Jay spoke for the first time that night, as they drove back. "What happened?" he asked finally. Finn sighed.

"I honestly don't know. She wanted friends over, I said not when I'm there, we got into a fight and then I made a sexist comment–"

"Why would you do that?" Jay interrupted, and then apologized immediately when he saw Finn's face.

"She was driving me crazy. I just kind of lost it, tried to make her mad and it worked. Then I was going to drag her to the sink and do the damn dishes with her, but when I touched her she panicked and stabbed me." Finn paused, but Jay waited. He knew Finn wasn't finished yet and Finn debated whether he should tell Jay. In the end he decided to. Maybe Jay could help him work something out.

"Her face when I walked towards her was petrified," Finn said quietly. The only noise apart from Finn's voice was the hum of the car beneath them. "I think...I think she's been...abused in some way. She was so scared."

"I was asking Lila about it. I texted her after you called," Jay said, not looking at him. "She never responded." Finn said nothing. If she hadn't said anything then there was a good chance they were right and Lila didn't want to say. "What happened afterwards?" Jay asked.