“Hey” Taekwoon says quietly, sitting down next to his friend Jaehwan (Ken) in the cafeteria. The boy was sitting peacefully munching on his sandwich when he noticed Taekwoon’s fresh black eye.

“I see the football team got to you early” Ken says sliding his personal pocket mirror across the table to allow the boy to examine himself.

“They’re taking it easy on me, today” Taekwoon mutters taking out his own lunch; indeed they had. The football team loved to give Taekwoon a hard time, about his looks, about his voice and generally about his shyness; don’t get me wrong, Taekwoon can be scary, when he wants to be; in fact, it’s his soft voice uttering death threats, that’s the scariest moment of all. Needless to say, a black eye was the least trouble; the football team had given him this week.

“Are you okay?” Ken asks bluntly; he can’t help but be curious as to the feelings of the stoic boy. Taekwoon nods slightly and goes back to his lunch. Ken starts to ramble on, that’s how it works; Ken would talk at lunch and Taekwoon would listen. He didn’t mind a bit, as long as he wasn’t the one to keep the conversation going, Taekwoon didn’t mind having someone who was such a polar opposite, like Ken, as his best friend.

“You know, you should have a nickname” Ken says at some point near the end of lunch.

“Why?”

“Well, I have Ken; but you should have one too” he says smiling bright.

“Okay…like what?”

“I’ll get back to you on that; see ya” Ken says before heading off to class. Taekwoon simply shrugs and heads to his locker. Once he gets there, he sees the lock has been picked; he opens the door to see the inside vandalized by insults; a few pages of his notebook were ripped out, the rest scribbled on. Taekwoon sighs as , stupid, mute and little girl burn holes in his mind, reminding him that at his school, it’s somehow against the law to be queer; or different for that matter. As it so happens Taekwoon is gay, but the football team doesn’t know that, there for making it irrelevant.

Taekwoon slumps off to third period, already feeling drowsy; half way through class he gets called down to the office, to see his father waiting for him.

“What’s going on?” He asks quietly; his father looks impatient but ultimately sober; this can’t be good, Taekwoon’s father was never sober unless there was family over.

“I’m taking you out of class the rest of the day; your mother’s in the hospital” Taekwoon’s father says before leading the boy out of the office and to the car.

“What happened?” Taekwoon finally asks halfway to the hospital.

“Your mother was in a car accident, that’s all I know” he replies, focusing on the road. “What happened to your eye?”

“Football team”

“What’d I tell you about those guys; you need to stand up for yourself once in a while”

“I did” that was a lie; Taekwoon had simply curled into a ball, till the boys got frustrated with kicking him and were satisfied with the one black eye. The rest of the drive is silent, occasional frustrated sigh from Taekwoon’s father, at the traffic.

“How is she?” Taekwoon’s father asks, as the two rush into the room. The nurse shakes her head and motions them to follow her out.

“She didn’t make it; I’m so sorry” The young nurse says before handing the chart in her hands to the nurse at the front desk. Taekwoon walks back and stares down at his lifeless mother; her skin pale, her eyes tired. Taekwoon’s mother never deserved to leave the world like this, but it wasn’t like he could feel any sympathy for her. She was abusive and more than against his ual orientation; but still she was family and Taekwoon decided he forgave her, to some degree because at least wherever she was now; she couldn’t do him anymore harm.

“Son, let’s go” Taekwoon’s father calls from the doorway. The drive back to his house was quiet; Taekwoon goes straight up to his room once they arrive and doesn’t come out. The house seems a little empty without the presence of his mother; and far harsher with his father drinking once more.

~

“So that’s it? She just died?” Ken asks, after Taekwoon recalls the previous afternoon. “Let me just say, thank god” Ken whispers loudly, shutting up when the teacher turns around to glare at him.

“Why are you so happy? She wasn’t your problem” Taekwoon says quietly, waiting for the final bell to ring; he and Ken hadn’t been listening to the teacher’s lecture in the first place anyway.

“The way she treated you wasn’t anything to sneeze at though” Ken says before doodling in his notebook; like he had been at the beginning of class. The bell rings as the students rush out of the classroom to go home.

“Are you going to be okay?” Ken asks packing up his things; Taekwoon nods and watches his friend leave the classroom. The last one out, Taekwoon walks slowly to his locker, hearing footsteps behind him.

“Well if it isn’t our queer little mouse, taking his time” a familiar voice says; Taekwoon turns to see Ravi peering over him, sneering.

“It’s almost like he wants an afternoon swirly” N sings tapping him on the shoulder. The boys laugh; that is all but Hongbin. Hongbin was a track runner, the football team recruited in freshman year that followed them around but mainly kept to himself; and Taekwoon adored him, for his speed and all around attractiveness. But it’s not like Hongbin would appreciate Taekwoon for the punching bag, the football team made him out to be.

“Maybe even a couple wedgies.” Hyuk chuckles, dragging Taekwoon along by the collar. Taekwoon walks home alone, head damp and backside sore.

“You’re home late” his father snaps, with no reply. “I’m getting rid of some of your mother’s old trash; go through it and see if there’s anything you want” Taekwoon’s father says gesturing to the attic. The boy climbs up the creaky ladder; to the room nearly nobody ever visited. The attic is dark and dusty, but easily navigated through. Scattered around the room, are boxes with ‘wife junk’ written on them; this must be the stuff his father was talking about. The boxes mainly consist of jewelry; his mother owned a lot; that his father likely was going to sell for money for alcohol. However, in one box is a large body mirror, with fine gold details around the rim. Not wanting to leave the attic with nothing in memory of his mother, the boy takes the mirror down with him and up to his room.