Goalie Interference (NHL Scorpions)

by Worrell, Nikki

  “Yes, thank you. Let’s get dinner done so we can tag team Crystal and see if we can get her to talk to us.” Zoe finished making the salad, while Vlad stirred the spaghetti. He was pouring the spaghetti into the strainer when they heard a loud crash coming from Crystal’s room.

  The door was just opening as they got to her room and Crystal stepped out. “What was that?” Vlad tried to look past her, but Crystal pulled the door shut.

  “Nothing.”

  “It wasn’t nothing, Crystal.” He pushed her aside and opened her door. When the scene met his eyes, he had to grab the doorjamb for support. Her room was trashed. The television he had just bought her lay on the floor in pieces. Her beautiful canopy bed was ripped so that it hung down from the frame and there were red spots on it. “Is that blood, Crystal?”

  She didn’t answer him. She folded her arms, pushed past Zoe and locked herself in the bathroom, momentarily forgetting that there were two doors into the bathroom. “Crystal, let me see you. Where are you cut?” Vlad took her arms and straightened them out. He saw a cut on the palm of her hand.

  “It’s fine. I cut myself on a sharp edge of my ruler. Just leave me alone.”

  “No. I won’t leave you alone. Why did you trash your room? You loved that bed.”

  “I don’t know. I was mad.”

  Vlad thought that was rather obvious. “I get that part, but why trash your room? Did that make you feel better?”

  Zoe placed her hand on Vlad’s arm. “Vlad.”

  He shook it off and started rummaging through the medicine cabinet for a bandage. “I’ll fix your hand.”

  “No. It’s fine.” Crystal was in her stubborn mode.

  “It’s not fine. Give me your hand. Now.” To his surprise, she obediently put her hand out and allowed him to bandage it. “Go clean up your room and then come out for dinner.”

  “Fine.”

  When she left, Vlad sat down on the tub and looked up at Zoe. “What happened to that sweet, lost little girl? Who the hell was that?”

  “She’s still that sweet, lost little girl; she’s just more lost than sweet tonight.”

  Somehow they got through dinner and got Crystal’s room set to rights. Vlad didn’t see a very restful night’s sleep ahead of him, and he had a morning meeting with Jody to discuss his position as an assistant coach.

  The next day was, thankfully, uneventful. There were no problems at school. Crystal was still quiet and withdrawn. When she got home, she made her way to her bedroom, shutting the door with not much more than a ‘hello.’

  Zoe let her go. Her friend, Julie, couldn’t meet with them until the following week. Zoe gave her some background on Crystal, and Julie assured her that she’d think it over and talk to some of her colleagues to determine what they could do to help Crystal adjust.

  Zoe looked up at the faint knock on the door. “Zoe?”

  “Hi, Crystal. How are you feeling today?”

  “Okay. I just wanted to tell you that I don’t want any dinner tonight. My stomach kind of hurts.”

  Not eating could be a sign of depression, or her stomach might just be uneasy from the previous day. She’d let it go and see what happened in the coming days. “Okay. Did you call Emmy back? She’s called twice now.”

  “No. I will, but I’m going to go do my homework now.”

  “Do you need any help?”

  “No.” Then she was gone.

  Vlad got home as Zoe was putting dinner on the table. “How is Crystal today?”

  “She says her stomach hurts, and she doesn’t want dinner. She’s in her room, supposedly doing her homework. Emmy’s called twice, and Crystal hasn’t called her back. So I don’t really know the answer to that.”

  “Okay. I’m going to go look in on her.” He kissed Zoe, but when he went to pull away, she grabbed him and kissed him harder.

  “I miss this.”

  “Oh, God. Me too, moya lyubov, me too.” Vlad reluctantly pulled away from her. “Keep that thought for tonight. No more putting me off.”

  “You got it.”

  Vlad knocked on Crystal’s door and pushed it open. She looked at him and tugged on her sleeves. That seemed to be a nervous habit she’d picked up over the last twenty-four hours. “Hi. How was your day today? Did anyone give you any trouble?”

  “No. The kids all left me alone today. All of them.” She was sitting on the bed with her legs crossed, staring at the flowers on the comforter.

  Vlad sat down next to her, and she flinched. He frowned and cocked his head. “Come here, sweetheart.” He pulled her into his side, and he felt her stiffen up. “I’m sorry you had another crappy day. It’s going to get better, I promise. Are there any girls there that you think are nice? Maybe they’re just too shy to approach you.”

  “Yeah, that’s probably it.” She continued to stare at the comforter and tugged more on her sleeves. “Thanks. I have some more homework to do.”

  Vlad rubbed her back and started to question her some more, but thought better of it. “Okay, I’ll leave you to it. Are you sure you don’t want any dinner? I think Zoe made sloppy joes.”

  He thought he had her for a second … “No thanks.”

  The rest of the week was more of the same, with the exception of Vlad starting to work in his new coaching role. He was taking it easy. His hip was fine with everyday living, but skating was a whole other picture.

  “You better take it easy, man. No one expects you to be in top form yet. Don’t mess up your hip.” Jody was just starting the after-school practice.

  “Don’t worry about me. Believe it or not, I’ll baby this thing. I don’t want to undo any of the healing. It feels a little weird, but it’s okay so far.” Vlad couldn’t see very many butterfly plays in his future, but he could live with that.

  The kids came out and met Vlad for the first time. There were quite a few starry-eyed gazes in his direction, especially from the girls’ team.

  “Okay, can I have my goalies down at this end? And some defensemen?” Vlad skated to the far net.

  “Forwards and the rest of the defensemen down here with me.” Jody split up the defensemen and headed down to his end of the rink to work on stick skills.

  Vlad pointed to a girl of about fourteen. “Let’s see what you’ve got. I’m going five hole. I want to see how your butterfly is. Ready?” Before she said yes, Vlad let one fly.

  The puck sailed easily right through her legs. Vlad grinned at her. “What’s your name?”

  “Katie Moore.”

  “Well, Moore, snap those knees together on the way down. My sheet says you’re a butterfly goalie. Everyone will know that and go for your five hole, but don’t worry. As soon as you get good at covering that, they’ll start going top side.” Vlad grinned at her once more as he shot a puck at her quickly that sailed right in again.

  “Hey, I wasn’t ready.”

  “Is that what you’re going to say when you have a forward bearing down on you? You always have to be ready.” He slammed a puck at her again, before he was even done talking. She went down fast and grabbed the puck with her glove, holding it up in triumph.

  Vlad gave her a nod of approval as he let another one sail. It went right through her five hole for a fourth time. She laughed, but then got serious and stopped three out of the next five pucks he shot at her. “Good job, Moore. Who’s next?” Vlad was going to like his new job.

  It rained most of the weekend. It was so rare for San Diego that people actually enjoyed it. It seemed to make Crystal more detached though, if that was even possible.

  “Hey, girls.” Zoe was trying to get Crystal to play a game with her in the living room, but she just sat there staring out the window at the rain. “You two beauties want to go to the movies with me? I’ll even throw in dinner and ice cream. What do you say?”

  “Sounds good to me, what’s playing?” Zoe asked.

  “Can I stay here?” Crystal said at the same time.

  “Crystal, why don’t you want to do
anything? Is school really okay? You keep saying it is, but you don’t act like it is.” Zoe was getting more than a little concerned with her behavior.

  “It’s fine. I’ll go. Let me get changed.” She got up and was out of the room before Zoe could say anything else.

  “Zoe, we need to do something. This can’t go on. Something isn’t right. I mean, aside from what we already know about.”

  “I agree. I’m going to call Julie again. See if she has any new information for us.” Zoe caught herself just before she went into her office to make the phone call. “I’m sorry. How about if you call her?”

  “Thanks, but you can call her. I’ll see if I can get Crystal to gift me with a couple of words. Maybe even a short conversation.” He walked over to Crystal’s room and knocked on the door.

  “I’m getting dressed.”

  Well, that was a couple of words. Vlad walked back out to the living room to wait for his girls and have a fun-filled evening, although, he didn’t know if that was something they could achieve.

  When Crystal emerged from her room, she was again tugging on her sleeves. She was just putting her socks on when Vlad stopped her.

  “Crystal, your foot’s bleeding.” He got up to look at it, but she put her sock on and then her shoe over it.

  “I hit my toe really hard on the bed. It’s fine.”

  The evening wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be, but it wasn’t a fun-filled family night either. They got through it and were home by ten.

  The following week seemed to be going along relatively smoothly. Crystal still wasn’t participating in life much, but it was quiet and drama free—and then Thursday rolled around.

  It was mid-morning, and Vlad was on his way out the door to pick up some supplies for the hockey school when his cell phone went off. It was Crystal’s school principal again. Vlad stared at it for a few precious seconds with a lump in his throat before answering. “Hello?”

  “Mr. Bejsiuk. This is Mrs. Parsons again. I’m sorry, but we’ve had another incident. You need to come down here.”

  “Another incident? What the hell kind of school are you running?” Vlad was beyond mad. How could his child be in danger at school of all places?

  “I understand your anger. I can’t tell you how sorry I am. I promise you that I will keep up on this and find a better way to ensure the safety of our students.”

  “Is Crystal okay? Is she hurt?”

  “I’m afraid this was a bit worse than the last time. The girls responsible are being expelled, Mr. Bejsiuk. Crystal is with the nurse now.”

  He knew there was more. He could tell by the way she kept pausing between sentences. “What aren’t you telling me, Mrs. Parsons?”

  “They punched her, and they kicked her in the ribs a few times. I’m disgusted by it. Absolutely disgusted. I never would have allowed those girls to stay in school if I believed they would do something like this. I thought we’d seen the end of it.”

  Vlad’s eyes filled. “How could they do that to my little girl? She’s just a quiet, sweet little girl. I’m on my way.” He hung up the phone and went back to Zoe’s office to tell her he was going to pick up Crystal.

  Vlad’s concern must have been written all over his face. “Oh my God, Vlad. What’s happened now?”

  He punched the doorjamb in anger. “Those little bitches hit her, Zoe. They punched her and kicked her in the ribs. We haven’t even had the meeting with their parents. Well, I’m not waiting anymore. I’m talking to those assholes today!”

  “Okay, Vlad, but you have to get a hold of yourself. Let’s go down there and see exactly what we’re dealing with first. Crystal is the first priority.” Zoe grabbed her keys, thinking it would be better for her to drive, and off they went.

  Kids filled the fields around the school. Some were playing kickball, some were throwing a football around, and some were just sitting—talking and laughing. It looked like such a happy place. All kids loved recess time, but his child was in the nurse’s office with God knew what kind of injuries.

  Vlad stormed through the door to the security desk. “I’m Crystal Bejsiuk’s father. She’s in the nurse’s office.”

  “Follow me, sir. I’m sorry about what happened to your little girl. These kids today are getting meaner all the time. I just don’t get it.”

  They followed him down a long, white hallway lined with lockers on one side. At the last door on the right, the guard motioned for them to go in to the room.

  “Crystal!” Her eye was swollen and already showing signs of a bruise. “Oh, honey. I’m sorry. What did they do to you?”

  “Nothing. I’m fine.”

  “What the hell do you mean you’re fine? You’re not fine! Jesus, Crystal. Tell me what happened.”

  She shook her head and refused to answer him. The nurse spoke up in her behalf.

  “One of the other students saw what happened, but was too scared to stop them. She said that three girls followed Crystal into the bathroom and hit her. When she fell and tried to cover her face, they kicked her in the ribs multiple times. The girl ran to get help then. Crystal’s definitely bruised, but nothing’s broken.”

  “Thank you for taking care of her, but I’ll be taking her to the doctor’s just the same.”

  “Of course. I can keep her here while you speak to the principal.”

  At the mention of Vlad and Zoe leaving her, Crystal’s head shot up. Vlad was momentarily pleased to at least see her looking to him for reassurance.

  “No, she’ll go with us. Zoe can sit with her outside the office while I speak to the principal.” Vlad gently lifted Crystal off the table and took her hand to lead her away. Zoe noticed that Crystal had wet herself. Without a word, Zoe stopped Vlad and gently took her stockings off of her, so that the she didn’t have to walk through the hallways like that. When Zoe kissed her head and gave her a reassuring squeeze, Crystal never even lifted her head.

  The principal’s waiting room was packed with people. The three girls and their parents were there, along with a boy who was silently crying as his father stared him down. It was a busy day at school.

  Vlad stopped in front of the three girls. “You girls happy yet? You get what you needed when you beat my little girl?”

  Zoe put a hand on his arm. “Vlad, don’t. Let’s go in to Mrs. Parson’s office and talk about this.”

  Vlad looked to Zoe and then back to the parents of the girls. “Yeah, let’s go talk about this. Let’s find out how people raise such vicious, fucking children. You people make me sick.”

  “That’s enough, Vlad. Come on.”

  Vlad wished he could incinerate those children and their parents with just a glance. To his credit, he did wonder if his violent feelings towards three eight-year old girls might just be over the top. Better that he focused on hating the parents who raised them.

  Without preamble, Mrs. Parsons addressed the parents of the delinquents. “As of right now, your daughters are no longer students of Whitman Elementary. They are all expelled for their behavior. You’ll have to make other arrangements for their education.”

  The parents were outraged.

  “What?”

  “You can’t do that!”

  “Now, come on, Mrs. Parsons. I’m sure we all agree they need to be punished for their actions, but expulsion? That’s a bit much for some schoolroom antics.”

  Vlad had heard enough. “Schoolroom antics? That’s what you call this?” He pointed to Crystal’s rapidly swelling eye. “Would any of you want your child to be in the same school with such vultures as your sweet little girls? Do you even know what they did to her?” He shook Zoe’s hand off his arm and turned to her. “No, Zoe. I need to hear the answer.” Turning back to the father who last spoke, he asked, “Do you know what your child did? They cornered her in the bathroom. Three against one. They punched her repeatedly in the face and when she lay down to try and protect herself, they kicked her in the ribs, over and over again. She’s bruised all over!”
/>   Only one child had the grace to look ashamed. She started crying, and the ringleader of the three immediately smacked her in the arm. “Stop crying. She deserved it.”

  Vlad turned on her in fury. “Why? What did she do to you?” The girl wouldn’t answer him, so he again addressed her father. “Is this the way you raise your children?”

  The mother was the one to speak up. “No, sir, it is not. Believe me; she won’t be able to sit for a week when I’m done with her. I’m so terribly sorry this happened.” She looked directly at Crystal and apologized to her, too.

  The girl looked haughtily into her mother’s eyes. “You wouldn’t dare. You’ve never hit me before.” She continued to stare at her, arms crossed with her chin raised in defiance.

  “Maybe that’s where we went wrong, Veronica. Things are going to change, starting today.” Veronica’s eyes went wide, hearing the truth in her mother’s words.

  Mrs. Parsons commanded everyone’s attention. When it was quiet again, she asked Vlad if he wanted to press formal charges against the girls.

  Crystal, who hadn’t said a word or made a move since they entered the office, tugged on his sleeve. “Daddy?” she said quietly.

  “What, sweetheart?”

  “Don’t press charges. Can we just go home now?”

  Vlad looked at the principal and back at the parents with their children. “I’ll think about it.” He gathered Crystal in one hand with Zoe in the other and walked out.

  Just as they were passing the only girl who had showed some remorse, she reached out to touch Crystal’s arm, causing her to flinch away. The girl drew back quickly and whispered with a trembling lip, “I’m sorry, Crystal. And I’m sorry about your mom.”

  Crystal didn’t acknowledge that she’d even heard the girl’s apology. It was a case of too little, too late. She tugged on Vlad’s hand and kept walking toward the door.

  When the three of them returned home, Crystal went directly to her room and stayed there until dinner.