Rescue Me (Sidney Crosby)

Chapter Seventy

No adult should have to burry a child, not a child who only lived for eight years, if you want to call that living. Everyone was heartbroken; the whole country was in morning. The shooting at the public school that Josh and Conner were attending, grades kindergarten through sixth grade, had made World News; the shooter had taken the lives of thirteen children and six staff members. No one knew why this person had done what he did; he committed suicide before anyone could find out answers.

We were supposed to have a game today, two days after the event, but no one was in the mood to play hockey. The game against the Devils was postponed, and no one was complaining about the decision, not even the Devils. We were too busy helping our friends; we had lost one of our own.

The team stood around the casket that was placed in front of the grave, Julie stood in front of me, my friends were laced with hers and Josh stood in front of her, her arm was draped over his back and his face was squished into her stomach, he was crying hard. I looked over towards Allie to see that she was crying against Tyler’s shoulder and he was holding her tight. Mildred cried against Harold and my grip on Julie’s hand only tightened when I heard her start to tear up.

The Priest walked up to the grave and stood next to the blown up picture of the eight year old smiling boy, “Conner Jacob Nett was an especially gifted young man, he had gone through a tragedy when he was younger, losing both of his parents in a tragic car accident. However, with the help of friends and family, this young boy’s spirit was lifted.”

Julie turned into my chest and I knew she was trying not to cry, but she couldn’t help herself. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and then placed my hand on Josh’s back as I felt his head dig into my side. I felt so bad for him; he had just lost his first real friend in a horrible event.

“Now come forward with your gifts so that Conner can take them up with him to heaven,” the Priest said and I saw people placing flowers on top of the casket.

I felt a hand on my back and turned to see Mario handing me a bag. I nodded my head and opened it to see the jersey, signed by everyone in the team. I stepped out of Julie and Josh’s grasp and stepped forward, but then stopped and looked at Tyler.

“You should do this,” I said, “He looked up to you as his father.”

Tyler gulped but then nodded his head and took a step forward, I handed the jersey to him and he reached out and patted my shoulder. I turned around and walked back to Julie and she hugged me and then turned back to Tyler.

“You’ll always be one of us Conner,” Tyler said as he laid the jersey onto the casket and I smiled sadly as he placed the jersey faced down and everyone saw that Conner’s name was on the jersey, “You’ve been given your own number, the number one has been officially give to you Conner, no other player associated with the Pittsburgh Penguins will ever be given that number. That’s how much you meant to us, to me.”

I rubbed Julie’s back and then kissed her head and stepped forward, the whole team stood around Conner’s casket and watched as he was lowered. I could hear Josh crying and I looked back to see that Julie had bent down and held her son. When the casket touched the bottom, we all placed our hands in our pockets and pulled out a puck that was personally signed and had a message on there for him.

“For Conner,” we all said and then tossed the pucks into the grave and stepped back to our original spots.

I picked Josh up and he wrapped his arms around my neck and cried on my shoulder. I don’t think he understood that his best friend wasn’t going to be with him anymore. He hasn’t said a word to anyone after Julie and I were able to get him from the police station, that’s where all of the students were taken to for safety.

The funeral was over and one by on people left, there were a lot of people here. I watched as Julie walked over towards Mildred and Harold and hugged him. I stood in the same spot and looked at Josh to see him staring at the man that was digging the dirt into the grave. He looked like he was trying not to cry anymore, and that broke my heart even more.

“You don’t have to hold it back Josh,” I said, “There’s no reason for you not to cry anymore.”

Josh shook his head and then bit the inside of his lip. I sighed and then looked across the cemetery to see that there was another service going on, I think it was one of the teachers that died to save the children that she loved.

“You ready?” Julie asked sadly as she walked back over. I nodded my head and then turned around and started to walk back to the car with Julie.

“No!” Josh yelled and then squirmed out of my grasp and dropped to the ground and ran.

“Josh!” Julie called and started to follow, but I grab her wrist.

“It’s all right,” I said and we watched as he ran to Conner’s grave just as the man had finished covering it with dirt. Julie leaned against me and I wrapped my arms around her and we watched as Josh said his goodbyes to his friend.

-Julie-

I couldn’t believe it. No one could believe it.

When Allie and I got to the school, we didn’t know what to expect. We parked the car and ran to the school gate entrance, I wasn’t even sure if I turned the car off or shut the door. A policeman had stopped me and said that it was a crime scene. I didn’t believe him when he said that there was a school shooting, I had two ask twice, and the only reason I believed him was because two EMTs had carried out a body bag, a small body bag, a bag for a child. Panic surged throughout my whole entire body and I needed to search for my son, Allie needed to search for her nephew.

The officer told us to go to the police station two blocks down; all of the rescued children and staff were being brought there. Allie and I raced down there.

An officer stood in front and asked for ID and asked who we were looking for. Just as we were about to walk inside the station, being given approval, I heard my name being called and turned to see Sidney and Tyler running towards us. Sidney had asked if Conner and Josh were all right, and I shook my head not knowing.

The four of us ran into the station and were told to go into a room and another officer asked who we were here for. When I said Josh’s name, a woman came up to me and asked me to follow her, I froze, I thought she was going to tell me that my son was dead. I shook my head, not wanting to follow her, not wanting to hear that my son wasn’t going to come back to me.

Sidney’s hand was on my shoulder and the woman shook her head and told me to follow her because my son was all right. I breathed a sigh of relief and walked back with the woman, leaving Sidney, Tyler and Allie behind.

I wasn’t prepared to find my son in total shock and his clothes were covered in blood. The woman who brought me back to my son was an EMT and said that Josh was in shock and he wasn’t telling them whose blood was on his clothes, because it wasn’t his.

I had to ask him at least ten times, and I started to cry because I was scared, my son was just staring off into space. When I finally got through to him, he pulled back and then stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out a toy car that Conner had given to him the first day that we arrived. This was his way of telling me that the blood on Josh was Conner’s.

I gasped and covered my mouth; Josh just held the car in his hand and stared at it. A police officer gave Josh a shirt that was found in lost and found, it was a little big, but it did its job. There was blood on his jeans, but they couldn’t find any pants for him.

I just picked my son up and walked out of the room to see that only Tyler and Sidney were in the hallway. I asked where Allie was and Tyler said that an officer asked for her to follow him. Sidney saw the blood on Josh’s pants and I told them that I think that it was Conner’s. Tyler’s eyes widened and Sidney held up his teammate and friend because he looked like he was about to fall over. My thoughts were proven true when Allie came back balling her eyes out and kept saying that he was gone.

Thirteen children and six teachers lost their lives and that boy that I had seen that morning, the one that I thought had ‘danger’ written all over him. He was the one responsible for it, he was the one responsible for all of this bloodshed, and we won’t ever know why he did it because the coward took his own life when the policemen finally caught up to him.

-Sidney-

“Good night little man,” I said as Julie and I tucked Josh into bed and I kissed his head.

“I love you Josh,” Julie said and Josh rolled over in bed and placed his back to us.

I placed my hand on Julie’s back as she sighed, “Give him time,” she nodded her head and then kissed Josh’s head and walked out of the room. I looked back towards Josh and rubbed his arm, “It’ll be all right little man.”

As I turned around to leave the room, I head Josh move in his bed and then felt him grab my hand. I turned back towards him to see he was looking up at me with his sad brown eyes. He pulled me back towards the bed and I sat next to him. Josh looked like he was about to say something, he has spoken a single word in two days. But when I thought he would speak, he shut his mouth, jumped onto my lap and wrapped his arms around my neck.

“Josh it’s all right,” I said as I wrapped my arms around him, “I’m here; you know you can talk to me about anything.”

Josh pulled away and nodded his head and then climbed back onto his bed and laid back down. I sighed and then stood up and walked towards the door. As I was about to turn the light off I heard Josh mutter something.

“What’s that buddy?” I asked and looked back to see Josh leaning his back against the headboard.

“He protected me,” Josh said and I walked back over towards him and sat on the bed.

“Who did?”

“Conner,” he said and then looked at the bed fiddling with his sheets, “He jumped in front of me. It should have been me.”