SOMEONE TO YOU ╱ ADAM BANKS
꒷꒦ · ˚.‧ . written by liv . . . © -wonderhaze
𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘂𝗲 ━━━━━━━ ❛ 𝘃𝗼𝗹𝗸𝗼𝘃 𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗯 ❜

TW: mention of physical, mental, and emotional abuse, implied and descriptive sexual assault, implied pedophilia. Read at your discretion.

The rush you feel when you first step on the ice is something you'll never forget. Adelynn James felt it surreal. Her small skates allowed her to feel the coldness of the ice. Despite the chills, she continued to skate with her parents following her. It seemed as if she was born to be on the ice. Adelynn Nyla James decided she wanted to become a figure skater at that moment.

Despite this, it was also a turning point in her life. Several years earlier, the Volkov club had just been founded and was struggling to find members. Until the James family discovered it and spread the word around Minneapolis, Minnesota. Suddenly, everyone brought their child to the Volkov Club. At first, everything was perfect.

The James family would drop their daughter off for practice once a week, and it worked out. Adelynn could practice the sport she loved, and her parents got to see her happy. However, she then started to improve, so she had to practice three times a week. Danielle James wasn't sure if she was okay with her daughter being away from her family for that long but she didn't get a choice. Either Adelynn practiced or she wouldn't get the chance to be a part of the Volkov competition team. So Danielle stayed quiet and allowed her daughter to continue to practice. And it only caused harm and conflict within the James household.

"Delia! Have you seen my skates?" Adelynn yelled as she rushed around the James two-story home, looking for her skates.

"Addie! We need to leave!" Danielle James yelled from the garage to the house, irritated at work and now her oldest daughter

"I can't find my skates," The skater said, rushing into the garage to talk to her mom

"You left them in your locker, you know that," Danielle told her daughter, a concerned look appearing as she looked down at her daughter. She had pushed the concern away for weeks but couldn't handle seeing her daughter constantly forgetting things and acting weird.

"Are you sure you're okay, de?" She added as she got into her car, her daughter following by getting in the backseat.

"Yeah, I'm just tired so I forgot" Addie lied, hiding the fact that she had been practicing more than she had been eating recently and her cognitive abilities were slowly starting to fail her.

"You need to be sleeping more. I will pull you out of the club if this continues, your health comes first, not some sport," Danielle informed her daughter, turning around to face her in the backseat as she pulled out of the family's driveway and down the street.

"You can't do that!" Addie exclaimed, now leaning forward in her seat

"I can certainly do that if you are being harmed because of it. You will survive without the sport, Adelynn" Danielle's voice was firm as she drove down the street

"I'm not being harmed at all! Miss. Volkov just wants me rehearsing more for the competition and I've been rehearsing whenever I can, I'm just tired," Addie tried to defend herself and her coach, knowing the punishment if she was pulled out of the club.

"Stop it Adelynn, the decision is final. You will compete next month and that will be it, we will find you a safer club," The older woman stated as she pulled into the parking lot of the club

"I will be here at 9 to pick you up. I have to get back and put Danny down for the night, I love you," Danielle turned around, placed a kiss on her oldest daughter's head before urging her to get out of the car

"I love you too," Addie said as she exited the car, pushing herself to the steps leading up to the Volkov Club entrance.

She hated the club. She didn't know why she continued to defend them every chance she got, they were awful to her. It wasn't that she didn't see the abuse, it was that she chose to ignore it to continue skating. Being at the club had allowed her more opportunities than she could wish for and she wasn't going to give that up. A few bruises and injuries now and then wouldn't kill her. Being away from the ice was what would kill her.

"Good evening Adelynn, the other girls are in the locker room," The front desk manager, Coach Lacy, informed the small girl as she walked in

"Thank you," Adelynn quickly rushed to the locker room, knowing the comfort of her friends would calm her down

As she pushed the locker room door open, she could see her friends tense as they prepared for their practice. Seeing the fear on their faces told her who they thought was entering the locker room. She slowly moved to her locker, placing her dark purple bag inside. Already in her leggings and long sleeves, she put on her leg warmers and fitted jacket. Addie quickly put her hair up in a tight braid before exiting the locker room, her friends following after her.

"Ladies skates on and on the ice for practice in 5," Anastasia Volkov yelled out to the girls on her competition team. "Adelynn, a word," She added after she noticed that Adelynn was finished putting on her skates

"Yes ma'am?" Adelynn wasn't good at hiding the fear running through her at that moment. She felt her stomach twist into a knot as she asked, "Did I do something wrong?"

"No, you aren't in trouble. I was just wondering how you were holding up after practice the other night, you seemed to be in pain as you left," There was a slight smirk showing as Anastasia talked, almost as if she was happy that her star skater was injured and in pain. "Is it your ankle again? It would truly suck if you missed the last competition of the season because of an injury?"

"Oh um...no I'm okay. I just rolled my ankle, I'm perfectly fine." Adelynn forced a smile onto her face as she played with her hands

"You would tell me if you weren't, right?" She questioned the skater, placing her hand on Adelynn's shoulder and squeezing. She started to smile as she heard Adelynn grimace in pain, pushing the girl away and towards the other girls, who were too focused on warming up even to realize the fear and pain coming from their friend.

"Alright, I want to see Adelynn's routine first," The older coach yelled to the young girls, everyone but Adelynn skating to the edge of the ice.

Immediate fear took over Adelynn as she felt everyone in the rink staring at her. She released a shaky breath as she skated to her starting position. Her music began and she pushed off, immediately going into a lutz jump. She was so focused on remembering the routine that she blocked everything else out. That's what caused her to fall when attempting the triple-axel. She was so focused on the routine that she didn't notice the divots located in the ice. As she took off for the jump, everything looked perfect. Her technique was amazing, and it looked like she would land perfectly. But then her skate hit the divot and she hit the ice.

"Addie!" Her best friends exclaimed as they skated towards her

"I'm okay," She reassured as she quickly pushed herself up, ignoring the dizziness and pain that went through her

"Adelynn, go with Dr.Ramirez and get your ankle and head checked out," Ms.Volkov told the young skater, looking back to see the middle-aged man standing awkwardly with his medical bag.

"I'm fine." She tried to skate off, but it only resulted in her stumbling from the dizziness

"Averie and Stephanie, help her off the ice, and then once she's in the room with Dr.Ramirez, come back here," The Russian accent evident in her voice as she pushed the girls along

Averie and Stephanie quickly got Adelynn off the ice, knowing that if they went slowly they would be yelled at and disciplined. Adelynn tried to get out of their grasp multiple times, not wanting to get checked out by Dr.Ramierez. The man had scared her. His gaze always found the girls when they were skating and all it did was make them uncomfortable. He was supposed to be there to care for them but all he did was create fear.

"Yell for us if you need anything, we'll be on the rink but we can still hear you," Averie told her best friend, rubbing her shoulder and giving her a small smile before following Stephanie back to the rink.

Adelynn forced a smile on her face as she watched her best friends leave. She felt her throat start to close at the thought of being alone in a room with the doctor. Being in a room with him made her skin crawl. After a few minutes of panic, she finally heard footsteps outside of the door. Adelynn swallowed as she placed her hands gently on her lap, trying to stop them from shaking. She wished that she had listened to her mom months prior when she told her that the Volkov Club wasn't the safest place for her. She wished that her mom had done something months before, preventing her from losing who she once was.

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Adelynn was nothing but a nervous wreck as Dr. Ramirez did her exam. His gaze followed her every movement and she couldn't help but feel sick to her stomach every time he would have to touch her for the exam. She had a concussion and a sprained ankle, she already knew that. She knew that he didn't need to go through all of these other steps to determine that. When he started to get close again, Adelynn swallowed and tried to push herself further away.

"So....am I good to go? I think I'm fine," Addie asked, her hands and legs starting to shake in fear

"I want to run one more test....you have a grade one concussion and a grade 2 ankle sprain but I always run extra tests to just make sure all of the skaters are okay," There was something about his words and tone that scared Addie more than anything ever had. "Go ahead and lay down on the table, legs bent and spread apart. I'll be back in a few minutes,"

The coldness was the only thing Adelynn James could feel in the singular moment. She wanted to get up and run, grab her things, and never come back. But he would get back or find her before she could make it to the locker room. Adelynn said a silent prayer as she leaned back against the cold medical table. She brushed her shaky hands through her hair as she heard footsteps. The minute the door reopened, she froze.

"There's about 5 minutes left in the girl's practice so let's hurry up with the rest of the exam," Dr. Ramierez told the young brunette girl, not noticing how shaky she was. "Now as a doctor, I am the only one that should be able to do these exams. No one else should touch you in an area you don't want them to touch you,"

"O....Okay" Adelynn mumbled, a tear slowly sliding out of the corner of her eye as she felt the doctor pull on her tight-fitted leather

She shut her eyes the minute his hand was placed on her hip. She wasn't letting tears fall until she was in her mother's arms and away from the rink. His hand slowly made its way down her hip and onto her leg, brushing the inside. She could see his smile and laughter even with her eyes tightened shut. Once his hand was as far as it could, he stayed in that position until he heard the whistle from the rink. The minute the man's hand wasn't on her anymore, she opened her eyes. Addie felt like she had never moved quicker. The minute he was gone, she was already moving. She sprinted from the medical room and down the hall to the locker room. The girls in the locker room didn't know what happened but based on the paleness of Adelynn's skin, she had a pretty good feeling that they knew. Though she didn't wait for one of them to say something. She was down the front steps and in the car by the time Averie Banks could process what had happened.

And she was sobbing in her mom's lap when Anastasia Volkov paid Dr. Diego Ramirez.

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━━━━ liv speaks !

writing this hurt so so much. I'm so sorry for anyone that has ever experienced this or knows someone that has. My heart goes out to all of you.

Addie is going to go through a lot in this book but i'm so excited to see her grow more and more over the course of time. I'm also really excited to write her friendships and relationships with everyone !!

Make sure to vote and comment! I love hearing from you guys and getting feedback.

Much love, liv!

━━━━━━━━━━ someone to you,
© -wonderhaze, 2024

word count: 2254. written: 7.17.23 and 1.18.24
published: 1.18.24