p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"For a city that never seemed to sleep, it was quiet. Very quiet. Like the earth had stilled, everything calmed, the streets barren of everything except a light fog, lights out in nearly all the apartments and homes in the suburbs. Yes, everything seemed to be at peace./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"For everyone except the Cipher twins./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"In a dinghy apartment, a boy was hiding away in his room. Shoulders hunched and nose buried into his arm, he stared out the window with broken blue eyes, flinching occasionally when the shouting in the other room peaked. Gripping onto his sleeves tightly, he tried to block out the noise, dreaming of what it would be like to escape,to be free from the pain./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"He didn't know how long he sat like that before he heard a large crash resonate through the place, and his door was flung open to reveal his brother, nose bloodied and a bruise forming on his left cheek. His twin kicked the door shut, pushing their dresser in front of it before storming over to his younger twin and sitting at the edge of his bed, glaring daggers down at the carpet. Neither spoke for several long moments before William sighed deeply, glancing at him. "W-what did he want this time…?" he asked quietly, and the blond across from him snorted in annoyance. "he thought we hid his alcohol." he muttered./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"William frowned, head tipping in confusion. "But..I thought you did?" he asked, which earned him a cocky smirk from his brother./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""'Course I did! Doesn't mean the asshole needs to know that though!" The meeker of the two frowned, a hand reaching up to comb through his blue bangs nervously. "..W-well are you okay, at least?" he studied the bruise forming on his Bill's cheek, concerned for his brother's well-being, but the blond simply shrugged, flopping back to lay down on the /"I'll be fine. It's just swollen. It'll all be fine when we get the hell outta here when we're eighteen." Will had heard that line more times than he could count, and each time they were spoken, the more defiant his brother's tone would /"if you say so.." he replied glumly, gaze returning to the window. To him, it seemed like an eternity away. Seeming to pick up on his sibling's brooding, the blond nudged him, shooting him a reassuring grin when he glanced /"Come on, Will, it's not that far off. We just gotta be tough. Just think, if we can make it through this, we can make it through anything!" Will smiled shyly back at him, humming in /"M-Maybe you're thinking of yourself. You always take the brunt o-of it...All I do is hide behind you" he chuckled quietly. "At least I know you can tough it out."br /"Heh, yeah well you've got smarts, you know? We've got that brains and brawn thing going for us. Bill and Will, unstoppable dynamic duo! Hell we could probably kick ass together!" he cheered, and Will managed to /"But where would we go?" He asked, and his sibling /"Does it matter? Anywhere is better than here."br /"I suppose that's true. But what about school?"br /"What about it? Who needs school? We can work instead!"br /"I guess so.."br /"Don't stress, Will. We've got plenty of time to work out the details."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Bill was in a better mood past week had had a few rough patches, but after reassuring his twin and talking quietly between themselves until they fell asleep, it filled Bill with peace that only his sibling could give him. The blond was a rowdy and outspoken teen, arrogant and irritable, but his brother was quiet and timid, only ever really talking with his twin. It was a shame the blue-haired boy didn't try to make friends, Bill had always thought. He was so smart and kind-hearted, but he supposed that's the way Will would always be. He kept to himself, and if that was the way he liked it, then who was he to tell him to do otherwise?/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Humming a pop song to himself, he tucked a bag of treats he'd bought at a convenience store in his bag, a surprise he intended to share with Will. Pulling out his keys he rounded the corner of the street, nodding in acknowledgement to the few people he passed as he entered the apartment building they resided in. Climbing the stairs, he swung the keys around his finger, excited to relax in bed and maybe convince his brother to help him with the homework he'd abandoned in favour of tutoring younger kids at school (ironic, he knew, the concept making him snicker). Finally reaching their apartment, he slipped the key in the lock and turned, opening up the door to let himself in. "Hey, I'm ho-"br /"AND I DON'T WANNA SEE YOUR ASS AGAIN TONIGHT, OR THERE'LL BE MORE HELL TO PAY, YOU GOT THAT YOU LITTLE SHIT?!" Bill's heart sank, blood running cold as he noticed three things at once. One, his mother was actually home, and in her hand was a crumpled paper. A job application, it looked like. Two, his father was piss drunk and hollering, red in the face and looking like his blood pressure was sky-rocketing. And three, Will was pinned against the wall by him, lip split and a dark bruise forming on his cheek. His eyes were wet with unshed tears, trembling as he replied fearfully with a stammered "y-yes, I-I'm s-s-sorry.."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Ah, Bill. You're home. Where were you?" Bill tore his infuriated glare from the two to their /"Why does it matter? It's not like either of you actually fucking care," he snapped. Their father let go of the blue-haired teen, pointing a finger to the /"You'll watch your fucking mouth, boy, or I'll-"br /"Or you'll what?" Bill dropped his bag to the ground and opened up his arms, challenging him. "You'll beat me? Not like you haven't done it a thousand times already!"br /"Is that any way to talk to your father?" Their mother snapped, scowling at her son irritably, but the blond simply barked out a /"Father? That guy's barely human, he's more of a monster than anything else! And so are you. Come on Will. Let's go to bed. We have school tomorrow." He ignored the angry yelling from their parents as he snagged his bag, grabbing his sibling's hand and dragging him to their room. Once again pushing the dresser to block their door, he tossed his bag onto his bed and pulled his blanket off. Wrapping it around his brother's shoulders, he tousled his hair, taking note of Will's panicked and erratic breathing and the sniffles and whimpers that would escape him ever so often. "Deep breaths bro, or you're gonna hyperventilate," he murmured. The blue-eyed boy merely shut his eyes, bumping his forehead against the blond' /"I h-hate it here," He whimpered, voice cracking as tears spilled down his cheeks. "I-I just thought I c-could get a p-part time job a-and he got so m-mad a-and I j-just-"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Hey." Bill interrupted firmly. "It's okay, it's gonna be okay, alright? I promise we'll get through this."br /"B-but how?" Came the broken response, and for once Bill had no answer. He didn't know how, he just knew they had /"...Because. We're tough. We've made it this far, we can make it out of here."br /"I h-hope so...I'm scared.."br /"I know bro. I know.."/p