Slopes

s i x t e e n

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"My parents were always kinda strange, even when I was a little kid, I was brushed to the side. My mom was an alcoholic, and my dad didn't care enough about me or her to be a parent. At first, I never noticed anything and I was too young to see the red flags. But now I understand how horrible they were. It started off with off-hand comments: 'you're eating too much'. 'You're such a baby, grow up'. That sort of thing. But when I turned 8, that's when things got physical. They would hit me, beat me, whoop me. Abused me pretty much. I had bruises all over my body, but I didn't even try to hide it. I only had one friend, which is Jaemin, and what could he do?" Donghyuk laughs dryly, not daring to make eye contact with Doyoung. "My only escape, really, was snowboarding and my grandparents. But one night, things got too out of hand. As if it wasn't already. But basically, my mom got shit-faced drunk and my dad was pissed at –gosh I don't even remember now. It doesn't matter much, the point is, they were both ready to kill me. And they almost did, if it hadn't been for my grandfather coming over to drop off clothes I had left at their house. He...He caught my dad keeping me in a chokehold and my mother screaming at either him or me –I'm still not sure which."

"Donghyuk...you don't need to continue if you don't want t–"

"I've come this far. Anyways, he stopped them both and called the police. They were arrested of course. A month later we had the trial and they were sentenced to 6 years each without parole. My dad was prescribed Anger Management and my mom was sent to a reformatory prison to help with her alcohol abuse. I've been with my grandparents since then, but the 18th is the anniversary of their imprisonment, and the memories always come flooding back. Usually, Jaemin is there with me, but this year he couldn't be so he came to apologize." Donghyuk shrugs. "The End."

"And now you live with your grandparents?" Doyoung clarifies and Donghyuk nods. "I see...I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It's too late to change the past. And the scars will never heal, so there's no point."

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Donghyuk enters Coach's office hesitantly. "Coach?"

"Oh good Donghyuk, you're here. I wanted to tell you in private since this will be your "debut"." He uses quotations around the word 'debut' to further emphasize his point. "Our first actual competition is next week, and you and Mark are playing. I already told him, so here you go." He hands Donghyuk a sheet of paper. On it was the general layout of the competition, who they were against, and where it would be held. It also showed what section he would be participating in, which, to no one's surprise, is the speed race. Usually very out of the box, since snowboarding is judged on flips and show, but the racing was sometimes added for extra entertainment. And it did add to the ending points so that's always a bonus.

"So next week...What about sc–"

Coach waves his hand in the air. "I've already told your school and you've been exempt from lessons that day. I plan to see you working hard Lee Donghyuk. This is your first game of many."

Donghyuk smiles widely. "Sir yes sir."

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<oop double update>