Summary: Joey's life is slowly hitting rock bottom. He starts thinking that he should just end it all. After a new girl arrives at Domino with similar problems can they help each other find hope?

I also do not know Joey's father's real name so I designated him with one for this story. The rating may change eventually, but that won't happen until later on if at all. This story does contain mentions of child abuse, violence, some cussing, and (possibly) some thoughts of suicide.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh or anything relating to its creation.

'….' Joey's thoughts

I had posted this story a while back and I never finished it. Well now I plan on editing the chapters to fix mistakes and such and then continue where I left off. Please enjoy. And Thank you to everyone who reviewed the first go round. It's really meant a lot to me.

Any way on to the story

Chapter 1

The cold rain may have hid the tears falling from his eyes, but the rain could never hide the bruises that were slowly appearing on Joey Wheeler's face. He had received the numerous welts and bruises during a beating from his father earlier that morning. A meeting that he wish he had been able to avoid.

Flashback

Thomas Wheeler, Joey's father, didn't find his way home until around 4:00 in the morning from T.J.'s Bar. Joey woke up to the sound of his dad slamming his bedroom door open and standing in the doorway. The instant the door opened the room filled with the unmistakable stench of alcohol.

After a few seconds, which seemed like eternity to the teen, Thomas took a few heavy steps until he stood directly beside Joey's bed. Joey silently prayed that his dad would change his mind about what he was about to do. He knew it would never happen though; his father was too wasted, so he braced himself for the worse.

With one violent shove, Thomas flung Joey off his bed causing him to land hard on top of his left wrist causing him to yelp in pain. Before he could completely recover, Thomas walked around the bed, picked Joey up by the shirt collar, and threw him out of his bedroom. Joey's head slammed hard against the wall that was across from his doorframe. Blood started to pour from the newly opened gash that had appeared on the right side of his head, by his ear.

Thomas walked over to where his son now lay at his disposal. He then picked Joey up firmly by the shoulders and looked him straight in the eye, as if he was searching for an answer, to what Joey didn't know.

'What is he waiting for? Here's his big chance to get me good. Why is he hesitating? Will he just get it over with instead of dragging this out?'

As if complying with Joey's silent plea, Thomas threw the blonde teen down the wooden stairs located to the left of where they were currently standing. Joey could feel the bruises and welts start to form as the tumbled down the flight of stairs. Joey let out a yelp of pain as a splintered piece of wood impacted with his left knee. Joey finally landed in a heap at the bottom of the stairs. Blood oozed down the side of his leg from where the splinter had hit him. He had come to the conclusion that at least 2 ribs were badly bruised if not broken, not to mentions the other bruises and cuts that he had just received. The gash on the side of his head had gotten slightly larger and was still bleeding.

Joey's body fell lifeless on the floor and his breathing had become slightly more labored. Despite this Thomas took no pity on his unmoving son. He staggered slowly and clumsily down the stairs. When he reached Joey he kicked him hard in the stomach. Joey bit back a scream and fought to keep the tears of pain that were threatening to fall down his pail face. He had grown to believe that crying was a weakness and he was determined not to give his father the satisfaction of seeing this.

Thomas picked Joey up again by the shoulders. "You know somethin' kid, you pathetic," was all the drunk man said before throwing Joey into a nearby wooden chair, which broke on impact. Thomas then turned away, stumbled up the stairs to his bedroom, and slammed the door shut, leaving Joey lying helpless amongst the broken pieces of the chair.

About fifteen minutes later Joey picked himself up off the floor and stumbled down the hall and into the bathroom to clean him self off. He turned the light on and waited a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to its brightness. His hands painfully turned the water on and went to work. After cleaning his knee and the other cuts out with soap and disinfectant, Joey started to bandage himself up. He figured that he would be able to hide most of his injuries beneath the uniform that he wore to school everyday. However the gash on the right side of his face and his black eye were going to be difficult to hide from people, especially his friends.

'How am I going to explain this to them?'

Joey shook his head slowly and looked at his watch. It was now 5:45am. Turning of the bathroom light he limped back up to his room, being extremely careful not to let anything touch his throbbing wrist. He figured that there was enough time to get another hour of sleep before having to leave for school. One thing he knew was true there was absolutely no way in hell he was staying home tomorrow with his father, he would prefer to stay as far from that man as possible. With that in mind he slowly drifted into an unpleasant slumber.

End Flashback

Joey continued walking or rather limping toward the school. Every step hurt worse than the previous one. Ignoring the pain of his aching limbs, the constant reminder of what he dealt with almost daily, Joey ran millions of answers through his mind, knowing full well of what was to come. His friends would definitely demand to know what happened to him. Joey decided to tell them that he had gotten into another fight, which wasn't to far from the truth. He smirked slightly as he imagined their reactions to the news. Yugi and Ryou would be worried as well as disappointed. Tea would reprimand him for getting into another fight, while Tristen gave him this whole lecture on how he shouldn't have fought alone. His smirk disappeared quickly as the school came into view. Joey closed his brown eyes and sighed.

'Here we go again.'

TBC

I hope you all liked chapter one. I know it was kind of short, but I should be posting chapter 2 soon. Well please review and let me know what you thought. Thanks.

Carrothien