Read Online Paralyzed by Jeff Rud - Free Book Online

with those things so they can reach their potential.So I guess the first thing I have to ask is this: What’s bothering you, Reggie?”
    I gulped. I guessed I’d better just get it out there. This was what I was here for.
    â€œWell, I don’t know if I actually need to be here or not,” I said, hedging a little. “But my coaches think I do, and my parents think I do, so I guess I do.”
    â€œWell, Reggie,” Dr. MacIntyre said. “This is only going to work if you want help. If you’re here just to satisfy somebody else, you might as well not waste your time or mine.”
    â€œI guess I do need some help.” The second I said it, I felt a little weight come off my shoulders. Dad had been right.
    I spent a little while telling Dr. MacIntyre about the game against Milbury: how I hadn’t even seen Nate Brown until he made contact with me. I told him about celebrating the interception before I realized that Nate was seriously injured. I told him how angry Nate’smom had been with me that day at Gower General.
    â€œSo why do you suppose your coaches asked you to come see me?” Dr. MacIntyre asked.
    â€œThey say I haven’t been hitting well in practice, that I’m not myself out there. They say they’re worried about me getting hurt.”
    â€œWhat do you think, Reggie?”
    â€œI guess they’re right,” I said. “I mean, every time I draw a bead on a kid to tackle him, I think of Nate lying in the hospital. Then something happens. I can’t hit hard or sometimes even at all. For some reason, I let up.”
    â€œWhat do you suppose causes that?” Dr. MacIntyre asked.
    â€œWell, I don’t really know. I guess I’m still freaked out by what happened. I don’t want something like that to happen again, maybe. And I don’t want to keep feeling responsible for Nate.”
    â€œThat’s a great start, Reggie,” Dr. MacIntyre said. “We’re going to have to wrap it up for today. I’d like you to come and see me at the same time Wednesday morning. Does that work for you?”
    I was surprised the session was already over. We hadn’t solved anything but, as I looked at the clock on my way out of the reception area, I realized I’d been in there for nearly an hour.
    I don’t know quite how it happened or when I decided to do it. I had been planning to head straight for the bus stop and catch the bus that would take me to school.
    But as I left the medical center, I took one look at Gower General and realized that I had to go there instead. If Nate Brown was still in there, I had to make another attempt to see him.
    I was already familiar with the hospital layout, so I bypassed the lobby and headed straight for the elevator. When the doors opened on the third floor, I proceeded tothe head nurse’s station. I just hoped that I didn’t run into Nate’s mother again.
    The nurse on duty was the same woman with jet-black hair and hazel eyes that I had met the last time. She seemed to recognize me.
    â€œHe’s not here,” she said softly, before I could even ask for Nate’s room number.
    My face dropped. Not here? What did that mean? Oh, God. It couldn’t mean that he was...
    The nurse’s warm smile calmed me. “Don’t worry,” she said. “He’s doing much better. He’s in recovery. He’s not in the ICU anymore.”
    â€œWhat does ‘in recovery’ mean?” I asked. I felt completely at her mercy. Every bit of information she had about Nate was like precious gold to me.
    Instead of answering me, she said, “You’re the boy who was here before, aren’t you?”
    I nodded, half expecting her to kick me out in the next breath.
    â€œI felt so bad about what happened last week,” she said. “You didn’t deserve to be treated like that. His mom was so stressed out, she didn’t know what she was