Prologue.
"No!" she had cried, "Please, don't take my baby away!"
"Mommy?" he asked, "Mommy, what's going on?"
"No!!" she cried again, "Please, God, no! He is not ready for this!"
"Mommy?"
That was the last time David Cullen ever saw his mother. He was only seven years old. He hadn't really seen who had taken him away from his mother, but there were four of them. Large looking men who wore black. The color black always haunted him. David, now seventeen, never really talked that much about his family. He barely remembered on who his mother looked like. He had no trace of her. He wanted to remember. He wanted to remember the cold, dark night, and who took him away from his poor, sweet mother. His memories were blurred by the sounding of his own breathing.
"Thinking again, D?" asked his father, Robert Cullen.
Robert Cullen was a very large, and bulky guy. His big hands represented from the days of him being the best quarterback of the university of Marshall, in West Virginia. He had had tanned looks, and every person adored him. Now, Robert was overweight, with a brown beard that bushed all around his face. He looked at David with concern in his eyes. The same look he had given David from the very first day they met from Caretaker's Orphanage.
David looked at him. "Yes, I guess so."
"About what, D?" Robert asked, sitting next to him.
David flinched. He HATED his father calling him just plain, "D." It sounded idiotic, and very compulsive. "Oh, nothing."
"Thinking about your mom again?"
David nodded.
Robert sighed. "D, what are we going to do with you? We've brought you into us, and you seem to…well…reject us."
"Reject you?" David managed to say.
"Yes, reject us." Robert went on, "You've been with us for eleven years. What will it take to get through your head, WE are your family. I know you miss your mom, kiddo, but you have to accept that she's-…"
"She's what!?" David suddenly cried, "Dead!? I don't believe that shit, Rob!"
Robert got stood with fury. "Now, you watch your mouth, boy! I'll send you straight back to that orphanage in a snap if I have to. Haven't we done enough for you? Raised you right? We've fed you, kept you clean, and treated you as our very own son, David Allen Cullen, and you treat us like we're nothing!"
David said nothing. Robert shook his head, and left David's room. He fell back to his bed. He began to close his eyes, and see his visions. Visions of wild creatures slaughtering their way around him. He began to feel cold. Suddenly, he couldn't move. He couldn't speak. He couldn't scream. His body ached from the numbness he felt inside of him. What was causing this? He began to shake, and dread for his life. He fell off his bed, and shook on the floor. He felt pain in his nose. He checked to see if there was damaged, and he drew a hand-full of blood. His mouth felt like opening stitches. He screamed, with hot tears forming in his eyes. He heard footsteps rushing up to his room. His foster mother, Gina, swung the door open. All of his aches had vanished. She rushed to his side, holding him
"Oh, David!" she cried, "Did you have another nightmare?"
"I-I," he stuttered, "yes, I'm fine, Gina."
"You sure? Want anything? Water?"
"No, Gina, I'm fine. Honestly. Just a nightmare."
Gina smiled her friendly smile, and nodded. She helped him on his bed. Her long, blonde hair swaying against his face. "The blood!"
"What blood?" Gina asked, "David, honey, there is no blood."
"My nose isn't bleeding!?" He put his hands to his nose.
"No.." she said, "should it be?"
"Oh, uh, no!" David cried, "No. I was just seeing if I was having a nose bleed from the shock I had, you know?"
"David, are you sure you're alright?"
"I'm fine, Gina."
He kissed her cheek. She smiled again, and hugged him. He watched her leave. After she shut the door behind her, he grabbed his black pair of converses, slipped them on, and opened his bedroom window. Reaching under his bed, he pulled out a blue box. Inside the box was a rag rope he had been creating ever since he was fourteen. He through the rope down the window, and climbed down. I need to get out of this house, he thought. I need to just be….ALONE! David walked down block after block. Rob's going to kill me if he finds out I've snuck out again. David kept walking. His thoughts didn't matter to him right now. He only wanted to get out of his dark prison. The sunset began to blind him. David had always been extra sensitive to the sun for some reason. His skin began to burn. He ran to the nearest, darkest alley he could find. He stood there. Watching the sunset. Watching cars pass by. Watching all the careless people roam the streets. He wondered why he couldn't be like them.