Chapter 1: First Day as Freshman Part 1: Darkness
A slow tone echoed rhythmically through the room. Above that, all that was heard was the quiet, muffled sobbing of a young boy. His head was buried on a bed in front of him. Laying on that bed was a young woman, looking to be in her late twenties with a beautiful scarf wrapped about her head, concealing her hairline.
The boy looked up to see the gentle eyes of his mother. "W-why do y-you have to l-leave me, m-mommy?" His shaking voice cracked with emotion.
His mother brushed his cheek with a soft, weak touch. "I'm sorry," she spoke quietly, "It's my time to go, sweetheart. You be good for your father." She cast a loving smile to a man standing by the door.
Tears were streaming quickly down his face and sadness clouded in his eyes. The man's face, however, was contorted in anger, but he was unsure to whom his anger was directed. The world? For taking his beloved wife away? Himself? For not being able to do anything? However, as a long, sharp tone filled the room, that anger slowly twisted and was directed to the only other one in the room.
The young boy, of only 7, was shaking at his mother's side as she fell into a still sleep. He was unaware of the hardships still to come.
"Finally! Freshman year! We are officially high school students my friend!" A tall teen patted his friends shoulder. His green jacket hung loosely on his skinny torso. His tan skin contrasted the white hood of his jacket.
His friend, a larger male, had a yellow t-shirt and headband on. "I know, man. I'm hoping I made it into that cooking class I signed up for." The male bounced on his toes. They both moved up as the line they were in shortened.
"Hunk, buddy, if we get all the classes we signed up for, we'll have almost the same schedules!" the smaller teen paused for a moment. "Except for electives," he grinned.
They both made it to the front of the line. A lady sitting at a table looked up. "Name?" she drawled.
"Lance McClain."
The lady shuffled through some folders until she found his name. she pulled out a pale yellow sheet of paper and handed it to him. She looked to Hunk. "Name?"
"Hunk Garrett.
The lady repeated the process and handed him a similar yellow paper. They both found an empty table in the commons area of the school to review their class schedules.
Lance looked over Hunk's shoulder. "Look at that! We both have Algebra first period." They both high fived.
"What do you have second period?" Hunk scanned his eyes over his friend's paper. "Oh, that's right. You already know Spanish so you had to take a different foreign language. So, we won't have that class together either," he shrugged.
"Nah, but hey! French! The language of romance." Lance stretched out the last word, sweeping his hands in front of him. He made finger guns ant a passing girl. "Bonjour!" He winked. The girl tsked and rolled her eyes. She continued walking with her friends. Lance smirked at his friend. "See? The ladies will dig it!"
Hunk grinned in agreement. "Hey, good thinking!"
"What have you got second? Cooking? Sweet! And we've both got Biology third period so you better save me some good food." Lance grinned and bumped shoulders with the larger teen.
"Oh, yea totally. I'm sure I'll have enough to save for you."
The two longtime friends continued compare schedules until the bell rang at 8:00 for first period. They shuffled through the halls with the flow of the crowd. They found their classroom and Lance took a seat at the back. Hunk argued that sitting at the front would be better. They both agreed to sit in the middle. The first period went by fairly easy and really boring. The teacher just discussed the syllabus and what's to be expected in the class. The first day is always the same. The teacher's introduction finished and he began on the first algebra lesson. However, he didn't get two minutes into it before the bell rang.
"Saved by the bell!" Lance jumped up quickly and headed out, followed by Hunk. Lance headed to French and Hunk to Cooking.
Both classes go pretty much the same as the first. The teachers give a simple introduction to the class, then spend the rest of the time reviewing the syllabus. Lance began doodling in his spiral about halfway through his class whereas Hunk was intently listening to his teacher's words.
Second period was over at 9:40 and they had a ten minute passing period. The two friends found each other and proceeded to Biology.
"Man, that was boring." Lance breathed out. "I hope this class is better." He slumped his shoulders.
Hunk slapped a hand to his shoulder. "Well, we've got this one together at least." He smiled.
"Name?"
The two of them looked up at their teacher. Lance gave his name.
"Fourth row, third from the front. Name?" He looked at Hunk. He waited for his answer then said, "First row, first chair."
Hunk and Lance looked at each other. "Assigned seating?!" Lance's shoulders slumped more. "Who does that in high school?" He sighed and headed to his seat.
"Sorry, man." Hunk shrugged and sat down.
Everyone arrived and the tardy bell rang; the process repeated and the teacher began his introduction. After getting about two minutes into the syllabus review, the door to the classroom opened. A boy with a cropped red jacked walked in. He had a very reserved posture and seemed kind of quiet. He kept his gaze toward the floor and long black hair fell just below the nape of his neck. Lance looked at Hunk and nodded his head towards the new kid. Hunk just shrugged. The boy explained something to the teacher and handed him a note. The teacher pointed him towards his seat. He walked over and sat right across from Lance in the fifth row.
The teacher continued where he left off, and class went on like normal. He wasn't sure why, but Lance kept glancing to the side. He would look over once in a while at the new kid. After a closer glimpse at the boy, he noticed he was real slender but well built. Eventually, the boy laid his chin down on his forearms, still looking at the teacher but barely paying attention. Lance didn't hear anything the teacher was saying the rest of class.
When the bell finally rang, the boy draped his backpack on one shoulder and slid out from his desk. As he stood, he accidentally kicked over Lance's bag.
"Hey!" Lance stood up, gesturing to his overturned bag. "You gonna apologize, mullet?"
The boy looked caught off guard at the confrontation. He opened his mouth a few times, stuttering a bit, before mumbling an apology and walking away with his eyes down.
Hunk approached from behind. Lance turned to him. "Did you see that? How rude! He didn't even care!"
"You know, it could just be because he's shy," Hunk suggested.
"No excuses!" Lance pointed a finger at his friend.
Hunk smiled. "Come on, buddy. We've got Geography next."
"You should be grateful for everything I've given you, boy! And you deserve everything that's coming." A large man drug a small boy by the arm down a hallway, his words slurring slightly.
Tears were streaming down the boy's face and he could feel the man's large fingers leaving bruises. He knew what was coming; his father always did this to him when he smelled like those weird drinks he always had. He always gave him the same speech and believed he deserved all of it.
The man continued talking. "It's your fault, boy! It was the stress of raising a thing like you that sent your mother to an early grave!" He threw the child into a closet.
The boy's head hit the wall as he fell to the ground. He started shaking. Even though he knew what was going to happen, he was still terrified.
The man stood in the light of the open door, looking down on the young boy. "She's gone now and it's your fault! Don't ever forget that! So now you can experience the same darkness that she is now in!" He slammed the door shut.
The boy heard the lock clicking from the outside. His knees were drug to his chest and he buried his head. He hated the dark; he was terrified of it. He was thrown in there all the time, and every time his fear got worse. He curled up in the corner of the closet, desperately trying to muffle his sobbing. His father would get angry if he heard him crying. Silence surrounded him making his ragged breathing sound even louder. The darkness grew thick as he felt much smaller. Not for the first time, he wondered if his mother was in a happier place now that she was rid of him.
To those who are following my other Voltron fic, Violet Transformation, I haven't forgotten. I am still planning a sequel to it. For now however, I'll be writing on this story for a bit. This is the first AU story I've done so please review. Let me know how I'm doing! :) Until next chapter,
NyteXade
