Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Square Enix.
Chapter Nine:
The next Monday, things were awkward. Vincent knew something happened with Lucrecia and Hojo. He stared Hojo down coldly as he walked to his seat. Hojo just had a stupid look on his face. 'Asshole. Trying to look so smart,' Vincent thought to himself. Lucrecia walked in the room right after Hojo, and she looked sad. He saw a scratch on the side of her face. 'The bastard ruined her beauty!' Vincent thought angrily. She sat down, not looking to Vincent once. Hojo walked to his seat, looking to Vincent with a hard glare. Vincent tried not to pay attention to him for the rest of that class.
"She kicked you out!" Cloud said, after Vincent had spent the whole lunch hour telling him about how things went at Lucrecia's house. Vincent sighed and rolled his eyes. "I don't know if I'd call it that.." he said.
"But Vincent, technically if she shut the door on you and left you standing there in the pouring rain, that means she must have kicked you out." Vincent looked at him. "Thanks, Cloud," he said sarcastically. Cloud smiled slightly. Vincent rested his head on his palm, thinking. "Well, you should have seen the look on her face when she was on the phone. I heard someone yelling on the other end. She looked scared, Cloud," he said. Cloud patted his shoulder. "No, Cloud, she was scared," he said, still not looking at him. He felt really bad about what had happened. He sighed. "I don't want her to be scared, Cloud," he said. Cloud patted his shoulder again. "It's alright, Vincent. I'm sure she has at least a little feeling for you," said Cloud.
"Yeah, right. Someone like me?" Vincent replied, grabbing his stuff and walking away.
Vincent had thought about it for the whole day. He needed to know what happened that night. Not knowing was killing him. He hated seeing Lucrecia with that fearful look on her face. He was standing outside the school, waiting for Lucrecia to come out. He smoked while he waited. Thoughts scurried through his head. All he cared about right now was her. He wanted to know the truth. Sucking in cigarette smoke, he tensed up. He breathed it all out, relaxing his muscles. Then, Lucrecia emerged from the school building, Hojo wasn't by her side. Vincent threw the cigarette into a bush, and pushed a piece of mint gum into his mouth. "Lucrecia," he said, walking up to her. She looked away shyly. "Hello, Vincent.. I'm sorry, but I have to go," she said, not wanting to look at him.
Vincent saw the scratch on her face closely. It was pretty deep. "Lucrecia, wait. I need to know what happened that night," he said, walking beside her. She kept quickening her pace, her head lowered. "I-It's none of your business.." she said. "But it is! Someone is yelling at you on the phone, and suddenly I have to leave! Then you come back with a scratch on your neck!"
"Stop it! Just stop it.." She stopped, putting her head in her hands. Vincent stopped, not knowing if she should hug her. "Lucrecia.." he said, witnessing her tears fall. "P-Please! Just go away!" she said, running down the sidewalk. Vincent sighed, his heart was pained. He hated to see her cry. She hadn't gotten too far when he said, "Hojo." Lucrecia turned, looking at Vincent with tear stained eyes. Vincent walked toward her slowly, trying not to be tough. She looked away shamefully. "...He hits you, doesn't he?" he asked solemnly. He needed a truthful answer. He needed to help her through this! "Vincent...I'd rather you not get into this.."
"Just tell me, Lucrecia. You don't have anything to fear with me." She looked at him, her eyes watering. Vincent desperately wanted to reach up and brush her tears away, but his nerves held him back. "No one understands! H-He raped me, and made me give up my baby, okay! I didn't even get to hold him once! Just once! I was only 16, but he made me give it away!" she cried, shocking Vincent by holding onto his arms for support. Vincent held her up, listening to everything. "I was so upset...He hits me all the time, and it's all my fault! I'm only staying because he says he'll kill me if I ever left him..." Vincent's heart sank. He had heard enough. So much pain she had been suffering from, and he failed to stop it.
"Lucrecia, I-I.." he began, but she shook her head, overwhelmed with emotion. She pulled her arms away from him, crying as she ran home. Vincent stood there for a long time on the sidewalk. His heart seemed to stop beating. What he just saw overwhelmed him with guilt and sadness. He could have stopped this a long time ago. But his damn emotions got in the way! 'Damnit, Valentine! Now you've fucked it ALL up! why can't you ever be helpful to others? You let Lucrecia get hurt!' his thoughts told him. He fought to hold back his own emotions as he walked back to his apartment.
That night, Vincent's 9mm pistol laid on his mattress. He was left pacing back and forth in his room. A bag of marijuana- well, and empty bag of marijuana layed near his pillow. He had also smoked alot of pot, and his head was spinning. He shuddered nervously, his eyes twitched. Rubbing his wrists, he paced back and forth more. Gun on the bed, drugs in the drawer, pills in the cabinet, razors in the bathroom. He had alot of choices, they all ran through his head. He then fell to his knees, stumbling from all the drugs he had taken. His hands shaking, he pulled the drawer open to see if he had anymore drugs. He had run out. He had no money, either. He grunted in anger, standing up weakily and walking to the bathroom. He looked at his reflection. His face was pale, his eyes were dark and his head pounded.
He opened the cabinet. There were some razors for shaving, and lots of pills. He looked to the bottles of pills, grabbing them with trembling fingers. Three different kinds of headache medicine he could choose from. He stumbled back into his room, sitting on his bed. He put his pistol on the nightstand, opening the bottles of pills. Some pills were big, some were small. He popped three pills into his mouth. "That one's for dad.." he mumbled. He picked up three more pills, throwing them down his throat. "That's for all the money I owe.." he said. And then he grabbed a handful, over 10 pills in his hand at once. He threw them all down his throat, swallowing sharply.
"And that one's..for.." he stuttered, falling weakly onto his soft, red bed. But he was slipping away. He reached out with his hand, trying to grab onto his blanket, but he couldn't. His eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he fell unconscious.
"...Lucrecia."
