My mother’s face flashes through my mind, and I see the beaming expression she wore when she told me that Hannah had talked her into moving to Denver. None of that can happen if it turns out that this injury means I can’t play anymore. I’ll lose my place on the team and the money that comes with it. I won’t be able to take care of the woman who raised me the way I’ve always promised I would.

I can’t let that happen. I won’t let it happen. Whatever is going on with me, I’m not going to let it break me or take away what I’ve worked so hard to get. I’ll beat this and get back up, just like I always do—because I have more reasons now than ever before to keep going.

As if she can hear my thoughts, Hannah glances over at me with tears streaking down her cheeks. She watches the medics get the gurney ready to load up into the ambulance that’s no doubt already waiting, and as they wheel me away, her eyes follow.

The worry in her expression kills me, and I fight the impulse to jump off this stretcher and race back to her. But I don’t have the energy or coordination to do it anyway, so I just lie back and watch the fluorescent lights flash overhead as the medics wheel me outside. Every little movement sets off a fresh stabbing pain in my head, but I just keep promising myself that I’m going to be okay.

The ride to the hospital passes in a daze, a symphony of lights and sounds blinking and chirping at me as an EMT gives me another once-over. But as the ambulance rolls along, my eyelids start to droop as the adrenaline of the game starts to bleed out of me, leaving nothing but exhaustion in its wake.

The EMT taps on my arm.

“Hey, stay with me now,” he says in a firm but kind voice. “I know you’re tired, buddy, but we can’t have you going to sleep until we’re sure it’s safe, so I’m gonna keep you talking, okay?”

“Okay,” I mutter.

My tongue feels like sludge in my mouth, thick and heavy and uncooperative, but at least I can speak.

The EMT asks me a bunch of simple questions, like what day it is, who the president is, and who my favorite hockey player is. I try to stay focused on his words and respond to them all, but the harder I try, the more tired I get until finally my eyes get so heavy that I just can’t keep them open anymore.