Rescue Me (Sidney Crosby)

Chapter Seventy One

-Julie-

"It's be all right Josh," I said as Sidney and I bent down and placed our hands on each of his shoulders, "You'll like this school, Kody and Jackson go here."

"They're excited to see you," Sidney said and then I saw him nudge my shoulder and I looked at him and then saw that he was looking passed Josh, "Look, there they are."

I looked passed Josh to see that Pascal Dupuis and Matt Cooke were bringing their kids down the sidewalk. I smiled towards them and then watched as Josh turned around and waved towards them.

"Hi Josh," Pascal said as he bent down and then looked at Sidney and I, "How are you?"

Josh shrugged his shoulders and then I smiled when Kody walked up to Josh and pulled him in a hug. He, Josh and Conner were on the same peewee hockey team, so Kody knew and I think understood that Conner had gone to a better place.

It's been a little over a week since the shooting, things were slowly getting back to normal. Josh had started to talk, but not much was said, he was having nightmares at night, and Sidney and I would wake up to him crawling into our bed.

I definitely knew that the little boy I once knew was going to be gone for a while. He's been through so much, and when he lost his first friend, he broke down. Sidney thought about him seeing a therapist, but I didn't believe that they actually work. Only time is the real medicine.

"Kody and Jackson are really excited that you're here, Josh," Matt said as he smiled towards Josh, "They're gunna help you find your way around the school. I'm pretty sure you're in the same second grade class too."

"You hear that Josh, you know two people already," I smiled and hugged my son from behind.

"You better get going before you're late!" Sidney said as he ruffled Josh's hair and pulled him in for a hug.

"Bye!" Kody and Jackson yelled as they each took Josh's hand and started to pull him towards the school.

"Was this a good idea?" I asked as I looked at Sidney, "Signing him up for a new school?"

"Yeah," he said as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder and rubbed my arm, "It'll be good for him, and it's closer to home."

"How's Allie?" Pascal asked and I sighed and shook my head.

"She's in shock," I said and then laced my finger's with Sidney's, "Mildred says that she still goes to Conner's room in the morning to get him ready for school, she has to go through it every morning, she has to remember that he's not going to be there."

"It's definitely tough, I know Tyler's taking it hard too," Cooke said and I nodded my head, "TK is the closest thing the kid's had to a father in a long time."

"It's gunna take time for everyone to heal," Sidney said and then kissed my head, "We better get going, we have a morning skate before the game tonight."

"All right," I said and then looked at him and then pressed my lips onto his, "Be safe."

"You too," he said and then I waved bye to Pascal and Matt and walked to the driver's side of the Rover because Sidney was going to ride with Matt and Pascal.

-Sidney-

"So how do you think Josh is gunna like his new school?" James asked as he passed the puck to me.

"I'm not sure, he's got Kody and Jackson there, so I hope he'll be all right."

"You talk to Julie about adoption?" Geno asked and I shook my head.

"With everything that's happened, I don't know how to bring it up," I said and then sighed.

"Sid!" I heard and looked over to see Coach calling me over. One of the Assistant Coach's were standing next to him with a phone.

'...Oh come on, what now...'

"You got a phone call," Coach said.

"Julie?"

"No, not sure," the Assistant Coach said and then handed me the phone.

"Hello?"

"Mr. Crosby?"

"Yes," I answered and then looked to see that my team was skating over, wondering what was going on.

"My name is Rosalie from the St. Mark's Elementary school, your son Josh-"

"What's happened with Josh?"

"Well, we tried to call a Ms. Julie McHale, but she didn't answer," the woman said and I wished that she would continue, "It would appear that Josh has not been located at school. Our absentee list says that he never arrived at class this morning."

"That's impossible, we dropped him off this morning," I said and then looked at the guys.

"I'm sorry, but he never stepped into class."

"He's an eight year old kid, where could he have-" I sighed and ran a hand through my hair, "Would the names Kody Dupuis and Jackson Cooke be on the absentee list?" I asked and looked at Pascal and Matt.

"Why yes, how did you-"

I sighed and then shook my head, "I'll find the boys and bring them to school, thank you," I said and then hung up the phone, "Our boys ditched school."

"They're eight!" Cooke said and I shrugged my shoulders.

"They're not in school," I said and then looked at Coach.

"Go," he said and I nodded my head and then looked at Pascal and Matt to see that they were already heading towards the door.

"I'm gunna kill that kid," Cooke muttered as he walked into the locker room, "Mother's probably goin' nuts- Yup, four missed phone calls."

"Same here," Pascal said and we started to undress, "Where could they be?"

"I don't know," I said and then looked at my phone to see that Julie was calling me, "Hey babe, I was just about to call-"

"I got a call from the school asking for me to call them back," she panicked.

"They called me, I've got this under control."

"What's going on?"

"Apparently Josh, Kody and Jackson decided to skip school," I said and as I threw a t-shirt on and then bent down to lace up my sneakers.

"They're eight Sid! They don't understand the meaning of 'skip school'!" she yelled and I sighed, "Do you have them?"

"No, Matt, Pascal and I are going out to look for them."

"Then how do you have everything under control?"

"Julie, calm down-"

"Don't tell me to calm down Sid! That's my son!"

"Baby I know, I'm going out to look for him now," I said and then looked towards the guys to see that they were on the phone with their wives trying to calm them down as well, "Julie, I promise, I'll find him. I'll bring him home."

"I want to help!"

"Go to the school and ask if anyone saw him," I said and she sighed.

"All right."

"I love you," I said and then hung up the phone when she returned the sentiment, "Come on guys!"

"Do you have any idea where they could be?" Pascal asked and I could hear the panic in his voice.

"Not a clue."

"We want to help!"

We turned around and saw the guys walking over towards us. I nodded my heads, "Go get changed and spread out, they're all wearing dark red school uniform shirts and khaki pants."

"All right," they said and then ran into the locker room to get out of their gear.

We didn't wait for them, the three of us all jumped into Pascal's SUV and then started to drive around, thinking of places that they would go.