Chapter One: A Drive to Remember
"I just don't understand" replied Rachel Berry over the phone to her agent and long time best friend, Jesse St. James. "I kill with Don't Rain on My Parade. How could they not like what they heard? You said that all I would have to do was sing that song for them and the job was mine!"
Rachel, a high school star with high expectations had not found life to be too easy after leaving the dream of being the National Show Choir Championship star behind her last year. Convinced that she would make it big in New York City she had left with all of the money she could save and put a lease on an apartment. For the past six months she had done nothing but work at Ellen's Stardust Diner as a singing waitress and auditioning at countless places in the hopes of one day achieving her one dream, to be a star on Broadway. She realized a while back that her personal feelings of superiority seemed to be quite unfounded, for no one seemed to really take to her as she was so sure they would. After this latest failure, not getting a part time job singing at a sleazy night club, Rachel was feeling not only ashamed but defeated.
"They just said that you weren't what they were looking for at the moment but to come back again in a few months and reapply" said Jesse. "But don't give up hope yet! All it takes is for one call back and your entire life could change."
"But the problem is is that I don't even want these stupid jobs! All you are getting me are these stupid jobs as singing waitresses and that idiotic job as a singing delivery person; I'm a star Jesse! I want to be on Broadway, singing alongside Sutton Foster or Kristin Chenoweth not making eight dollars an hour at SingSong Telegrams!" Rachel yelled into the phone. As she angrily hung up the phone she instantly regretted it. She really had been working so hard on not letting her ambition and conceitedness get the better of her but this constant denial and failure had been putting her in one of her moods where lashing out seemed the only possible thing to do. Intending to call Jesse back and apologize, her favorite karaoke club, Ally's Karaoke happened to catch her eye and decided she would just call Jesse back later and give him time to cool off.
As she walked inside the cozy lounge she finally felt at home. Ever since she had found this quaint little club that was off the beaten track she found herself coming here more and more. It was her getaway from the vastly disappointing world of rejections and letdowns. Here she could sing her heart out and everyone loved her, they clapped and begged for more. It was in this club that Rachel found herself living out her favorite fantasy; she could shut her eyes and be transported to a world where she could just feel the warmth and love of a crowd that truly did appreciate her and her talent.
Tonight was no different, as she walked into the club she heard the traditional greetings of admirers and acquaintances. She sat at her usual table by herself and listened to some twenty something drunk girl pitifully butcher "And I Will Always Love You" and wondered why people who truly could not sing would ever get up in front of a crowd and pour their hearts out, it could only ever lead to embarrassment. As the girl finished Rachel tried to think of what song from her repertoire she would belt out tonight. She was definitely feeling something chilling yet beautiful. She would have sang one of her old favorites, "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" but ever since that song didn't get her into NYADA she had strong feelings against it. It may have helped her school win the National School Choir Championship but her last chance performance for Carmen Tibideaux wasn't enough to get her access to the school of her dreams. Settling on one of her all time favorites "Defying Gravity," she got up there poured her heart and soul into the song. Her voice softly caressed each note as she sang and she could see as the small crowd looked at her in awe and amazement, perhaps even a touch of jealousy.
As the last shouts of "Bravo!" and "Encore!" were being shouted Rachel sat down and decided to drown her sorrows in some wine, for the club never carded. She smiled as she remembered her own dabbling with alcohol in high school and how much fun she used to have with her friends. Before long she had finished a couple glasses and got up to leave. As she got into her car, the only gift from her dads as she ventured off into her new life she realized she probably shouldn't get in. She decided to take the streets that weren't necessarily the most populated, streets that people usually avoided late at night in an effort to avoid hitting anyone.
As she was driving to her apartment she kept thinking about how her life in New York had been such a letdown so far and how nothing seemed to be going her way. Her talent was indisputable and her resumé was slightly lacking yet no one could deny that having a national title was certainly impressive. She had given up so much all in the efforts to make it big in this wonderful world that she dreamed of her entire life. She just hadn't understood how much she would sacrifice, how hard she would try. The young star thought that giving up her life back home was enough of a sacrifice she didn't know that she would have to throw everything she had in her again and again in the hopes that something sticks. Rachel hadn't even allowed herself a boyfriend in school because she knew that her happiness was here in New York City. She knew that path she was headed on must be traveled alone.
As all these thoughts were rushing through her head, filling her with feelings of remorse and guilt she didn't even see the large man running across the road. Before she could even think about it she was upon him and it was all she could do to slam on her brakes and pray for the best.
-Earlier that same day-
It was all Finn Hudson could do to not restrain himself from beating the crap out of the useless little man standing in front of him. If what he was saying was true, then Finn wouldn't even be able to stay at the Center anymore and he would officially be homeless. The Center took in boys off the street where they had no where else to go and offered them food and shelter for manual labor around the city.
"You don't understand sir, its the other boys that are out to get me!" Finn protested but to no avail, it appeared that Mr. Roberts only had one thing on his mind and that was to get Finn kicked out this last safe haven.
"I'm sorry kid, I really am but I can't appear to be tolerating this kind of behavior, especially from some kid who has the option to go home if he wanted to" replied Mr. Roberts not at all apologetically despite his words. "I've been hearing these reports for months now, brawls in the cafeteria and assaults on the basketball court, it's no way to run a center that is supposed to be an escape from the harsh world."
"It's not fair, they have it in for me!" Finn shouted again, desperately hoping for Mr. Roberts to understand that Finn didn't ask for any of this. "I know how it sounds but they're jealous of me! They taunt me because I was the star quarterback for my school and have a house in the suburbs."
"It seems to me your life is pretty good then son. Why don't you head going back to all that if you have it all? Most of these boys would kill for that kind of home life." asked Mr. Roberts, but gave the impression that he couldn't care less why Finn left his life. All he seemed to care about was Finn leaving so that he could restore order to his center.
However, Finn just stood there not offering any explanation as to why a nineteen year old boy would leave his home and life behind and choose instead to live in a community center with twenty other boys. He stood there for a solid minute until the awkward silence was too much for the Director to handle and forced him to once again ask the boy to leave.
"I'm sorry, I feel guilty about having to do it but I have to do it for the good of the other kids who don't have the option to go home to a nice loving family. Whatever there issue with you is, whether it be well founded or not is just causing too many problems. I wish you the best of luck and I can probably swing some money for you out of your emergency fund if you still insist on not going home."
"I don't need your money, I'm fine on my own." Finn replied angrily and stormed off to his bedroom to gather his belongings. As he headed up the three flights of stairs he just grew more and more angry. Mr. Roberts and the other kids at the Center knew nothing about his home life. It was ludicrous that they bullied him because he had such a "wonderful" home life. If they knew half the stuff he had to deal with at home they wouldn't harass him so much. Most of those kids came from homes where parents just couldn't make ends meet and realized that it would be better for their children to have them work at the center and be guaranteed a meal than scrounge around the city looking for scraps. Other kid's parents didn't want them, they grew to just be more trouble than they were worth. Because they came from such awful places Finn thought that they would understand better than anyone that life wasn't all it was cracked up to be but he was wrong. As he was packing the last of his few precious belongings together his one and only friend left to him in the world, Blake Renner walked up to him.
"Is it true man? Is Mr. Roberts really giving you the boot?"
"It doesn't matter, I'll be better off on my own anyway" said Finn. "Let's be honest, all we ever have here is grilled cheese and stale cookies for a whole lot of work that isn't worth it."
"So what then, you're just going to leave? And where are you going to live and what are you going to eat and how are we going to be able to see each other?" asked Blake. He could tell from his cracking voice that he was giving away how upset he was but he didn't seem to care.
"I'm going to be just fine, I still have a little bit of my savings left over from home and for a while I can just do my own thing. The whole point of me leaving home was to clear my head, see and try to understand a little bit more of the world and try to gain some perspective." said Finn warily.
"You know that's not the whole reason you left, and the more you run away from it the more it will end up haunting you." warned Blake.
"I'll be just fine" and with that Finn walked out of the Center, trying to prepare himself for the next phase of his life and the challenges ahead. He decided to go and sit at his favorite little outdoor cafe and read the large collection of newspapers that had accumulated on the ground around the place. While Finn was never the biggest fan of reading or school, it was something to keep him occupied and before long he had noticed that it was getting dark. Just as he was about to get up and find a nice enclosed space for him to spend the night something caught his eye.
As he quickly scanned the article in horror he felt all the feelings of rage, disappointment, sorrow, and angst he had been feeling for months now all come rushing back and hit him like a giant wave. He got up in a daze and found a semi-sketchy alleyway and let out all of his emotions. His feelings of abandonment and guilt and shame were so strong that he realized this life he was living had been hard enough but with this new knowledge, it was just too much. The more he thought about it the more he realized how much he no longer wanted to be apart of a world that wouldn't stick up for him, that wouldn't see how much pain he was really in. In that moment he decided that there was only thing to do, to end it all.
He made off for the Brooklyn Bridge with only thing in mind, to make the jump. He was running so fast he didn't even notice the headlights that could be seen around the corner. Finn's one and only thought was to make it to the bridge before he could change his mind. Before he knew it, the car was on him and all of a sudden everything went black.