Life in a Ski Town

Rules:
1. Be literate.
2. Copy and paste your post into Word and spell check it if you are worried about grammar and spelling.
3. Don’t control other characters
4. Be realistic
5. Have fun

Plot:
Welcome to Aspen, Colorado, one of the major ski capitals of the world. Although skiing is a major part of this city's life, more happens in the background than people would expect... Let's find out what that is...

Characters needed:
Friends, family, other snowboarders, skiers.

A little over a year ago, Brett Larson had been preparing for the Winter Olympics. He was a shoo-in for the US Men’s Snowboarding Halfpipe Team. Now, he was forced to sit on the sidelines, cooped up in a cabin, unable to do the thing he lived for. The reason behind Brett’s inability to snowboard is one event, an event Brett can’t even remember.

It happened about a year and two months ago, the sickening crash that changed Brett’s life. He had been practicing on the halfpipe in Breckenridge, CO, just two weeks before the Olympic Team Selection. It was a routine run, he wasn’t trying anything big. It was just a warm-up between him and a few of his friends. A simple warm-up that went horribly wrong. He knew something was wrong the moment he left the lip of the pipe, it was only a matter of time before the consequences were felt. He tried to correct it, but it didn’t work. His head crashed into the edge of the lip of the pipe and everything went black. His friends had been videotaping his run. They caught the entire thing on tape. They would later it show it to the doctors, Brett’s family and to Brett and then delete it.

The doctors said that if Brett hadn’t been wearing his helmet, he wouldn’t be here today. Brett slowly came out of a coma ten days later. It had been touch and go for several days. He had mini-seizures every once in a while as the doctors stopped the bleeding in his brain and the swelling. They were successful. Brett wasn’t coherent for several days after he woke up. Now, he doesn’t remember anything from those first few days after he woke up. Eventually, Brett began staying awake longer, at last long enough to begin an intensive rehab routine.

He channeled his dedication from snowboarding and put it into rehab, into getting better, into getting back to his normal life. What was normal? Brett didn’t even know anymore. After months in the hospital's rehab center, Brett was released and was able to return to his parent’s house in Utah. He continued with rehab at the local hospital. This was his first trip since the accident. His first time back in the mountains. But this time, he was just an observer. The doctors had just told him, despite his incredible progress and recovery, Brett would never be able to ride pipe again. If you have ever known heartbreak, Brett knew it better. Brett had never been much of a crier, he had yet to cry during this whole ordeal. No, that’s what his parents did. This information, however, caused Brett so much pain that he just lost it, he had cried.

Brett was lucky enough, however, to have the support of the entire snowboarding community and his friends. Since the accident, everyone had been following Brett’s progress and supported him every step of the way. Through every frustrating day at rehab and every success. They pushed him and were the reason he had made it so far. Still, Brett got frustrated with himself on a daily basis. He would lose focus much easier than he used to, he had to wear a pretty strong prescription of glasses because his eyesight had yet to return to his usual vision, and his short term memory was still weak.

The now twenty year old was lounging around the main lobby of the hotel that he and his friends were staying at on the resort. It was the usual posh hotel found in Aspen. He sat down on a leather couch, putting his feet on the coffee table, grabbing his cup of coffee, he took a sip, flipping open a magazine. He was obviously bored. His friends should be returning soon, though, they had been out all day and the day was ending. Brett wore a pair of loose khaki cargo pants and a navy blue zip up sweater over a gray t-shirt. He wore house slippers on his feet, opting for comfort. His dark green eyes attempted to focus on the magazine article he was reading. It was still difficult for him to take each word and find its meaning. He appeared frustrated.