"A Fall From Grace"

Roxas' POV

The rain pelted down the window during fourth period, it was soothing for a while before I realised that in just a few minutes I would have to return to the hell hole that was my home, I despised going home to man who stole my life from me.

My step father Leon is a total asshole he went behind my real fathers back and started to date my mother Arieth and the worst thing is that Leon was my fathers best friend, my real father, Cloud was heart broken. Nobody seemed to care though that Cloud died a month later of depression. During that time Leon swooped in and married my mother, a real hero huh. Our cousins want nothing to do with us anymore, so I haven't seen them in around two years and I'll never see them again.

It was still raining as I walked home, all my friends were taking the bus so I was by myself for the walk home. I walked slowly today because it was my 17th birthday and every birthday after my father's death has been a total and utter disaster. Looking towards the sky feeling the rain drip off my bangs and fall down the bridge of my nose and land in my open mouth. It tasted like summer yet it was freezing cold and I kept thinking it was going to snow at any second. My house was up ahead and I felt the bile rise in my throat. 'Well may as well get this over with,' I thought. I pulled out my keys and opened the door, ready for anything and everything but nothing came. No asshole step brothers coming out of no where to pull my hair and tell me just how old I am. Maybe this wouldn't be such a bad birthday after all.

"Hey big brother, how's it goin?!

Great there they are, the knuckleheaded twins (who I swear where dropped at birth by their mother) in all their pathetic glory, I rolled my eyes and kept walking down the hall.

"Awww comon, we aint done nothin. It's ya birthday and we wants to celebrate."

Yeah and by 'celebrate they mean a free meal out somewhere whilst they embarrass me to all extents. 'Oh joy, I can't wait' I grumbled.

Leon took us to the local pub and flashed one of his award winning smiles at me, did I mention he's a model. Cause he is and probably one of the most self loving ones as well, god I cant believe my own mother was taken by that cruel smile it shows happiness on the out side but if you actually look at it all that's behind those lips is deceit. I swear one day he'll try to send me off somewhere maybe military college or a Christian school, I shuddered on the inside and forced a smile right back at the asshole may as well get this night over with.

Leon started talking to a waiter whilst the twins ran off to the fish tank to harass the fish inside; my mother looked at me from across the table and said.

"I can't believe how much you've grown honey; you look so much like your father."

It was true, I did and anyone with a pair of working eyes and who knew my father somehow knew it. I looked a hell of a lot like him the only difference that is mostly noticeable is my height im not exactly known as tall but more on the shortish side, the twins are 13 and there already 6 foot 5. Im only 5 foot 3 and today I was 17. I looked down at the knife and fork and grumbled something unintelligible, mother was about to ask me something but the SD (Step Dad if you didn't figure it out) came over and made a conversation with Arieth, she looked from Leon to me but I'd lost all interest and decided to glance the menu even though I had the whole thing memorised, Leon tried to make a thing about having a lot of money so he liked to take the 'family' out every now and than sadly it was mostly to this pub. I hated this place my father would never have stepped into a place like this even if he had the money. We never had the money for this sort of stuff and I liked my life simple and easy but Leon changed that and even though no one will believe me I think Leon planned this whole thing to take my mum away from me and my father as well in the process. The twins came back to the table and we ordered our meals, I wasn't hungry but Leon had ordered me something anyway. All I did was nibble on some bread and poke my food around my plate. At a strained look from my mother I excused myself and left for the bathroom. In the restroom I took an empty stall and sat down on the toilet lid for around ten minutes when I heard footsteps and a voice, his voice.

"Roxas are you okay." It wasn't a question more of a gruff statement he didn't sound happy obviously Arieth had talked him into coming in here to talk to me about why I was stone walling everyone especially on my birthday. My mother never did get that I hated Leon with every fibre in my body but I guess that's because my mother fell for him some how and always believes that whatever Leon does is perfect no matter what. I got up off the seat and open the door, looking towards the mirror above the sink I saw his face, he definitely wasn't happy, I sighed and asked him what he wanted and I got everything thrown at me. Leon told me that my mother was very worried I'd been avoiding people for weeks and keeping to myself more often then I used to and these where signs of depression and my mother knew all to well what came of that, she was a psychologist after all. I looked over at Leon and did the best smile I could muster it seemed to work and he smiled back as I walked through the bathroom doors back into the pub. We left a few minutes later.

I got out of Leon's new BMW and opened the front door and I ran up the stairs to my room saying something about homework so I wouldn't be disturbed. I needed some alone time and having my mother, Leon or even the twins would be a huge annoyance. I sat at my desk and decided to look over what homework I did have, I had some History and Maths. Both due in a few days but I despised both I sighed and grabbed my History and tried to do that for a while. It had been nearly an hour and I had only done 3 questions and I was pretty sure that 2 out of the 3 where wrong because I had guessed them. Nothing in the book had anything to do with soldiers in the cold wars using there pee as lubricant for their guns or what they used to clean themselves with during the war in the trenches…like I thought they just didn't wash, their in a war since when do they have time to shower. The twins live in a posh house with their rich dad and they run from showers and baths like there's no tomorrow. Well as I was saying when I was starting work on what soldiers did to dead rats found in the bodies of the fallen my mother walked in.

"Honey, are you okay?" She said.

I turned in my seat and faced my mother, I tried to smile at her but it looked more like a grimace as I told her about my Homework problems and when I asked her the question her face fell and she looked sickened.

"They seriously want you to answer those horrid things?!" She gaped.

That made me smile for real this time. Even after all this my mum still knows how to get through my wall no matter how thick I make it. I answered her with a nod continuing to smile, she laughed and sat next to me and held my hand.

"I know your having a hard time and your hiding something, don't say 'no' I'm a psychiatrist I know when something is wrong. But I'm gonna leave it for now and we'll talk when you want okay? " "C'mon I bought Sea-Salt ice cream just for you and me." She said as she picked up my hand, I stood up and we walked down stairs to the kitchen.

I stood on the decking with mother as we watched the moon and stars eating our ice-cream. Sea-Salt was my favourite flavour and so mother believed it appropriate to hide it from the twins just for me and her. I remembered the first time I'd had this flavour it was when I was very little and my father Cloud was still alive we where at the local park near our house I was playing on the swings but I went to high and fell off. It was only a graze but everything hurts more when you're little. My parents ran over my mother kissed my booboo whilst my father picked me up and held me close as he took us somewhere. He had taken us to the ice-cream parlour off of Destiny Road and Beach Street. It was white with a pale blue colouring on the inside. That was where I got my first ever taste of ice-cream and my dad had gotten little bits of every flavour. When it was ready I was sitting with mother in a sticky, green booth when father came over with the bowl. He then said, "Go on try some and see what your favourite is Roxas. I tried chocolate, strawberry, Vanilla but then I saw a pale blue the same as the walls and decided to try it. It was the best tasting ice-cream ever. I grinned and father smiled instantly back, he said that Sea-Salt was his favourite too. We left the parlour a bit after that with one of those take away boxes of Ice-cream and it was a whole tub full of Sea-Salt Ice-cream for us all to share.

School the next day was slow and so was next I stayed away from people and didn't talk during class at all. Some of the teachers where worried and asked if there was something wrong, one of the teachers went to far and asked if it was because of my fathers death, I jumped up out of my chair and grabbed my things as I left the room, I heard the girls giggle and I could hear the rumours being invented by there little cheerleader brains and I hear the guys snicker at my leaving. After school instead of hanging out with my friends I went to the park where I was with mother and father so many years ago, it took about twenty minutes to get there and I was tired from running 12 miles so I sat on the old swing set as I let everything sink in. I remembered this whole area and I remembered where the ice-cream parlour was. I got up and ran off in the direction of the parlour seeing the pale building off in the distance I ran harder only to find it had been renovated as a hair salon. One of my memories of father had been taken from me but I had to be sure looking around for street signs maybe this wasn't Destiny Road maybe it was somewhere totally different but I was wrong. This was Destiny Road the old sign was rusted but there was new sign telling all that this was Destiny Road. I looked to the sky and saw the clouds come over, rain was coming and it was going to be another one of those bad storms too. I needed to get home, I knew I was going to get drenched there nothing ruling that chance out but I had to get moving anyway.

The rain slowed me down so it took me about 45 minutes to get home. When I got home it was 6:15pm. Mum was fussing over me and Leon looked angry but Justas he was about to start yelling mother asked what was wrong I had started to cry. I told mother about the parlour and she held me tightly against herself. Leon jumped in and said "What Parlour?"

Mother let me go and said it was something very important to me. I got up out of the chair and before he SD could say anything I left the room to go take a shower. Whilst in the shower I tried to relax but so much was going wrong, I didn't feel good at all. I was extremely thin when I never get very big anyway because of my metabolism it was sort of a worry. My face was hollow and pale, I had dark blotches below my eyes and my ribs where starting to protrude badly against my chest. In all respects I looked like plane crash victim from a third world country or something. No wonder everyone is so worried, but now that I've pushed everyone away I could get my plan under way. After the shower I went to my room and put a pair of boxers on.

I lay on my bed listening to my clock tick its way at the seconds, I sighed as I tried to get comfortable. Some higher power out there is obviously laughing at me right now, I bet their saying something like 'Jeez Roxas you just gonna lie there and let the world piss in your face or are you gonna do something about it!'.

At that thought I pulled on my jeans and a dark grey Levi's t-shirt the plan was goin ahead. I climbed out of my bedroom window, I didn't need much for what I had planned at least that's what they say, it's not like you need stuff when your dead right? I'd already figured out how to do it, down the street was a bridge over a highway near a skate park where at midnight more drugs are sold than at a pharmacy. I needn't worry about the druggies though I wasn't going through the park because that's would be on the other side of the bridge and I wouldn't be crossing it tonight or any other night ever again. I jumped to the tree near my window and climbed down. I looked down the street and to my window, I said a quiet goodbye to mother, she was better off without me anyway. Running down the street I kept my mind set on the task ahead. 'No going back now Roxas' that was one of the comments my mind had about this idea the ones against it where sad really, they where thins like 'You have things to live for' or "Your just gonna leave your mother alone, huh" before my mind set me off the loop I had reached my destination. The Bridge.