19 Ocean - A Visit From The Coach

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Ocean

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I had spent the night in the hospital. It was around maybe nine in the morning the day after the swim meet and I was just waiting on the result of my latest CT Scan to make sure that there were not any lasting injuries in my head and neck.

I was dressed in my own clothes, thank God too since I hated having to wear that stupid ass hospital gown. My ass didn't need to be hanging out like that at all.

What was worse than that gown though was this shit they were passing off as food. I was slowly starving to death with it. I needed to eat more food than this for one thing. And for another it tasted like shit.

I usually ate enough for three or four people on days that I swam a race. My metabolism burned that many calories when I pushed myself like that. And I had not gotten any sustenance from the breakfast I had eaten before the whole day went to shit. By the time I was allowed to eat again I was starving.

What did they do to me though? They gave me a tiny ass plate of food that wouldn't have even been enough to fill me up when I was like five years old. I was glad I didn't have to stay here until lunch. I probably would die of starvation after that meal.

I had literally just sat down my fork when I heard someone knock at the door. Good, I could use a distraction of some sort to keep my mind off of how empty I felt on the inside. I needed more food, and fast.

"Come in." I called out to whoever was on the other side. I knew it wasn't a nurse or a doctor because they don't wait to come in. They just knock a little and open the door immediately.

When the door opened I saw that it was Coach Dickson. He was looking somewhat worried as he came into the room and moved towards me.

"You're looking a little better." He noted. "Though still looking a little tired."

"Sorry about that, Coach. I didn't mean to cause any issues."

"Ocean!" Coach looked exasperated as he sunk into his seat. "What am I going to do with you? Do you know how much you scared me yesterday?"

I watched as Coach Dickson slumped back and put a hand on his head. He looked like he had had a very hard night. Perhaps he had been worried about me ever since yesterday and was just now finally able to get some relief from his worry and stress.

"When I saw Makai pulling you from the pool, blood pouring out of your head, I thought you were dead. We all did. I swear that all of us were frozen in shock when it happened. When Makai told someone to call for help I unfroze and called for help but still, I was at a loss. I should never have left you out there. Why the hell didn't you tell me that you were sick?"

Right there, right at the end of that mini rant the coach leaned forward and glared at me. He was not happy at all. He was right. I shouldn't have competed. I should have sat out for the day but I was stupid and thought I could do everything.

I didn't though. I forced myself to compete. I forced myself to try and win just because of some stupid whore that never really wanted me in the first place. I was so stupid. And because I was stupid I could have died.

This entire thing had been quite humbling. That was for sure. I had behaved like a moron. I had treated people like shit. I had just flat out been an asshole.

"Ocean," Coach Dickson was looking at me with a serious glare and a sad tone in his voice, "you know I have to do something about this."

"What are you talking about? Do something about what?"

"You should have told someone about what was going on. Because you didn't, you caused everyone a lot of problems. Including making the city drain the pool. They know that it was an accident so they're not going to do anything about it. Me, though, I have to do something." He was starting to make me nervous with the way he was talking.

"What are you saying Coach? You aren't going to kick me off the team, are you?" I heard the panic in my own voice. I didn't know what I would do if I wasn't allowed to swim anymore.

"No, I don't think I will do something that drastic, yet." He was glaring at me again. "But if this shit ever happens again I swear I will make you sit out the rest of the year."

"Then what are you going to do?" I was still nervous.

"You will be sitting out for the next week at least. No practicing or anything. If you can prove to me that you're getting better then I will let you compete at the next meet. If you're not better you will miss the out of town meet in two weeks."

"No! Coach, you can't do this to me. I need to swim. I have to." I felt my heart stop beating and what felt like the weight of guilt crushing me.

"There's no getting out of it Ocean. I want to let you swim, I really do. And this is killing me to stop you like this, but I have to put my foot down. You need to make sure that you take care of yourself better than this. This can't happen again."

While I just stared at him in complete mind blown confusion Coach Dickson got to his feet and walked toward the door. He hesitated right before he walked out and looked over his shoulder.

"I'm sorry Ocean, but this is for the best. You need to recover."

With that he walked out and shut the door behind him.