Well, here we are again. After reading reviews and suggestions I have decided to rewrite the first chapter of my story. I'm actually happy because I was originally planning on going back and changing the original story by adding and taking out some stuff. I was also going to change the chapter title. Big thanks to XanderN and MintyFishbowl for your reviews and suggestions. Thanks to all of the others who reviewed as well. I will copy and paste some of the original story… so ummm… yeah. Here we go.

Chapter I Ashes

It was probably the coldest day in Toronto in maybe 15 years. The snow didn't gracefully fall from the sky, maybe a flake every now and then. No this was near a blizzard. Or as close as you get to one without there being a tremendous amount of wind. There was no one on the street except for one guy. He looked pretty cold since he wore only a hoodie and a pair of cargo pants. However his chin was warm because of his really bushy goatee. He looked up and chuckled to himself, looking at the falling snow. He had only seen snow twice in his life, because where he was from it never snowed often. It wasn't until just now he realized that snow looked like ash falling from the sky.

He had a cigarette in his mouth and was smoking it quickly. He remembered the first time he smoked which is when he was 6, ever since then he couldn't quit. When he got done with the cigarette he lifted his right leg to put it out, but then he quickly lost his balance. As he stumbled across the pavement he sat down and took out his backpack and reviewed the contents. He had several bottles of pills, a giant file with about 100 papers in it, some money, and a few changes of clothes, some cigarettes, and a little black zipper bag with a few syringes in it, each filled with a clear liquid.

He began to remember how he got to Canada in the first place. About 3 months ago he lived with his father in America. He hated his dad. He was a drunk and abused him often, most of the time for no reason. He would hit him and slap him around almost constantly while his mother did nothing to prevent it. He loved his mother with all his heart even though she didn't do anything to prevent the beatings. But she did comfort him afterwards. The boy has mixed feelings with her, damning her for not helping but loving her for being there and being his only friend.

It was the same old story until one day he "mouthed off" to his dad and he stabbed him in the leg with a rusty knife. He landed on the floor screaming in pain. His dad made him stay on the floor for 3 hours to make sure he had learned his lesson. It wasn't until his mother had enough and rushed him to the hospital. When he got there the doctors told them that the rusty knife has killed part of his muscle and that it would have to be removed. But during surgery they slipped up and cut too much muscle off and ever since then he has been in agonizing pain.

Somedays were better than others and the pills that they gave him worked for awhile but soon they barely took off the edge. Learning about an experimental test in Canada that could restore muscle, he fled to Toronto in search for it. But by the time he got there they learned that the experimental drugs gave patients tumors so it was shut down.

Knowing he couldn't return home because of his father, he searched for a place to live in Canada. Sure he was going to miss his mother, but it would just be too difficult for him to return. So far his search for a place to live has been effortless. Since he didn't have a credit card no hotel would take him. And he didn't like hotels; they just didn't have a home feeling to them.

He got off of the street and began walking towards an alley that he might be able to spend the night in so he could start his search in the morning. However something caught his eye. It was a flyer; it said "Room for rent, $275 a month. Pleasant Hills Apartments, room 627". His heart quickly jumped and he unzipped his backpack and began to count his money. $350. Hot damn he thought to himself. Time to find this apartment…

Elsewhere…

"I can't believe you got that Leo" Aeris said as she smacked herself on the forehead as they were walking away from GameStop. "It's just a recycled version of Modern Warfare 2. You're paying 60 dollars for an update".

Leo looked over at her with a slight grin on his face. "Hey it's not your money, and besides why does everyone say that? People buy Madden every year even though it's almost the same thing." Leo replied with a giant smirk on his face now.

Aeris, getting more pissed off yelled "Yeah! But I don't play Madden cause sports games suck! I can stand the n00btubes, I can stand the campers, hell I can even stand the 12 year old kids screaming into the mic and talking shit. But when you expect me to pay $60 bucks for a new campaign and a few new game modes, that's just too much."

"You think any game where you can't play as an elf sucks"

Leo bent over to clutch his chest because he was laughing so hard. When he looked back up at Aeris, all he saw was a fist flying towards him. POW! It caused him to immediately fall to his knees in pain.

"Now that's funny", Aeris said, chuckling to herself.

"No that was mean and not necessary"

"You would think from being with me for all of these years that you would have learned by now"

"That what? You're a mean bitch" Leo replied saying the last couple of words a little quieter and under his breath.

"WHAT!" Aeris almost screamed.

Shit she heard that part. Leo thought. He quickly got up and ran back to home, with an enraged Aeris right behind him.

He was running with Aeris right behind him, when he was in the hallway outside of their room when he noticed a man standing outside of their door. Leo stopped dead in his tracks, causing Aeris to crash into him.

"The fuck?" Aeris muttered to Leo while she was rubbing her head.

"There's a man outside of our room. It looks likes he's waiting for us something. I wonder what he wants."

"I don't know, but we won't find out anything sitting here with our thumbs up our ass."

"Maybe his here to take you away from beating me all of the time."

"Yeah, somehow I doubt that"

Looking at him it seemed like he never shaved. Like ever. His sideburns were really scruffy and he had a really hairy goatee. He was wearing almost all black, save his shoes which were red. When he noticed the two cats walking towards his direction, he quickly straightened up and walked towards them.

"Hey, are you two the ones who live in apartment 627? I found your flyer and I was hoping I could bunk with y'all for a little bit."

Aeris didn't respond at first, but she was rather inspecting him. She had noticed a minute ago that he was a human, which she didn't care for much. But she also noticed that his accent was off. He was probably from the States, more towards the south she guessed.

"Yes we live here", She finally responded. "I assume that you have a job and can pay for rent?"
"Well I don't have a job yet. Funny story I actually came from the States bec-" He stopped his sentence short seeing clearly that she wasn't interested. "Anyways, I don't have a job but I do have this month's rent." He pulled out the money from his backpack. "Its actually $350 but just keep the change, think of it as a thank you"

"Alright" She responded, not feeling at all guilty for taking the extra money. "Just one thing, you're not like a sadistic rapist or anything like that right?"

He laughed, "No that's my brother, Michael". With that the two cats gave him an odd look and started to back up a little bit. "I'm just kidding, I don't have a brother."

"Very funny" Aeris responded with a sarcastic and annoyed tone. "What's your name by the way?"

The question caught the man off guard. "My names…uh…Sam" He said hesitantly.

"Wow! Cool! Like Sam Fisher?" Leo said with enthusiasm.

"Uhhhh, yeah I guess." Sam responded

Aeris let out a deep sigh and dug into her pockets to retrieve her keys. She unlocked the door and Leo ran through both of them and quickly turned on his Xbox to play his new game.

"Not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree is he?" Sam asked while scratching the back of his neck.

"Oh, you have no idea." Aeris said back jokingly.

Well, there you have it. It took me a while to think of a new way for them to all meet. I hope y'all find this one better because I sure do. I do think the whole finding the stranger on the street is getting a bit repetitive now. Thanks and Review.