Images flashed.

Johns angry father yelling at his mother. He then strikes her and she falls. Young John watches as she is stuck again and again.

His father yells at Harriet. A similar scene plays through.

Then he closes in on John.

Cps. After a few tense months, summarized very quickly by the flashing images. People keep asking questions. How clumsy John and his mother must be to sustain all those injuries.

Then the police barged in. Taking Harriet and his father. Why Harriet!? He wanted to yell, but he didn't. He knew the answer.

"Harry" was at the bottle again.

The car crash. The one that took his mother. He'd been in the passengers seat. That scene dragged out the longest.

John sat up. Breathing heavily. He clutched his plain khaki sheets. Standard issue at his school, Denton Heights.

His aunt had dumped him there it seemed, when she discovered the fights he was getting in at school. It didn't seen to make a difference.

He lasted a year. Then he was jumped on the schools own grounds. He fought back as well as he could, but was out numbered.

He sustained a long, deep cut from his shoulder to his chest. He was also stabbed in the leg, but he hadn't even realized that until he'd woken up in the hospital.

There it was explained that he'd passed out from blood loss. His aunt sobbed and apologized, but he tuned her out. He'd tuned everyone out for a long time. He and Harry grew distant.

All of this information sat like a rock in his stomach. He sat in an equally stone like position at the very edge of his therapist, Ella's leather chair.

"How's your Notebook going?"

"Good." He clipped. "It's uh..really good."

She sighed sadly. "You haven't written anything, have you?"

John nodded resting his chin on his fist. He tilted his head slightly on his fist. His eyes widened. "Trust issues?" He asked.

"And you read my writing upside down. You see what I mean?" She blinked thoughtfully.

Johns mouth twitched and he played with the arm of the couch.

"John you're an intelligent young man. Give the shift time. You'll adjust to the new way of life soon enough. Keeping a journal about everything that happens to you will honestly help."

Johns face is stoic as he says, "Nothing happens to me."