The plane flight was long and quiet. The flight was said to take about eight hours. The only sound that was heard in the quiet atmosphere was the loud music that emitted from a young man's cell phone. His headphones weren't very good at keeping others from hearing the music that played, so the lyrics of the song were faintly heard throughout the plane. The young man was staring out the window at the dark sky and clouds that were scattered around. He brushed his brown hair from out of his face and sighed quietly. The most of the other passengers were already asleep and he didn't want to wake them, though he knew his music wasn't helping. He had the same song playing since he got on the plane and he's already been in the air for three hours now.
SO YOU CAN THROW ME TO THE WOLVES
TOMORROW I WILL COME BACK
LEADER OF THE WHOLE PACK
The song, oddly enough, encouraged him to leave his home in the first place. It's been his favourite song since he was twelve years old. He was sixteen now, he's decided to leave his past behind him. His parents didn't care. That was why they weren't with him. If they did, they'd be sitting next to him on the plane, coaxing him to go to sleep.
BEAT ME BLACK AND BLUE
EVERY WOUND WILL SHAPE ME
EVERY SCAR WILL BUILD MY THRONE
He started to lightly tap his finger against the glass of the window as the instrumental part of the song played. He smiled, remembering how he even got on this plane. He just wanted to leave. He was in a hurry.
THE STICKS AND THE STONES THAT
YOU USED TO THROW HAVE
BUILT ME AN EMPIRE
SO DON'T EVEN TRY
TO CRY ME A RIVER
CAUSE I FORGIVE YOU
YOU ARE THE REASON I STILL FIGHT
He just looked up 'cheap flights to America' on his computer. He took the first one that popped up. It was to Cincinnati, OH. He knew that the shark would probably find him sooner or later. He needed a new name. He needed a new look, a disguise. The young man figured he could dye his hair some wacky colour and get a few piercings. That would get him noticed... He didn't want to be noticed... Fuck it.
SO YOU CAN THROW ME TO THE WOLVES
TOMORROW I WILL COME BACK
LEADER OF THE WHOLE PACK
BEAT ME BLACK AND BLUE
EVERY WOUND WILL SHAPE ME
EVERY SCAR WILL BUILD MY THRONE
He didn't want to sleep. He'd just travel deeper into the darkness of his mind and nightmares would take over. He forced himself to stay awake. Though he was slipping into sleep more and more every second...
"Sean? Is that your name?" The man looked down at the brown haired boy with a sadistic smile on his face. The boys parents didn't answer, they just watched the man place the knife on his throat and chuckle. "If I don't get the money by next week, I kill him. How does that sound?"
His parents said nothing, but shivered in fear.
"Let them go. We'll be back in a week, you two. Try to run and you're dead."
With that he and his minions walked out of the house and back to wherever the hell they came from. The boy's parents just ran upstairs frantically, ignoring their only son. The one called Sean just reached up to touch his neck, where the knife was.
Being killed didn't sound so bad.
"Excuse me, Sir?" A woman was shaking him awake.
Sean rubbed his eyes and yawned. "Yes?" The woman gestured to the rest of the plane. "We've landed, Sir," She smiled warmly, "Welcome to Cincinnati." Sean smiled back. "Thank you for the welcome, Ma'm."
Sean walked out into the baggage claim to retrieve his suitcase. When he had his suitcase, he started walking around the airport, not paying attention to where he was going. He had his earphones in and was listening to his music; still the same song as before. When he finally realized he hasn't left the airport yet, he looked around. Then he realized he was lost.
Well.
...
...
...
Fuck.
He had bought an apartment by a high school a few days before he booked his flight, so after he finally found his way out of the airport he walked to his apartment complex. The landlady was a nice lady, she once asked why someone as young as him was living on his own, but Sean just dodged the question quickly and thanked the lady for her service. She told him her name was Carolyn before leaving Sean alone.
The apartment was small and cozy. It was also furnished. Sean looked around the apartment and smiled. "A fresh start..." He whispered. Then he realized he still had to change his name and his look. He layed down on the bed. "I'll deal with it tomorrow..."
When he finally decided to get out of bed the next day, he googled the popular hair salons nearby so he could dye his hair. The piercing he could do himself, since his mother had him pierce her ears and nose when he was six. He booked an appointment at the salon for three o' clock in the afternoon. He thought for a moment while going through his suitcase. How was he supposed to change his name?
He shook his head; thus shaking away thought. He'd figure it out later. Right now he just wanted to try to get himself enrolled into the high school that was nearby. He decided to wear his long-sleeved shirt with navy blue and white stripes with some plain blue jeans. While on his way out, he ran into the landlady. "Hello, Sir, how was your first nights here?" She asked, flashing a heart warming smile.
"It was lovely, thank you," Sean answered, returning the smile.
"Oh, Sir," She stopped him from exiting the building, "I was looking at your papers, y'know the ones that say you officially own this apartment? And... Your name isn't listed in them... Did you forget to put your name in the blank?"
"O-oh..." He had to think fast. He needed a name to give her. What name? What name? "Y-yeah, I think I did..."
"Ah, I figured. So may you tell me your name? I'll just write it down for you."
"U-um..." Just think of a first name and a last name... Just friggin DO IT. "Jack... Jack Lawrence."
She smiled. "Thank you. I'm sorry to bother you, so I'll let you get back to your errands." She started to walk the other way, but before Sean could walk out the front door, she shouted, "Have a great day, Mr. Lawrence!"
"You, too, Miss. Carolyn!" He said, waving to her, forcing a smile.
Well, now he has a name. It's too late to change it now. Now... It's time to check out his new school.
He ended up enrolling into St. Xavier High School. School would start in a week, cuz apparently it was still summer break. Sean checked the time on his phone. "How the hell is it only noon?" He woke up around nine in the morning, but didn't decide to get out of bed until eleven. "Apparently enrolling took less time than I thought..." He looked at a small park across the street. There was no children there, but there was a small group of teenagers standing by the slide.
He walked over there and sat on one of the swings. Sean was pretty sure the group of teens noticed him; they were whispering something and one of the girls kept looking at him.
Sean decided to ignore them by listening to his music on max. He scrolled through his music and tapped on another song by Bring Me The Horizon.
He had been listening to the song for about two minutes before someone tapped him on the shoulder, causing him to jump off the swing. (And also letting out a high-pitch yelp). He looked over at the person who had supposedly tapped him and took out his earphones. "H-hello?" Sean said shakily.
The teen chuckled. "Hi, I'm Mark."
"Hiiiiii?"
'Mark' looked at Sean, holding out his hand as if waiting for him to say something. "Oh! You want my name!" Sean said once he realized how stupid he was being. Mark chuckled once more and nodded. "W-well," Sean stuttered, "I'm Jack..."
Sean looked over at the group of teens still standing by the slide. "Did they tell ye to come over here?" Mark followed Sean's eyes to that group. "What? Ah, no. I don't know them."
"Hm."
"I think they're those people that hang out under the bleachers and smoke shit all day."
"Pfftt..." Sean covered his mouth to keep from laughing and completely embarrassing himself in front of the only guy that has come up to talk to him out of his own free will. Apparently Mark saw how close he was to laughing. "What? Is that funny to you?" Sean still had his mouth covered so he just shook his head slowly. Mark just smirked. "I wonder what it takes to get you to laugh..." The brunette cocked his head to the side and started to poke Sean's side. The Irishman squirmed and muffled his giggles with his hands.
"Ticklish, eh?" He said, smirking still.
"Haha, yes, so please stop," Sean managed to get out after pushing Mark's hand away from him.
The two had a small conversation. It turns out Mark and Sean were going to the same high school and were in the same grade. Sean also discovered Mark was Korean, well a little Korean. The conversation continued like this until Sean realized he had to leave for his appointment. "You have to leave?" Mark had asked, "Why? Where are you going?"
"Ah, I was just going to get my hair dyed."
"Oh, cool. What colour did you choose?"
"I was thinking of green..."
Mark studied Sean. His eyes traveled up and down his body. "Yeah, I think that'd be a good colour for you. It'd match your eyes."
They waved each other good-bye and continued on their way.
The lady that did his hair was nice. Her name was Lyndon. She liked to talk to Sean while she did his hair. "There you go, hon," She said once she was done. She gave Sean the mirror so he could look at his reflection. "Do ya like it?" She asked once he saw it. Sean smiled and nodded. "I do. Thank you, ma'm."
She smiled brightly at Sean. "I'm glad. You're my masterpiece, then, Jackaboy~."
Sean chuckled. "'Jackaboy'?" He asked.
"That's going to be my nickname for you. Don't get me wrong, Jack is a lovely name, I just wanted to give me masterpiece a nickname for being so glamorous."
Sean knew he was going to have to get used to people calling him 'Jack'. He just wasn't used to it yet. "Well, thank you again, Miss Lyndon."
"No problem, hon. Oh, make sure you come back here every three weeks to get it re-dyed, okay?"
"I will, thank you!"
"Bye-bye, hon!"
The week wasn't very eventful. He met Mark again at that park a few other times, unintentionally of course, and after the fifth time of meeting one another there they decided to exchange numbers. So when Sean didn't have anything to do outside of his apartment, he was texting Mark and Mark was texting him.
Mark: What would you do if seagulls ruled the world?
Jack: Mark, wtf
Mark: Wut?
Jack: XD Just WTF
Mark: WAAAAAT
Jack: What the hell was that question XD
Mark: Who the hell knows...
So, are you going to answer the question or not?
Jack: What question?
Mark: What would you do if seagulls ruled the world?
Jack: I would become a seagull
Mark: Now it's my turn to go wtf
When school started, Mark showed Sean around since he had been going there since his first year. The Korean also introduced Sean to his friends. There was too many to count and too many names to remember. Sean could remember a few though, there was Ethan, Bob, Wade, Tyler and B... Bryan (I think). Apparently Mark was considered one of the 'popular' kids at his school.
Sean sat with them at lunch. Mark and all of his friends, who weren't that bad. Sure, a few of them were dicks, but all in all they were cool. They seemed to like Sean, too, or, uh, 'Jack'. The name Sean had grown so used to during the past week.
"Hey, Jack," Mark's friend, Bob, asked during lunch that day, "Are you foreign?"
"Uh," Sean didn't know if he should answer that truthfully or not. Who knows if he could be working with the shark or not. But it's a moments like this where Sean just says 'fuck it' and tells them anyway. "Yeah, why?"
"You have some sort of accent. Where are you from anyway?"
"Oh, I'm from Ireland."
"Oh!" Another one of Mark's friends, Ethan, piped up, "I've always wanted to go there! My uncle went there once, he said it was really pretty."
"It is, if you don't count all of the fucking rain."
The table burst into laughter. Yeah, Sean could get used to this. These people seemed nice. He just had to hide the real reason as to why he was here from them. They couldn't find out. He wouldn't let them.
"Heya, Jack," Mark tapped his shoulder with concern lacing his voice, "Are you alright?"
Sean forced a smile. "Yeah, Mark," He said, "I'm alright."
"Promise?"
"Yeah, I promise."