Author's Note: I'm gonna change Vincent's original hometown from Eltaro to Kalm because be doing so research, it is more likely Vincent originially lived in Kalm. I'm talking about the home in the first chapter where Vincent's family was killed, not the place he lives now. I like Tech City too much to change it.

"Idiot!" Vernica shouted.

I tried to copy the keys again, but Vernica whacked my hand with some... stick thing. Is that a paddle?

"You're useless! How are you going to take care of the family business if you can barely take care of yourself?"

This is one of the reasons why I hate piano lessons. What's the point of this lesson? I'm not going to be a musician or anything. If they're so concerned about me being ready to take care of the family business, then why are they wasting their time teaching me to do something that won't help with my chosen future in any way? I may never know.

We didn't pay attention to the doorbell ringing because there's a guy that answers it. It's a real shame. If I had to get it, it would be my chance to get a break. A guy can only dream.

"You're off tune, you twit!"

"Ouch!"

Vernica slapped me on the back of my head. She's quite a #$$. Ugh!

The butler (I think that's the guy who answers the door) walked in the room and up to Jonathon, who was leaning on the wall in the corner watching me.

"There's someone at the door who wants to see you, sir," the butler informed Jonathon.

"What now? Is it important?" Jonathon rudely asked.

"I think so."

"Ugh! How is it important?" Jonathon obviously wasn't in the mood for this.

"Is he comin' or not?" The voice of an impatient young woman could be heard. She must be the visitor.

Jonathon snorted then headed for the door. Vernica quickly followed him, giving me the chance to get some rest. The butler was gone in a split second. I was curious about whoever was visiting, so I got up from the piano seat and crept outside the music room. Jonathon and Vernica didn't even notice me following them. Thank goodness! They made a turn in the middle of the hallway and headed for the front door that was already open.

A young female, probably only in her early or mid twenties was standing outside of the open door. As Jonathon approached her, Vernica stayed a little farther from the door, while I peeked over the side of the doorway.

I studied the young woman's features. She had long, straight, bright blond hair, was skinny but not too slim, and she was wearing black leather pants with an unbuttoned leather jacket, and a silver coloured shirt underneath the jacket, which showed part of her stomach. She was also wearing stylish sunglasses. I had to admit they were rad and that she was pretty.

"Hello there. I'm Jonathon Valentine," Jonathon introduced as he walked up to her. "And you are?"

"Save it!" she commanded sharply. She flashed a clipboard I hadn't noticed she was carrying. "I'm here on business!" Her voice was sharp like a cop's.

"Uhh...what brings you were?" Jonathon stammered as he tried to sound polite.

I wished I could see his face. His voice sounded a bit uneasy.

"I'm Luesa Cruser, social worker and detective." She flashed her two badges she got out of her pocket with one hand then stuffed the badges back in her pocket. "You should know why I'm here." She slid her glasses down a bit to reveal sharp blue eyes. Even her eyes were pretty. There was just one problem. She looked more like a biker chick then a social worker or detective. I didn't mind this. I actually found it amusing and interesting.

Jonathon stretched his arm out to the doorway, trying to keep Luesa out. He hesitated for a moment then calmed, "What seems to be the problem? I can assure you everything is fine here."

"Suuurrrre," Luesa sarcastically remarked. "I don't like that look in you eye." Luesa's eyes narrowed some more as she said this.

"W-what look?" Jonathon stammered.

"Never mind."

They stared at each other for a minute. Even though I was far away from the door, I could see her eyes scowling at Uncle.

"Well?" Luesa now had the clipboard up to her chest. She tapped her foot impatiently.

"Well what?"

"Are ya gonna let me in?" She glared at Jonathon's arm, which was still stretched out to the side of the door, blocking her.

"This really isn't a..."

Before Jonathon could finish his sentence, Luesa pushed him out of her way then shouted, "Outta my way!" She walked inside like she owned the place. Luesa almost caused Jonathon to land flat on his face from pushing him, but he managed to regain his balance by grabbing the side of the door.

Vernica was just standing there shocked. She wasn't too far away, so I could see her expression very clearly. I was shocked myself. I didn't know which shocked me most. The big, bad, strong Jonathon being pushed around by Luesa even though he was older and bigger than her, or the loud mouth, bossy Vernica watching a younger woman walk into her home without permission. Luesa kept her eyes on the clipboard as she walked until she stopped beside Vernica.

She turned her head towards my aunt then asked, "His father is reported alive while I see you two goofs watching him. Where is he and why did he leave his only kid to you two?"

I swear Vernica was going to freak out. I had never seen her this scared of anyone before. She finally gained enough courage to answer. "His father still has custody of him, but he's away a lot on business. Jonathon and I are often caring for our dear Vincent."

DEAR! VINCENT! I never heard her use those words about me since before most of my family got killed. Let alone in the same sentence. She normally doesn't even call me by my real name. She would usually call me stuff like retarded or things like twit, reject, and even some cuss words.

"Uh huh," Luesa put her eyes on the clipboard to look for something. "Are you the family who was hidden by the government after that one incident in Kalm?"

"Yes, we've been through a lot, especially poor Vinny."

She was using two words I had never thought she would use in the same sentence again.

"Uh huh," Luesa wrote something in her clipboard as she said this. Luesa didn't sound convinced at all. "If everything is so dandy, then you wouldn't mind if I interviewed Vincent and had a look around the mansion. Right?" Luesa looked at Vernica with an "I'm not convinced and I'm gonna look around the mansion for evidence so I can throw you in jail" look. Vernica had a blank look (probably trying to look calm), while Jonathon stood behind her and kept glaring. For a moment, I was worried he had spotted me, but I later realized he was just glaring at Luesa. He still didn't know I was there. Maybe they did, but they probably didn't say anything because I was the least of their concerns right now. Then again, when was I ever their concern?

"Go ahead," Jonathon said without looking at her.

"Good, now we can finally get started. First, Vincent." She looked in my direction. I was both scared and comforted. I was comforted because her unpleased look turned into a friendly face, and I had a feeling she might finally free me from this pain. I was scared because I could see Jonathon glaring at me, and I was worried that if Luesa found evidence, then what? Would I get left here until she or another detective could do more investigating? Would the judge, cops, or any authority figure believe me?

Luesa went over to me, then flipped a few pages through the clipboard. "How about we go somewhere private to talk?"

I didn't know what to say. For years, I hoped for someone to come and save me, but now that I finally got what I wanted, I was too scared to talk. It went to show that even when I was not getting beaten or if I was around an authoritarian figure, Jonathon and Vernica still had control over me somehow. It was as if invisible puppet strings were attached to almost every place in my body, including my mouth, and Vernica and Jonathon had a hold of these strings. They somehow sealed my mouth shut.

"Vincent? Are you ready?"

I didn't know what I should do. Maybe if Vernica and Jonathon hadn't been in the room, I probably would have been able to reply a lot easier. I glanced over at Jonathon, to find him nodding. Was he nodding, telling me to go with her? Yes, that must have been it. If I refused, she might have gotten suspicious. Then again, I kind of wanted her to get suspicious so I could get out of all this. They hadn't been doing that much to me lately, but I didn't want to take the chance of it fading. Once they had the courage to beat me again, they'd make it ten times worse when the time was right.

"Vincent?" Luesa kept calling my name.

"Huh? What?"

"I said are you ready?"

"Oh...sure."

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"Let's begin," Luesa closed the library door behind her. "Shall we?" She walked up to me and motioned for me to sit down.

I pulled out a chair I found under a desk, and took a seat.

"Okay, let's begin." Luesa looked prettier up close.

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I didn't know how long she'd been asking me these questions. I was starting to get nervous. She asked me a LOT of questions. She even asked the same questions, but in a more complex way. I can't explain it that well.

It was hard for me to keep my trap shut because the truth was starting to really bother me. I felt like a criminal being questioned by a cop. The truth bounced around my body as if searching for a way out, but I still managed to lie.

"Okay, we're done for now." Luesa finished writing in her clipboard then headed for the door.

"Aren't you a bit young to be a social worker?" I knew it was a stupid question, but I was just curious.

"Why? Is it a problem?" Luesa blankly asked without looking at me.

"No! No. I was just wondering."

"Alright. Are you sure you don't have anything to tell me?"

"Yeah, I'm sure." I kept my eyes on the floor so I wouldn't make my lying too obvious.

Luesa left the library and closed the wooden door behind her. I wondered what she was up to, so got up and trooped to the door, and started to slowly open the door just a crack to keep the door from creaking. I could see Vernica, Jonathon, and Luesa standing near the gigantic stairs.

"This is just a misunderstanding," Vernica falsely assured.

"I don't believe you. You two dopes look mighty suspicious to me," Luesa sharply informed.

"The law says we're innocent until proven guilty," Jonathon explained. "You don't even have any evidence of child abuse."

"First of all, in MY EYES you're both guilty until proven innocent," Luesa began. "I play by my own rules and get stuff done my way as long as it's legal. Second, you were acting suspicious about me coming in, as if you didn't want me to enter." Luesa started to look annoyed. Although I couldn't see the expression on her eyes, I could tell by her voice, and by the way she had one hand on her hips and the other holding the clipboard. "What's wrong? Are you afraid I'll find something embarrassing or threatening that you don't want me to see?"

"I just felt a bit embarrassed about you seeing how terrible the mansion looks."

"So does your hair, clothes, and face, but those don't seem to bother me too much."

I had to restrain myself from laughing. Vernica put her hand on her mouth so she wouldn't crack up.

"That goes for your marshmallow hair, too," Luesa teased while glancing at Vernica.

It was now Jonathon's turn to laugh, but instead he just grinned. In case you didn't get Luesa's insult, she said it because Vernica's hair was kind of puffy. She probably was the first person to ever call Vernica something like that. If I called her anything like Puff Ball or even said her hair was puffy, I wouldn't live to tell the tale.

"Now then, aren't you gonna show me around the mansion?" Luesa questioned. She still didn't sound friendly to them.

"Sure. I'll show you around." Jonathon walked ahead to lead Luesa around. Vernica and Luesa followed closely behind.

I had a feeling something like this was gonna happen. You're wondering why, aren't you? Here's how it started. For a while, teachers started getting a bit suspicious about me. They even asked me questions like, "Are things at home okay?" and stuff like that. The only reason they didn't get mighty suspicious for a while was because whenever Uncle beat me, he would normally bruise me in places where nobody would notice. He had many places he could damage because my school uniform is long sleeved and the pants are so long they reach clear down to my ankles, so most places were open for Jonathon to whack.

Last week, Jonathon went a bit crazy because I was late getting home. It was the day Joey showed me Northsky Falls. No, I didn't blame Joey. Nothing probably would have kept Jonathon from going a bit psycho on me because he was drunk out of his mind. Luckily, the only thing Vernica had had was a bit of wine so I didn't have to worry about her too much, although she was really being verbally abusive.

Don't worry, he didn't do anything permanent. He mostly just thrashed me. Okay, that sounds bad, but trust me. It's better than it sounds. He used to beat me a LOT worse. He hasn't done it since a month or two before I started school. I still can't figure out why he has backed off. He left a bunch of bruises all over my body. He was careless enough to bruise one of my cheeks.

I was worried he was going to knock out a tooth. I already lost all my baby teeth, and I don't want to lose my wisdom teeth. I would look like a hockey player. I lost almost all my teeth from Jonathon pulling them. Sometimes he would pull them out because I kept messing with it (I was only a kid, so what did ya expect?), I complained about it hurting (I learned not to complain about it to my aunt or uncle the hard way), and they sometimes just did it for punishment. They sometimes would pull it out even when it wasn't loose at all! Jonathon sometimes punched them out of me. My cries of pain only made things worse.

The day after I was shown Northsky Falls, my math teacher, Mrs. Rubert, asked me to stay after class. She asked about my bruise, and I just lied that I bumped it earlier that morning while I was getting up.

I seriously doubt that's the REAL reason Luesa's here. Something else happened. It was only yesterday.

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Flashback

"Thanks a lot, Joey! Why didn't you tell me we had gym!?" I demanded as I entered the gymnasium.

I was in a terrible mood because I had arrived in computer class to find that everyone was at PE. Because of this, I was almost late. Instead of his school uniform, Joey was dressed in a sleeveless white shirt and blue shorts that had a white line decorated on the side vertically.

"What are you wearing?" I looked at Joey wide-eyed. I thought we weren't supposed to wear anything at school besides our uniform.

"I should be asking you the same thing."

"What are you..." I was cut off by a bald, old guy entering the room. He had a gym outfit on with a whistle hanging around his neck. Obviously, he was the PE teacher.

The PE teacher blew his whistle. Everyone started to line up. Joey grabbed me by my arm to lead me to the line. The room that was once loud and noisy was now quiet and silent. The teacher started to walk past us with a clipboard like a cop analyzing suspects of a crime. He kind of creeped me out. He didn't look too friendly. I had a feeling I wouldn't like him. Maybe it was because his eyes reminded me of my uncle.

Nothing serious happened at first, but then it happened. Just when I was starting to feel calmer, he stopped in front of me, then faced me. His glare made me nervous.

Oh man! What did I do now?

"Why aren't you dressed out?" The PE teacher's voice was harsh.

I was now scared. Usually when things like this happened, I would get beaten any minute, so I didn't know what to expect.

"I-I..." I didn't finish me sentence because I didn't have much of an answer.

"Did you forget?"

"N-no... yes... sort of. I didn't know, uhhh..."

"Mr. See. Where were you the past three years of middle school? What did you do? Skip out."

"N-no, Mr. See!" I stammered. "I was home schooled. I never had PE before."

Mr. See was quiet for a few minutes. I couldn't tell if he was mad or unsure of my answer. I was soon about to find out.

"Alright, I'll let it slide this time. There are spare gym clothes in my office."

"B-but, but..."

"What's wrong now?" Mr. See was starting to get impatient with me.

I heard someone snicker, then glanced in the direction of whoever snickered. I wasn't surprised to find Bruner making fun of me.

"Change now!" Mr. See commanded. "You have five minutes." Mr. See started to look at his watch.

"But..."

"Four minutes and fifty-two seconds."

I had no choice. I ran straight at the office. I sped like I was being shot out of the cannon. Other students laughed at me as I made this run.

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"C'mon! We don't have all day!" Mr. See shouted.

I didn't want to come out. I was panicking inside.

"Do you want me to drag you outta there!?" Mr. See yelled some more.

"No!"

"Then come out!"

I still didn't move. I just couldn't.

"Fine, if you want it that way... Bruner!"

Bruner went in on cue and started heading for me. Before I could think about my actions, I ran out of the locker room and headed for Joey. I lined up back beside him, and tried to stand up straight.

Bruner was about to go back in his place in line, when he started staring at me.

"HOLY #$$!" Bruner shouted.

All eyes were on me now. The class, Mr. See, and even Joey stared at me. I knew what they were staring at. It's the reason I didn't want to come out. They were staring at the scars, scratches, bruises, and everything else that was on my legs and arms. I trembled a bit. I didn't know what was going to happen. I could barely move because of all this fear. Mr. See was silent for a while.

After a while, he finally said with a shaky voice, "L-let's start out with push ups."

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I did well in PE. In fact, Mr. See said I was one of the best students he had. If it weren't for everyone's staring, silence, and talking behind my back, I would have enjoyed beating Bruner at basketball easily with Joey.

Mr. See never asked me anything. He must have known I would lie, so he probably got Luesa instead.

"See, nothing wrong," Jonathon assured Luesa as he followed her down the stairs.

I watched from the hallway as Luesa headed for the door with Jonathon following her closely behind. Vernica stayed at the staircase. Luesa stopped in front of the door for a moment.

"I'm not buying it," Luesa said without looking at Jonathon. "I bet Vincent has evidence written all over him, but I don't wanna invade his privacy without his okay. He seems to be too scared to open up to me. I don't know what you did to him, but whatever it was, you're not getting away with it. From now on, I'm gonna visit you guys frequently to assure Vincent's safety. One of these days, I'll catch you. Just consider it a friendly visit, except for the part of me throwing you two in jail when I get enough evidence."

"You really shouldn't accuse someone of a crime without evidence," Jonathon scolded.

"You should be worrying more about yourselves. I follow my instinct, and it's never failed me yet. Remember, I will visit when I choose. I won't tell you when I'll come because I don't want to give you two preps the chance to hide evidence before I arrive, so don't bother asking!" Luesa exited the mansion with style. I love the way she walks. No! I don't have a crush on her! She's like ten years older than me!

I ran to the front window and watched Luesa speed away in her red motorcycle. She was a biker chick after all!

After she disappeared on a turn, I remembered my uncle and aunt, and expected to get hit and/or yelled at.

Instead, Uncle just walked to Vernica and whispered, "Are my clothes and hair really terrible?"

They didn't say a word to me the rest of the day. They even fed me a full and warm dinner. That's pretty rare! I usually didn't get fed that much, and my food usually had some things like rotting parts or mould or worse. I liked Luesa already. I couldn't wait for another visit.

I'm really close to where things get dramatic. It's gonna start in the next chapter or the chapter after that, so be patient with me. Sorry if this chapter or any chapters weren't good or interesting. I'm also sorry for mistakes. I was in a hurry and didn't bother rereading because I'm eager to get to the dramatic parts.