~3rd Person's POV

2000, 1st of January

It all happened so fast.

Logan couldn't take any more of his parent's constant verbal, mental and physical abuse… He had planned it all.

He packed as much clothes as he could into his backpack and ran. He had already saved up enough money for a plane ticket to PalmWoods, far away from where his current family was.

He had planned every step of the way. While both of his parents were busy celebrating New Years, along with their equally-as-abusive friends, he ran. It was hard to believe that he was only 16 years old at the time, though he was thankful 16 was the minimum age for one to board a plane on their own.

Why? No idea.

"Alright Logie, you could do this." Logan whispered onto himself. He had endured 15 years of abuse, a quick run to the airport is nothing compared to everything he had been through. He wore a long-sleeved, grey sweatshirt along with a white tee underneath.

Since it was cold, he needed an extra layer of clothing. It was also because one of his scars might open up again, resulting in blood stains on his clothes, which his white tee would cover up.

After taking 3 deep breaths, he quietly snuck out through the back gate, only to be found by one of his parent's friends, who was busy smoking a cig outside.

'No… no!' He thought, panicking.

His plan, all ruined because of one unexpected person.

"Running away, hm?" The man hummed, smirking as he neared the young boy. Logan, quivering with fear, slowly backed up towards the wall of his house, the plane ticket tight in his shaking hand.

"Well little Logie, you know what your parents would do tried to run… right?" The man's voice, low, rang through Logan's head at the time. He watched as his entire life flash by him, tears formed in his eyes as he imagined all the beatings he'd receive. He knew the beating he'd get was at least 100x times worse now that he actually tried to run…

"You deserve better," The man whispered quietly, Logan's eyes blowing wide open as the man stomped on his cig.

The man, whose name was Uncle Jack, entered the house. Logan's heartbeat picked up. He prepared himself mentally, waiting to be called back into the house, where his nightmares would never end.

"Hey asshats, I'm going out to buy more beer!" Uncle Jack yelled, loud cheers of joy filled the living room.

Moments passed until the back door opened again, then closed. Logan felt a rough hand capturing his own soft left hand, tugging gently. "C'mon you dimwit, let's get you out of here," Uncle Jack smiled down at the Logan.

Logan nodded fearfully, following Uncle Jack to his house.

"So, where're you escaping to? That's a train ticket, right?" Uncle Jack asked as the car roared alive, driving away fast.

"I-I-It's a p-plane ticket…" Logan answered timidly, refusing to make any eye-contact with Uncle Jack.

At first, he had thought that there was no way this guy, one of his parent's friends, would actually help him… Until he realized, Uncle Jack was the one who made it all bearable.

He was the one only one who never even touched Logan, heck, even offering a bit of help once in a blue moon…

The drive to the airport was quiet and quick. Logan hadn't even realized the man was driving 100km/h down the lonely highway. It only took about 20 minutes before they reached the airport, which was rather empty.

It made sense for the airport to be a lot quieter than usual, since it's New Years anyways.

"Hey, Logan," Uncle Jack whispered quietly once they had stopped in-front of the entrance.

"I don't know what's in that fucked up head of yours. If you're still able to think straight after all they'd done, then congratulations." Uncle Jack smiled, offering a hand for Logan to shake, "Good luck with your new life out there. It's gonna be a rough environment for a 16 year o-" Uncle Jack couldn't even finish his sentence when Logan had hugged him tight, bursting into tears, chanting 'Thank you' repeatedly.

"I'm… Sorry I couldn't do anything more earlier." Uncle Jack hugged back, feeling the warmth he had missed out upon, since he hadn't had a child of his own, he never felt the joy of raising one.

"Make me your stand-in dad for your wedding, eh?" Uncle Jack joked, Logan chuckled gently and nodded, jolting down his phone number.

As soon as he got out of the car, it disappeared as fast as it came. Soon, it was only him and a few other peoples in the humongous airport.

Before he could even step forth, a man in rugged clothes approached him, carrying a small can. He quickly fished out his wallet, only to find… nothing.

Oh, yeah. That's right, he had used it to pay his neighbour whom agreed to get him a plane ticket for a hefty price.

Uncle Jack and Logan's neighbour's son were the only two people who made his life bearable.

"I… I'm sorry…" He whispered in disappointment, the rugged man shook his head with a smile. "It's okay brother," The man said with a rough voice before turning around. "W-Wait," Logan quickly stopped the beggar from leaving empty handed.

"I… Take this," Logan smiled sincerely, fishing out two packets with cream bread inside of each, handing it to the beggar. "I… I couldn't offer you much but I hope this'll get you through tonight and tomorrow," He handed the beggar 4 packets. He managed to steal a tonne of cream-bread in packets from his parents.

They got them as freebies recently, but his mother hated the taste, so instead she stuffed them all into the fridge. Logan had been eating them for breakfast, lunch and dinner for a few days. He never got tired of them since they actually came in multiple flavours.

The beggar smiled widely, quickly making his way to his makeshift bed away from the entrance of the airport, where a little dog had been waiting for him.

Logan smiled widely, marveling at how the beggar ripped open one of the packets, splitting the bread into two, one for himself and one for his adorable dog.

After a few minutes of taking in the view around him, he quickly made his way inside as the coldness of January had hit. As he walked, he began planning how he'd make it through his final year of high-school in PalmWoods, where he'd be living soon.

He was thankful of his neighbour, whose computer skills never ceased to amaze him. He managed to get himself registered as a transfer student in PalmWoods high, how? He had no idea. It was all magic to him, since he never had the luxury to even touch a computer, let alone a phone.

"Right…" He looked up at the giant LED signboard which told him where his plane was. He only had 1 hour before take-off, so he had to quickly make his way through the checkpoints and registries, which wasn't too hard since he only had a backpack with some bread, clothes, books and a few other school stuff which was vital to him, along with his documents.

~2 hours later…

Logan sat quietly by the window. He didn't even care who sat next to him. All he knew was that as soon as he got out of the airport, he had about 40 minutes of walking to do to get to his new home, which his friend also got him… For free?

Neither of them knew how the house looked, but Logan knew where it was since he had the address to it.

"Hey bud," The man who sat next to him nudged his arms gently, making a gesture towards the stewardess who stopped at their row. He shook his head with a small smile, "I-I'm fine, thanks," He replied in a small whisper, remembering how he had used up all the money he had saved up for 1 year on this plane ticket.

He shut his eyes for a few seconds, hoping to get a good sleep. He hasn't had a good 8 hours sleep since… ever. This flight was supposed to take 6 hours, so sleeping for at least 5 out of the 6 hours sounded like heaven to him.

"Here you go, you look like you're about to end up dying any second now," The man said with a small frown. "T-Thank you…" Logan smiled gently taking the bottled 100-plus from the man's hand, drinking it gave him a small push of energy, which he was grateful for.

Logan took the chance to glance at his seat-neighbour and wow was he taken aback. The stranger looked like he was at least 2 years older, light brown eyes, hazel hair, a jaw line so sharp Logan thought it could cut people…

He had to quickly look away before he could stare for too long.

"Hey," He felt the stranger's gentle voice call him. Logan tried to pretend he was failing, though he found out he had failed when the stranger had nudged him gently, "I know you're awake. You're horrible at faking being asleep," A light chuckle came out of the stranger's mouth.

"W-What," Logan answered timidly, trying to hid his blush. This stranger is actually making an effort to talk to him…

Who does that…?

"You're pretty cute," He heard the stranger say, causing his pale cheeks to blare bright red.

Did he just hear that right?

"I'm a guy…" He answered quietly. Since the plane was rather quiet, with everyone being asleep for the rest of the flight, a whisper was loud enough for the stranger to hear Logan's voice.

"I'm fully aware of that," The stranger tried his best to hide a smile, though he failed. He would've rolled his eyes but something about this pale kid sitting next to him just sparked… Curiosity.

Logan looked out the plane's window, only to be greeted by the sight of an ocean made of clouds. He wanted to enjoy the view, but his eyes were starting to get heavy.

"Can I… Can I have your phone number?" The stranger asked, his voice hinting a bit of nervousness. Logan was rather shocked at the question, answering with a slight head shake. "I… I don't have a phone…" He answered, rather sadly.

The stranger was rather surprised. Who wouldn't have a phone nowadays? I mean sure, this pale kid might not be rich enough to buy the revolutionary flip phones but… Everyone owns at least a basic small phone. Well, at least everyone he knew owned a phone.

"H-How about emails…? W-We could talk through MySpace?" The stranger continued, desperate for a way to contact this beau after they separate once this flight ends.

"I-I'm sorry… I really don't own any sort of electronic devices…" Logan answered, his voice ringing with shame and sadness.

The way Logan answered his question caused sadness to flood the stranger's heart. His voice was just so sincere… So sad, broken… As if things had happened to this beau before.

The thought of something harming Logan had anger sparking in the stranger's heart… Why? He had no idea.

"Oh… Uh…" The stranger tried to think of ways, alternatives…

By the time he came up with something, his pale prince was asleep.

~6 hours later…

Logan felt gentle hands shake him awake. Expecting to be awakened by the kind, albeit flirty, stranger, he turned his head to the right, only to be disappointed.

One of the stewardesses had awakened him, informing him that the flight had ended.

With a small sigh, he stood up and picked up his backpack from the luggage department above his head. He was far too paranoid to leave his backpack, which weighed no more than 7 kilograms.

"Wait, sir," Before Logan could step far away from the plane's exit, a stewardess came towards him with fast steps, handing a small black pouch. "You left this at your seat sir," She smiled before returning to the plane.

Logan was unable to deny it was his, though it was far too late for him to find his seat-neighbour, since the gorgeous creature had already disappeared when he woke up.

He walked near the bathrooms before deciding to open up the pouch, revealing total of 7 000$ USD in 100$ USD bills inside with a small white piece of paper neatly folded. "W-W-What…" Logan stuttered, shutting the pouch, stuffing it into his pocket and unfolding the note, which had a white piece of handkerchief wrapping around it.

'Dear Logan,

I… I hope this isn't too much for you. Please take this, hope this little gift could help you with whatever's going through your life right now… And since you don't have a phone yet, here's my phone number. Who knows, maybe one day we could call each other up or something?

Here's a little handkerchief as a reminder that whatever happened on the plane, actually happened. I thought I was dreaming when I saw you… Glad I wasn't.

Hope we meet again someday soon…'

Logan's cheeks blushed furiously red. He folded the piece of paper up and stuffed it into his pocket, taking a quick whiff of the white hanky… It smelled so… Him.

It was hard to describe the smell but it just reminded Logan of the kind stranger. He really hoped that one day they would meet again…

"Okay Logie… no more dilly dallying," He whispered to himself, pulling his sweatshirt further since it was actually revealing more and more of his forearm, almost revealing one of the older cuts.

He couldn't waste time, he had to go and find his new home soon, so he could quickly settle down and find a part-time job around this area.

He quickly left the airport, turning a sharp left and following the exact directions his neighbour had given him prior to coming to PalmWoods. He remembered how his neighbour told him that he'd walk past PalmWoods High, then PalmWoods Apartment, and about 10 more minutes of walking, he'd arrive at where his new house was.

Boy was he shocked to see his new home, though he kind of did expect it…

The house was small, no bigger than his previous home, in-fact, it was smaller. It looked ridiculously run down, moss was growing on the side of the wood-built house, grass grew high in his front-yard. In the entire housing street, his house looked the worst.

The windows were either cracked, or missing, which meant snow could just whizz right into the rooms. Logan gulped as he walked to the front door, seeing how the door itself looked like it would come down any second.

Twisting the knob, Logan gently pushed the creaky wooden door open and boy was the sight ungodly. He was greeted by a dust and cobweb infested hallway, a door leading to his backyard, one door to the left, which was a living room, one door to the right, which led to his kitchen.

Walking up the creaky stairs, he was greeted by only one door at the end of the short hallway, which led to a decent-sized, although extremely dirty and unkept bedroom.

"Well… This is better than my old basement room… I've this house all to myself!" He joyfully exclaimed, setting his bag down onto the least dustiest part of the room before exploring the balcony through the door in his bedroom.

Sure, the house was ridiculously small, ruined down, disgusting and dirty… But with a little work here and there, he could make this into a decent living hole!

Logan was delighted to find a bathroom upstairs and a toilet downstairs. He was even more delighted to find that there was still electricity and water in the house, though no gas…

Wasting no time, he quickly changed to a cleaner set of clothes and set out to find a job, making his way to the busy streets located between his new high school and PalmWoods Apartments.

"H-Hi sir, excuse me…" He entered a cute little bakery with a few patrons around, immediately greeting a man who was busy putting bread in the displays. "Oh, yes. How can I help you?" The man greeted, stopping what he was doing immediately.

"I-I-I was hoping if I could m-maybe work here for part-time? I-I don't care about salary and work, I just need something to get me through my last year of high school," He blurted out with a shy voice.

"You'll have to talk to the manager over there," The man pointed at the counter with a small smile before resuming his work. "Thanks…" Logan trailed off, gulping as he neared the empty counter. He had never done this before, so he wasn't sure if he was doing it right.

"G-Good afternoon ma'am…" He timidly greeted the old lady, repeating what he said to the man earlier. "Oh of course deary! We've just opened up and we're short on staff right now, you came at just the right time!" The old woman smiled.

Before he knew it, Logan was offered an after-school job at the bakery as the cleaner, working a solid 6 hours job from 3PM till 9 PM, with a quick one hour break at 6PM.

Logan left the bakery with some delicious smelling bread he had bought with the money the stranger had handed him. He quickly made his way and paid the bills after reading from the mails in the ruined mailbox. Had he not been handed the money, his electric and water would've been cut off as well.

He was truly grateful to be blessed so much today…

Logan had just arrived at PalmWoods and already his life was 100% better than what he had before.