Love in the Shadows ~ Dean Portman x OC

Ch. 32: The Ducks Really Were Dead

Pov: Adam Banks, August 25th, 1995, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Each team circles on the ice in the foggy rink. I can feel the tension and hatred in the air and the ice below our skates turns to snow. We set up and I see Averman annoy Rick and he almost punches Averman. Scooter goes up to Julie for something but I didn't hear it. I made a point to go up to Charlie to try to explain myself. "They didn't tell me until it was too late" I skate in front of his face and look him in his gorgeous brown eyes. And with the most sincerity "Charlie, believe me" I need you to
"Yea right preppy!" Charlie looked at me like he does at Orian, or at any mention of Bombay. I felt crushed. I can't loose him. Maybe I can talk to him after the game.

"First to ten, full check" Rick is going to kill them
"Bring it on" Charlie is going to kill them

Rick gets the puck after bashing into Charlie. He then takes down Connie and Guy at the same time leaving only Goldberg in his way and he took no mercy when shooting right under his feet making Goldberg fall just like the rest. Varsity cheered like gladiators for the point. This is going to be a bloodbath.

Charlie calls the Flying V and the Ducks make the standard formation and make it just beyond the blue line when Varsity checks them all leaving a 5-0 breakaway towards the goal. Varsity 2, Ducks 0. They're celebrating like animals and my former teammates are loosing hope.

Charlie even tries his signature triple deek but Scooter catches it like it's a tennis ball. The Ducks are getting bashed left and right. They tackle Goldberg and taunt the puck in front of his face before knocking it in. That's blatant cheating but frankly I don't think anyone cares. This is meant to beat them up without getting in trouble.

I'm on the ice and I'm going after Charlie who has the puck. Right before the goal he gets so angry he headlocks me and throws me to the ground.
"Get off me Charlie. Get off!"
"How do you like that Banks?!" He shoves me
"Yeah, nice takedown! You'd be in the box" I shove him back
"Go cry to your rich parents"
"Alright, fine!" I lock him in a head lock this time and then the whole ice goes ape shit with everyone beating and whaling on each other.

Charlie is yelling names at me and trying to nail me in the head while I go for his arms to try and get him off me. I wanna kill him because this whole damn thing could've been avoided if he'd just kept his damn cool.

"How could I ever love a crazy bastard like you Spazway?!" I yell at him
He hits me again and then stops as if he registered what I said. Before he could fully react, the lights suddenly turned on and Coach Orian was yelling at us to freeze as he skated towards the pile of hockey players.

Orian breaks us all up and forces Varsity out. I take one last look at Charlie and he looks completely opposite of my direction at a wall. It's not a coincidence, it's a statement. I skate off in defeat knowing I can never talk to any of them again.
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Pov: Fulton Reed, August 25th, 1995, Minneapolis, Minnesota

"Well, congratulations," Orian starts off "You just forfeited whatever mental edge you might have had over the varsity. Now they know they own you" The team looks like shit right now as we soak in Orian's disappointed speech "This isn't the Peewees. Your little Duck tricks are not gone. work at this level. Now for the last time, stay away from the varsity... and get those Duck jerseys off now. Let's go... Now! Come on, let's go! Take them off!!" The team starts taking them off but Charlie and I refuse. Orian notices and looks Charlie dead in the eyes "The Ducks are dead" Charlie crosses his arms to further his defense

Orian matches this "You got two choices Conway, take of the jersey right now or you don't play"
Charlie doesn't hesitate before skating up to Orian "You're breaking up the best thing any of us ever had"
"Well it's time to grow up"
"Grow up? Like you, huh? A washed up pro who has to show off to a bunch of kids... Geez that's real grown up-"
"Ok, goodbye Conway. Anybody else?"

If Charlie's gone, I'm gone. He's my day 1 and without him or Portman I'm not sticking around. I skate off to follow him
"All right. Goodbye Fulton" He sounded more surprised. "No one's forcing any of you to be here. It's your lives. You decide what to make of them"

And just like that, we walked out. The Ducks really were dead.
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Pov: Fulton Reed, August 25th, 1995, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Me and Charlie, having no school, decided to hit the Mall of America to blow off some steam. We ate a bunch of crap, went on all the rides, and promptly got kicked out for vomiting.

"Sure beats school huh? Hey listen, tomorrow will be more fun"
"Yea but after that, I mean, what? We can't do this forever"
"Yea I know, see the way I got it figured, we go to public school for a couple years, then we just go play Juniors in Canada. You only gotta be 17"
"Man Charlie, I don't even know if I could make Juniors"
"Are you kidding me? With your shot? Come on"
"I mean.. I don't know if I want to play hockey for the rest of my life... sorry" Charlie looks at me like I just ran over his dog.
"You're going back" He says as if it's a cardinal sin to not want to do what he wants
"We can't deal man. The Ducks are there"
"Dude! Fine! J-Just get out of here! I don't care! I don't need you. Go!" He looks so mad.

I look back at him to see if he lightened up but he looked as crass as my mom when I hit her car with a puck.

That night me and the other Ducks get the same text from Charlie:
"Hans is dead. Funeral Wednesday, 26th at Oak Hill Cemetery. Starts at 5. Be there"
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Pov: Adam Banks, August 27th, 1995, Oak Hill Cemetery
At the funeral, everyone from the Ducks was there. Charlie's mom was there and so were a lot of the Duck's parents. My mother, though wasn't in attendance, did send flowers to the funeral home for Hans. We all recited a prayer for Hans and as we concluded, Bombay rolled up looking like a wreck. I could tell he'd been crying but he kept his composure nonetheless.

He shared a glance with Charlie filled with unspoken words before Bombay took a moment to lay Han's original Duck jersey on top of his casket. "Every time you touch the ice, remember it was Hans who taught us to fly"

This words echoed in my head like a message from God. "Play for your heart and never give up at defeat" I once overheard Hans say that to Bombay when I had first joined the Ducks. I didn't get it then, but I do now. Thank you Hans, for everything you've done for us. Fly high.

(I'm gonna break the story for a second to tell you that as someone who gets very attached to their teachers and adult figures in their life, never say anything to someone who treated you like their own that isn't kind or respectful. I've never had one of them die but one of my favorite teachers left me when I needed her most because she took another job to pay for her husband's medical bills and I miss her everyday. I love that woman and she has made me the person and writer I am today. Now please enjoy the rest of the chapter)

Charlie got so emotional he had to leave and I almost followed him but that felt inappropriate. Sure he was my friend but we're not on the stablest of terms right now and I don't want him to think I'm only following him to get with him or anything of the sort. I genuinely do care for him and want to make sure he's ok.

After the funeral, I profusely apologized to each of the Ducks and told them everything about how varsity tricked me along with them. They all forgave me and even invited me to their game of street puck tomorrow. Charlie never came back and his mom left pretty soon afterwards.

"Hey Bombay"
"Hey Adam. Congrats on Varsity. How are you doing?"
"Fine but varsity isn't for me just yet. I'm a Duck and I wanna be with the Ducks"
"I get that. I'll see what I can do"
"Thanks, but... I'm worried about-"
"Charlie? I know. Me too. You two are close, if he's going through something he'll talk to you I'm sure"
"We're not too close at the moment. Can you-"
"Talk to him? Already on it. See you later Adam"

I don't know what Bombay did or said but when Charlie joined us for street puck the next day, he was smiling, happy, and back to good old Captain Duck. I'm happy he was there. We all got to play together again just like we used to. Not varsity or JV. No Warriors or Orian anywhere. Just Ducks.

All of us together. Where we belong...

Well accept 2 of us...

We need Morgan and Portman

WC: 1630