Haunting Hallucinations

We took the ice for the warm-up and practice before the game. I took a third drink of water from my bottle, just to make sure I was ready. We had an hour before the next game of the new season and the puck dropped at center ice, with Tyler winning it. I was skating behind the goal at our end of the ice, when I glanced up. I was skating around freely, when my eyes spotted the ghost of Sergei Gonchar sitting in the bench. I rushed over to the bench, fooled by the appearance and thought that my Russian guide and teammate, Sergei, was actually there.

“Sergei! Sergei!” I screamed, as I joyously stumbled/skated over to the bench. I leaned on the railing and gazed at him. “Sergei, you’re okay! You’re back!”

“No, Valeri,” he spoke, in a deep voice that wasn’t Sergei Gonchar’s.

I raised an eyebrow and cocked my head.

“Val!?” I heard Tyler Seguin’s voice in my ear. He sounded confused and concerned. “That’s not Sergei.”

“The poor winger is missing his buddy, Segs….as I recall you had a few “Marchy” moments!” Jamie Benn’s voice followed.

“Fuck off Benny!” Tyler playfully retorted, batting at his friend and making contact. I could hear the slapping sounds of the child fight between the Dynamic Duo of the captain and his friend.

As I began to think more about it, I saw not Sergei there, but a freaked out and puzzled Jordie Benn. He was looking at me like I was crazy. Like I had seen a ghost. And I had. I backed away, the smiling vanishing from my face. I muttered an apology to him in Russian. He got the point.

I couldn’t help it, as I let myself deflate. I skated half-heartedly to the side and leaned against the boards, slowly allowing myself to drop down to the ice. I flung my stick angrily ahead of me to my feet and buried my head in my hands. There I let myself weep. How could I do this?

“You can’t do this without Sergei, can you Valeri? You’re a disgrace! You’re a coward...a weakling! You’re pitiful!” the voice of Maria taunted.

“Go away! I don’t need you! Leave me alone!” I screamed out loud.

It drew everyone’s attention to me unfortunately. Tyler and Jamie stopped in their brotherly play fight and spun around to gaze at me. Jamie stole the chance to touch Tyler’s hair and mess it up, before skating off. Tyler grumbled to himself and flattened his hair down, unamused.

“Everybody go back to work, including you Seggy! I’ll handle poor Nichy!” the captain instructed.

Tyler turned and skated over to the other Stars, who were shooting at the net. They continued, occasionally tossing glances over toward the sophomore player. Jamie skidded to a halt and sat down beside me.

“Hey, Nichy, what’s wrong? What’s going on with you?” Jamie asked. “You’ve been acting strangely ever since Sergei’s retirement message.” He placed his hand on my shoulder for comfort.

I lowered my hands and turned to him. My eyes were covered in tears and bloodshot from crying. I sniffled, before I told him, “It’s not just Sergei...I-I-I think I’m having hallucinations, that’s the word for seeing things I can’t, right?”

Jamie nodded. “Is it your water?”

“No. I don't think so. It’s more than that. It’s off the ice...everywhere! I can’t sleep because of it and...and I saw Sergei on the bench!”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, he spoke to me.”

“What did he say?”

“He just reminded me that “I couldn’t do this without him” and he’s right. I need Sergei here!”

“I’m sorry Nichy, Gons was a good, talented player, but he isn’t here. What else is wrong?”

“I’m hearing voices...Maria’s!”

“Your friend?”

“Yeah. She is evil and controlling my conscious. She took control over me, almost drowning me when I awoke this morning!”

Jamie held my gaze, as he stared at me. I knew he was thinking that I was crazy. I knew he was going to say that I just needed some sleep. But how could I sleep, when my childhood friend was acting all evil and haunting me?! How could I sleep with all the voices inside my head?

“Val, I’ll talk to Coach, maybe you sit the night out. I know how much you hate to be “benched,” but buddy something is wrong with you.” Jamie passed me my bottle and I drank some more of the cool liquid inside.

Tyler skated up, spraying us with ice rather rudely. “Hey, how’s it going? How is he?”

“He’s hallucinating, Segs. I think he may have lack of sleep trauma and he says he is experiencing hearing voices….” Jamie’s voice cut out, becoming muffled and faint, as my hearing cut out. I was startled and across the ice, behind Tyler, I saw Maria. She was standing like the creepy little girl from the Grudge movie. In her hand, she held a knife. She looked up and her eyes were like a spider’s, black and shiny. She stepped forward, smirking and laughing.

I tossed the bottle to the side and pressed into the boards, screaming. “TYLER, LOOK OUT!!!!” I squeezed my eyes shut. Somehow I still managed to see my teammate whirl around to glance behind him. He spun back around, bewildered. But I saw Maria jab the knife into his back. He fell to the ice and I screamed again. “TYLER, NO!!!!”

I watched as Maria yanked her weapon out and it was covered in Tyler’s blood. “YOU KILLED HIM!! YOU KILLED SEGS!!” She snickered, licking the blade and the blood from it.

“What’s it to you, Valeri, he’s just a casualty of your little mind!”

Suddenly the vision faded and I snapped open my eyes, launching backward and hitting my head against the boards. Jamie and Tyler, who was still alive, jumped into action. They seized my arms and held me still, pinning me to the ice.

“Hems, grab his water bottle and mine!” Jamie barked the command to Ales Hemsky, as he skated by curiously. He turned back to me and with one hand he held my arms down in place, while he raised the other and stroked my head, gently. It was actually rather soothing, almost like a mother’s touch. He shared a look with Tyler, who was horrified.

“It’s like he’s possessed by demons or something!” Tyler stated, grunting as he worked to hold me down.

“I don’t know what’s gotten into him, but I hope this passes. When Hems returns, keep an eye on him and try to keep him calm....” Jamie trailed off, looking at the helpless man, who squirmed and struggled under them. “I’m going to talk to Coach. He can’t do this tonight.”

“Right. I’ll try my best to keep him steady. If not, I’m sure I can find some duct tape or something…”

“Seggy!” Jamie scolded.

“I’m kidding, but I may need to strap him down if he’s going to be doing shit like this! I’m not taking a skate blade to the throat!”

“Well, there are ten other men on this ice, you all can figure something out.”

Ales returned with the bottles and passed them to his captain, who took his first. He popped the lid and tipped it over my mouth. (Not a good idea, Benny!) Tyler grabbed my head and forced my mouth open, so that Jamie could get the water in. But luckily, by then, I had regained control of my breathing and was calming down. The water from Jamie's bottle helped a little bit.

Jamie and Tyler backed off of me and allowed me to scramble up into a sitting position. I coughed, drooling a little bit, as some of the water had lodged in my throat, going down the wrong pipe. After a few minutes, I raised my head up and saw the concerned expressions on my teammate’s faces.

“You okay, Val?” Tyler asked. “You said that I had been killed…what was that all about” He folded his arms, cocking a curious pose.

“Segs!” Jamie scolded again, harshly. “Be gentle with the poor guy.”

“Maria stabbed you, but again--”

“It was a hallucination?” Jamie suggested.

I nodded. I grabbed the water from Jamie and took another sip. The cool liquid felt good, as it trickled down my throat, calming my nerves. Tyler and Jamie helped me to my feet. I wobbled on my skates a little bit, so Tyler put my arm around his shoulder and guided me over to the bench. By now we had thirty minutes left of practice.

“Alright, I’m entrusting you with him, Segs. Don’t disappointment me, otherwise I will be all over your ass, when I get back.”

“Message received, Captain!”

Jamie patted me on the head and softly said, “If you need anything, you let Seggy know, alright. And you let me know if he doesn’t do a good job.”

I nodded, biting my lip. Tyler wrapped his arm around me, as we chilled on the bench, while Jamie took off down the tunnel. I sniffled, turning back to Tyler, who smiled sweetly. I lifted my water bottle to my mouth and sipped some more, as I was instructed to do so.

“Don’t worry, Val, Seggy’s gonna take good care of you. I promise I won’t let you down.”

I wasn’t so sure about that. After a few moments I began to hallucinate again. This time, as I gazed at the ice, I saw Tyler Seguin holding a green colored lightsaber from Star Wars. He was battling...Sergei! Sergei Gonchar had on a hoodie and black cloak. He had a red colored saber in his hands and was swinging it at Tyler. I watched as the swings were meant as death shots. Tyler fended him off well, managing to block his shots. Oh and another thing, Tyler Seguin had long, luscious locks of brown hair that billowed outward. He looked like one of those hot Hollywood action actors.

I tried to get up from the bench and yell to them, but I found I could not. I gazed up at the JumboTron and realized that I was bound and gagged with some kind of red electricity that was wrapped around me like an evil snake. I realized that Tyler was fighting to save me from Sergei.

“Don’t worry, Val, I’ll save you!” Tyler’s voice shouted from across the rink, as he ducked a swipe from Sergei’s red saber and then spun around on his skates like a figure skater and drew his green glowing saber with him, cutting Sergei down.

The vision faded away, as Sergei recovered, this time holding Tyler against the boards by his throat. The saber on the ground. The old player smirked and cackled, as I returned to the real world and saw normal Tyler gazing at me.

“What now?”

“Star Wars.”

Notes

Okay....this was intense. My poor, poor, poor Valeri Nichushkin....Eve loves you dear, but unfortunately bad things happen, sweetie. But I will always, always save you!!!! :)
Man, if he couldn't act and be any more cute, when he thinks he sees Sergei...mental image is just, damn! Oh my gosh...so adorable.
How about those Tyler hallucinations, eh? :D

Next up: Kinny gets in a fight.....from lack of sleep....poor guy....

(Depressing story at the moment, right?)