Let Go - Minsung

𝙞 𝙣 𝙩 𝙧 𝙤

"mom! i drew this for y-" jisung exclaimed happily, looking for his mom. around the corner, he saw his mom on the floor. his smile faded.

"DAD! MOMMY'S NOT WAKING UP!" jisung frantically yelled, shaking his mom.

little jisung's dad came running into the living room from upstairs. he frantically pulled out his phone, dialing 911.

"911, what is your emergency?"

...

"mr. han, your wife is in critical condition. we don't know when or if she will wake up. i am so sorry, we are doing everything we can." the doctor stated as jisung's dad covered up jisung's ears.

jisung heard it all. his mom won't wake up. she was laying on the bed, beeps coming out of the machine next to her every few seconds.

"dad? is mom okay..?" jisung said, glancing at his mom. he teared up seeing her.

jisung's dad just stared at his son, his eyes glossing over. he didn't want his son to know the truth.

before jisung knew it, his mom was flatlining.

"SHE'S FLATLINING! CPR, NOW!"

...

jisung woke up the next morning, staring at his ceiling.

is mom really dead?

"jisung! get your ass down here now!" his dad yelled for him from the living room.

jisung ran downstairs. "what's wr-"

he was cut off from a slap across the face from his dad, his cheek throbbing in pain. he was only 10. why was his dad slapping him?

"this is all your fault! if you would've checked on her earlier she would still be alive!" jisung looked down, seeing the empty glass bottle in his father's hand.

is that.. beer?

jisung didn't say anything. he stood there, staring at his dad, crying.

jisung's dad dragged him by the wrist to the basement.

"what are you doing?! let go!!" jisung yelled, still crying.

"you're staying down here until you can get your act together!"

what had he done wrong? he got good grades, he wasn't disrespectful.

jisung's father threw him at the concrete wall, jisung getting the wind knocked out of him.

jisung's dad fumed. he was yelling all this nonsense at him.

"you piece of shit, this is all your fault!" "she is gone because of you!" "she would still be alive if it weren't for you!"

all the words came crashing at his ears like drums.

jisung's dad stomped up the basement stairs, slamming the basement door shut.

he locked the door.

jisung curled into a ball, his knees at his head. that night he cried his eyes out. little jisung fell asleep crying.

...

"here's your food for the day. don't complain or i won't hesitate to beat your ass." mr. han said, slamming the small plate of food on the hard floor in front of jisung.

the plate consisted of half an apple and not even a quarter of a granola bar.

what even is this? crumbs..?

jisung slowly ate the small portions, quietly crying.

it had been two weeks since he was put in his basement. his dad had given him a thin blanket and a dirty pillow to sleep on.

jisung had lost weight in that time, he had gotten frail and weak.

his dad used alcohol as a coping mechanism. he stayed out late at night, drinking. sometimes he was so drunk he even forgot to feed his son.

jisung's father sometimes beat him for no reason.

jisung lived down there for almost two years.

...

jisung woke up to the sound of cars outside the house. he didn't get up to check it out because he knew that if he did, his dad would beat him badly.

jisung heard a bunch of footsteps above him, in the kitchen. he heard them walk over to the basement door.

he started shaking, scared it was his angry dad.

the door opened, light shining into the dark basement. jisung held his knees to his head, still shaking.

"hello?" an unknown voice called out.

jisung didn't say a word.

footsteps approached him, jisung looked up.

a cop.

"guys! there's a kid down here, come quick!" the officer was a woman. she wrapped a blanket around the shaking jisung. he flinched.

"oh no.. what happened here?" another officer said, coming down the basement stairs.

jisung looked at the five officers now surrounding him.

"hello. my name is officer jeon. we are here to help you." a male officer stated, a warm smile on his face. he held out his hand for jisung to take it.

jisung hesitantly took the officer's hand.

"don't worry. we are here to get you to safety." the offer said, leading jisung outside the house.

jisung held onto the officers hand, following him into the back of the cop car.

"hello, my name is officer wonho. i am going to be driving you and officer jeon to the station." the officer in the drivers seat said, looking back at the frail jisung. his hand was still in officer jeon's hand.

the car drove to the station, jisung looking down at his feet.

after a few minutes, jisung got the courage to speak up.

"w-what happened to my dad?" jisung asked officer jeon, looking up at him.

the officer hesitated before answering, "your dad is not alive anymore.. we are sorry. he was found in his room, he had killed himself."

"oh." jisung said, no emotion coming out, as if he didn't care for his dad.

officer jeon gave a look of sympathy to the little jisung.

...

"can you tell us what your father did to you?" another officer asked, holding jisung's hand. he had said his name was lee taeyong.

"my dad locked me in our basement and he always beat me for no reason," jisung paused, starting to cry. "h-he only gave me a small piece of food each day, but sometimes he forgot.."

"okay. thank you sweetie." officer taeyong got up and left the room they were in. jisung had been at the station for a few hours.

about twenty minutes passed, and officer jeon came into the room.

"do you have a family member that could take you in?" mr. jeon asked, sitting across from jisung.

"my parents didn't have siblings, and my grandparents died when i was younger." jisung stated, his voice going quiet at the last part.

"okay. do you want to stay with me?" officer jeon asked, warmly smiling at the frail jisung in front of him.

he was the only person jisung trusted.

"my husband taehyung and i would love to take you in. we already made a nice warm bed for you and your own room," officer jeon said, taking jisung's hand in his. "we live just a few minutes away."

jisung thought for a minute.

"y-yes please.. that would be nice." jisung said, looking up at officer jeon.

jisung stayed at mr. jeon's house with his husband, taehyung. they were a nice couple. they adopted jisung over a year later.

jisung met minho when he started going to school again a few months after his father's suicide.