Coroner

by HikaruHitachiin1957

Ever since his father's sudden disappearance, Hikaru's life has taken a dark turn. With his mom turning to alcohol and becoming abusive, Hikaru becomes arrogant and reckless. Not letting anyone get too close to him. Tired of his behavior, the principal sets him up with Haruhi Fujioka, who just might be able to break through the thick protective wall he has up.

17. Chapter 16

"Get out here!" Mom yelled as she pounded on my bedroom door. "I know you took my fucking wallet you ungrateful bastard!"

"I didn't take anything." I mumbled under my breath before taking a drag of my cigarette. "You just lost it."

It was late at night and I was sitting in my room in complete darkness, the only light in the room was the light from the moon coming from the window, as I sat down on the floor with my back to the closed door, feeling every vibration of her pounding on the door. Luckily, my door was able to lock, but I put myself up against it just in case she tried to kick it down. She's been trying to get to me out of my room for the past few hours when she discovered that her wallet wasn't in her purse and immediately thought it was me. Once I heard her yell my name as she stormed up the stairs yelling for me I locked my door and resumed doing my homework assignment as she yelled for me to come out and calling me vulgar names and slurs, but I just tuned her out by listening to music. I thought she would've tired herself out by the time I finished with my assignment but she only seemed to have gotten angrier. So, I just turned off the lights so I could go to bed once she was finished.

That was three hours ago and she didn't seem like she was going to stop anytime soon. I glanced over at the clock, it was 12:30 in the morning. I had school tomorrow so I would have to go to bed soon if I wanted to have a decent night sleep, but I knew it wouldn't be able to sleep while she's yelling and hitting my door. If it was even possible, mom was starting to become even worse. Ever since her work's New Year's party, she has brought home stronger alcohols, which caused her to become even more verbally and physically abusive. No matter what I did she would yell or hit me, even if I did as she said. So now I mostly stayed in my room so I wouldn't anger her until all the hard liquor she brought home was gone, and by how fast she's been drinking that shit it'll hopefully only last for a few more days if I'm lucky.

After a few more minutes of mom pounding on my door, it suddenly stopped and the room grew dead silent. I blew the smoke of the last drag I took and looked behind me at the door, seeing the light from the hallway from the bottom of my door turn off. Did mom finally tire herself out? I let out a sigh of relief that was finally over, but I soon felt myself grow a little tense when I didn't hear the door to her room close. I know that what I was planning to do was dumb and could possibly get me hurt, but I had to make sure that she was actually gone if I wanted to be able to sleep.

I placed my half burnt cigarette in my ashtray that I had between my crossed legs and stood up. I slowly unlocked the door, feeling my heart beating loudly in my chest. What the fuck was I doing? Mom may be drunk but she wasn't dumb, she most likely was waiting for me outside, she's done before when we were younger. I should just lock the door again and try to go to sleep, but right as I went to lock my door again I saw the door handle turn downward, causing my stomach to drop. Fuck, she must've heard me unlock the door!

Almost immediately I felt her try to push the door open with all her force, but I refused to let her in. I had my palms on the door and used all my strength to keep her from opening it, but for some reason, she had suddenly grown five times stronger in the past few minutes that it was becoming difficult to keep the door closed.

In only a matter of seconds, I could feel my muscles ache in my arms to the point that they were actually burning and the balls of my feet began to slide on the slick wood flooring away from the door. I soon had to switch to my back because my arms were about to give out at any moment and tried to use all my body and leg strength to keep the door from opening, but it was barely enough. How the fuck did she get this strong in only a matter of minutes?

"I might need your help Yuzuha," I heard Isao strain from behind the door.

Fuck, no wonder it was difficult to keep the door closed, Isao was the one trying to open the door now, not mom. She must've gotten him while she left so he could try and get in my room when I unlocked it. Isao was not even close to being a bodybuilder, but he was muscular and fit. I was lucky that I was able to even keep the door closed for so long with him pushing against the other side, but I knew once mom joined in I definitely wouldn't be able to hold the door, so I had to lock the door again as quick as I can.

I used the last ounce of my strength that I had to have the door close all the way for just enough time for me to move my hand back over to the door handle and locked it. I took a few steps away from the door and nervously stared at it. I could see my door shake from the pressure that was being applied to it, but it should be able to keep them out. After a few minutes passed, mom began yelling at me to get out again and calling me vulgar names, which I tried my best to just ignore as I went and grabbed my cigarette and ashtray before sitting at my desk.

An hour has passed and mom still hasn't tried herself and her yelling only grew louder, that I was afraid that our neighbors might actually call the cops. During that time I had finished my cigarette and lit up another one, which were the only things keeping me sane at the moment. I could feel myself start to doze off as I had my head laid on my knuckles. I didn't know if I actually fell asleep or not but the next thing I knew everything was silent again. I lifted my head and stared back at the door, waiting to see if I could hear them. Were they finally done? I really hoped so, I didn't know how much longer I could've taken before ripping my hair out.

With a tired sigh, I stood up from my desk chair and took one last drag from my cigarette before burning it out in the ashtray then began making my way over to my bed so I could finally get some sleep, but as I made it halfway to my bed I hear another loud pound on my door, causing me to instantly stop. I looked over towards the door and the loud pound happened again. I groaned, great, I guess they weren't finished. I shook my head and was about to continue making my way over to my bed, but before I could even take a step my door shot open, making me jump as it slammed into my wall.

I stared terrified at mom and Isao who stood in the dark hallway outside my room as if they were murders waiting to kill me. Isao had no particular expression on his face as he put his leg down, which indicated to me that he was the one who kicked my door open, while mom glowered at me furiously as she angrily clenched her fists at her sides.

"Thank you Isao, could you please search the room for my wallet while I deal with Hikaru?"

Isao nodded and did as mom told him as she began marching her way towards me. I took a couple steps back but ended up falling on my backside. As I saw her grow closer to me I used my hands to crawl back until my back was up against that wall, staring up at her petrified as she marched up to me, cornering me so I wouldn't be able to escape.

"M-Mom," I stuttered out terrified as I tried to bring myself closer to the wall, as if I would somehow be able to go through it, "I promise you that I didn't take anything."

"If you really were as innocent as you say you are, you wouldn't have locked yourself in your fucking room when I asked you if you've seen it." She hissed harshly.

She didn't ask me shit. When she found out that her wallet was missing she immediately blamed me for taking it. Maybe in her drunk mind she thought she asked me before storming up here, but nowadays I never knew what she thought anymore.

"Mom please you have to believe me. I would never-"

"Found it." Isao called out, making my eyes widened.

Mom and I turned our attention to him and saw that he was holding up mom's Louis Vuitton purse wallet that he pulled out from the drawer of my nightstand. How the fuck did her wallet end up there? I knew for a fact that I didn't take it. Was mom in my room earlier today thinking that it was hers and put it in there? That's happened before and was the only reason I could think of at the moment.

Mom turned back to me as she hardened her glare and was about to yell at me again when her nose suddenly scrunched up as if she smelled something foul. She looked over to where the smell was coming from and her glare turned murderous when she saw my ashtray on my desk with my half burnt cigarette in it.

"Not only did you steal my wallet," she stormed over to my desk and grabbed the cigarette that I only burnt out a few minutes ago before facing back towards me, "but you're doing this shit in my house?! You really are like you fucking father!"

"Mom I-"

"Shut it!" She barked, making me flinch. She then stormed back over to me before grabbing a fist full of my hair. I cried out in pain as she began dragging me to the center of my room, clawing at her hands so I could try to get her to let go, but her grip on my hair was too tight that if I got out she would take a chunk of my hair with her. "I try to be a fucking good mother and this is the shit I get!"

"I'm sorry mom." I cried as tears began welling up in my eyes from the pain and terror I was feeling at that very moment. "Please stop!"

Mom threw me back on the ground and towered over me as I stared up at her trembling. After a few more moments she held up my cigarette in her hand as her expression turned dark.

"You know," mom said as she flicked open my lighter that she had also picked up from my desk and relit the cigarette, "I'm getting really tired of all this shit Hikaru." She closed my lighter before tossing it to the side and knelt down beside me. "No matter what I do, you never respect me or your step-father, and we're getting sick of it." She then grabbed my arm and held the burning cigarette over it, causing my eyes to grow wide in terror. "Maybe this will finally teach you to respect us?"

She began to lower the cigarette closer to my arm, it already burning my skin as ash fell from it, but before it could touch my skin I ripped my arm out of her grip and turned over to try and escape, but mom hugged my body in a death grip so I couldn't move.

"No, let me go!" I cried as I tried to escape from her grip.

I tried my best to rip her hands off of me, but they would just grab me in a different location on my body before I could escape. I could tell that mom was having trouble holding onto me as I fought to try and get free. I was a lot stronger than her, even though when I was afraid of her my strength would be zapped away, I could fight back if I really needed to.

"Isao! Come help me pin him down!" Mom ordered.

The next thing I knew I felt Isao grab my arms and flip me over so I was laying on my back before putting me into a chokehold so I couldn't escape. I tried to claw at his hands and tried to thrash around to try and get out of his grip, but it was just too strong that it was futile. I then felt mom grab my right arm and held the cigarette above my arm again as I stared at it petrified.

"Mom...please…" I choked out a plea as tears streamed down my face, "please...don't do...this…"

Her glare just hardened down at me, which told me that she wasn't going to stop. She looked up at Isao as if she was silently telling him something before he used his free hand to cover my mouth, most likely that if I screamed the neighbors wouldn't hear it.

Mom lowered the cigarette to my skin and instantly I felt that section of my forearm shoot up in a burning pain. I let out a pain filled muffled scream that was muffled by Isao's hand and clenched my hand into a fist as if my body was trying to distract itself from the pain. I've been burnt before, but never as painful as this. I could literally hear the hissing of my burning skin until the cigarette burned out, leaving an awful aroma of burning flesh and tobacco.

I don't know how, but I somehow got my arm out of mom's grip and without even realizing what I was doing I hit mom in the face, making her fall back.

"Yuzuha!" Isao panicked before letting me go to run over to her side.

I let out a ragged breath before lifting up my trembling arm where I could faintly see the small circular burn mark that had formed. The pain had dulled quite a bit, but my arm still felt like it was on fire.

"Fuck." I quietly hissed as I held my arm to my chest before turning over to lay on my side, almost in a fetal position.

"You," I heard mom growled darkly. I looked over at her and instantly grew petrified again as I saw her stand up, "you fucking brat!"

Fuck! I forgot that I had hit her. I didn't mean to, it was out of pure adrenaline from the pain of being burned. I obviously wouldn't have purposely hit her because I knew it would make everything far worse.

I gulped and felt my body resume to trembling as she began storming her way back over to me. I couldn't move, my body was too terrified to try and run away from her.

"M-Mom I'm sorry." I stuttered out terrified. "I didn't mean to-"

Her foot came in contact with my face with a great amount of force, cutting me off. I immediately cupped my nose with my hands and felt what I was positive was blood drip onto my hands. I couldn't tell if it was broken or not, but it would most likely from the amount of pain coming from my nose and how much it was bleeding.

"God, now you ruined my fucking designer shoes!" Mom hissed. I squinted my eyes open to see what she was talking about and faintly saw through my tears a dark spot, what I assumed was blood, on the toe of her shoe. "Now I'm going to have to throw them out!" She hardened her scowl down at me, clenching her teeth when I didn't respond to her. She let out a growl before kicking me in the stomach, only causing me to grimace in pain.

"You fucking bastard," she spat as she continued to kick me, "how dare you ever lay a fucking hand on me. I do all this shit for you and this is how I get repaid for being your mother? I wish you would just disappear like your father!" She gave me one last hard kick to the gut, finally causing me to let out a small grunt. I could hear her panting, most likely from her being worn out from kicking me. "What do you have to fucking say to yourself?"

"I'm sorry…" I muffled out a soft cry. "I'm sorry…"

"Good." Mom hissed before I heard her turn around and make her way out of my room with Isao following behind her. "I swear, sometimes I wish you would just disappear. Then I wouldn't have to deal with your fucking presence anymore."

Once they left my room I remained in the same position that I was in for a few minutes before rolling onto my back, letting out a shaky breath as I finally let the tears welling up in my arms fall as I stared at the dark ceiling.

Maybe mom was right, it would be best if I just disappeared from this earth. No one would care if I was gone...except Kaoru, and he's the only reason why I'm still here.

---

"Hikaru?"

I jumped when I felt a hand touch my arm and yanked it from them out of instinct. I looked up and saw Kazukiyo across the table from me, looking concerned.

"Are you sure that you're alright? It seemed like you were spacing out again."

"Uh yeah," I answered in a small voice as I rubbed my forearm that mom burned. "I just have a lot on my mind."

"I don't want to pry or anything, but does it have anything to do with you getting jumped Sunday night?"

I only responded to his question by shrugging my shoulders before looking down at my hands, fiddling with the sleeve of my blazer. It's been three days since everything that happened that night. I was forced to stay home by mom for the past few days, not because she didn't want people to suspect anything, it was because she forgot that she had done it. When I woke up the next morning and she saw how bad my nose looked she suddenly became nurturing and kind and took care of me until she decided that I was well enough to go back to school. She brought over a doctor to make sure that my nose was alright. Luckily, it wasn't broken, just badly bruised and I had to ice it and wear a small bandage for a few days, which I was happy that I could take off tomorrow. The doctor asked me how I got hurt that badly and I just lied to him by saying that I was jumped while I was out on a night stroll, which I told Kazukiyo the same thing as an excuse for why I wouldn't be at school for the next few days after.

My nose was still bruised and hurt even by the slightest touch, but the swelling was gone so I practically begged mom to go to school because I couldn't stand being home any longer. Even though mom was being caring and sweet now, I was terrified that she was going to suddenly snap again. I haven't felt this terrified of her since last year when she stabbed me, but at least I was able to escape after that incident, but now I had nowhere to go. I could go back to Kyoya's, but I have a feeling that I would just be a burden to his family…

Since it was my first day back no one really besides Kazukiyo knew the "reason" why I was out and I didn't want to really tell them either. So, since the weather was freezing I decided to wear a scarf to hide my nose the best I could. Mr. Hirota asked me to take my scarf off in class but once I pleaded him with my eyes to keep it on he seemed to understand and allowed me too. However, the next period, no matter how much I pleaded with her the teacher forced me to take it off or I would have to go to the chairman's office. I didn't want to risk getting in even more trouble than I already was at home so I took off my scarf, trying my best to ignore all the eyes that were on me and their whispering. Some people tried to ask me if I was ok and what happened to me but I would just walk away from them. I just wanted to be alone, which was a bit difficult since Mari was still trying to follow me wherever I went. I tried to hide from her in the hedge maze during lunch, but she found me and blabbered about whatever the hell was happening in her life as she ate her lunch, but I couldn't have cared less. She did question a little why I was acting so depressed but when I didn't answer her she just went back to talking about herself.

Kazukiyo saw that I was spacing out again and closed his textbook. "How about we end our session early today?" He said, causing me to break out of my reverie and look back at him. "I can give you all the information that you'll need to study for the test tomorrow."

"There's a test tomorrow?"

He nodded. "Yeah, didn't you know? I sent you an email about in on Monday. Didn't you get it?"

"Uh no...I haven't had my phone for the past few days. My mom took it away from me so I could just focus on recovering. I only got it back this morning and haven't checked any of my emails."

"Well, we have a math test tomorrow on lesson 16. We've been studying that lesson since before winter break, so I don't think it'll be that hard with you missing a couple of days." He pulled out a piece of notebook paper from his binder and began writing a few noted for me. "Here is what the test is going to mainly focus on. So if you follow that you'll most likely be fine."

Once he finished writing he slid the note over to me on the table. I took the note in my hand and looked over it until I heard him begin to pack up.

"What are you doing?" I asked. "We still have forty-five minutes left."

"I told you that we should end early today. You should go home and relax."

A chill went down my spine when he mentioned going home. I didn't want the session to end, that would mean that I would have to see mom earlier then I prepared myself for. What if when I got home she was back to being hateful and abusive because I came back earlier than usual? It's happened before when Haruhi and I began our tutoring sessions and I don't think I could handle it if it happened again right now with me being in a weak state of mind right now.

"N-No, I' fine." I falsely stated, hoping he didn't hear the stutter in my voice. "Forty-five minutes isn't that long. I can handle the rest of the tutoring session and I really need help studying for this test."

"Hikaru, I really think that it won't help if you keep spacing out. You just-"

"I promise that I'll pay attention if we continue."

"You really need rest Hikaru. If you're having trouble studying at home then you can just text me and I'll-"

"Please!" I pleaded as I cut him off again. He looked at me a bit shocked by my pleas, probably from never seeing me this weak before. I could feel tears welling up in my eyes but covered my eyes with my hands before he could notice them. "I don't want to go home…"

"Hikaru, is everything alright?" Kazukiyo asked concerned. He's never seen me act this vulnerable before. I was usually stoned face with everything emotional at school because I hated people trying to comfort me. "Why don't you want to go home?"

"I'm terrified…" I whispered in a shaking voice, just barely audible.

"Terrified of what?"

I just remained silent. I couldn't tell him about mom, even if I begged him he would most likely tell someone about mom's alcoholic abuse because he would be worried about my safety. I was lucky that Haruhi and Kyoya promised to keep the abuse a secret by persuading them to, but I knew that Kazukiyo would break out of fret if I had him keep the secret as well.

"Does it have to do with anything about you getting jumped? If that's the case you told me that the police arrested them the day after the attack." He tried to reassure me. "So you don't have to worry about them hurting you again."

"I…" I took in a shaky breath. I wish that my story was actually true, then I could safely go home and not have to worry about it happening again, but sadly my life wasn't that easy. I swallowed the lump in my throat before continuing. "You're right…" I lied. "There's nothing to be afraid of...they're gone…"

"Hey," Kazukiyo spoke up again as he walked over to me, my body tensing up as I felt his hand on my shoulder, "if you ever want to talk you have my number. I may not be much help but I'll be there for you if you need me."

I just nodded, not being able to find my voice. He gave me a comforting pat on the shoulder before saying goodbye and leaving the library. I took in a deep breath after a minute or so and wiped the tears from my eyes before they could fall. I then looked back over at the paper that Kazukiyo wrote what I needed to study for. I slid the paper over to me and looked over what he wrote. Maybe I could try and kill the remainder of the time here studying for the test so I wouldn't have to go home so early. I really needed the study time and I would be too worried about mom if I studied at home, and this could also keep me out for a few more hours.

When I decided that was the best plan I grabbed my math book to begin to study, but as I was about to open my textbook I heard the door to the library open, causing me to instinctively look over and saw Kyoya walk into the room. Shit! Why did he have to come to the library that I was in? I didn't tell him about what happened a few nights ago and when he called me to ask why I was missing so much school I lied and said I got sick, which I have a feeling he didn't believe. If he found out what really happened, I didn't know what he would do.

Luckily, it seemed like he didn't notice me as he walked into an aisle and I took that time to pack up all my supplies. I could just study at a cafe or something similar that seemed like the best option right now so I wouldn't have to deal with Kyoya's anger and mom's abuse.

Once I zipped up my bag, I threw my scarf around my neck as I began walking towards the exit of the library, covering my bruised nose. I made sure to pass Kyoya's aisle when he was distracted so he wouldn't see me and made my way out of the library. I let out a sigh of relief once I was out in the hall, thanking God that he didn't see me, and began making my way down the hall towards the exit of the school. I lightly rubbed my nose as it began to hurt from the scarf being too tight around it. The pain had grown dull over the past few days instead of feeling like I was being stabbed by hundreds of needles like yesterday, so I was glad about that. I let out another sigh as I readjusted the scarf around my neck, so it wouldn't put too much pressure on my nose.

As I turned the corner I stopped in my tracks when I saw Haruhi talking to a male student. He had a kinda scary, uglish face and red hair with a small ponytail at the crown of his head. He looked like a slob so he definitely wasn't in A or B, he must've been a D student, but why was he talking to Haruhi? They seemed to know each other by how comfortable they were talking to each other.

I could feel myself start to grow jealous as I saw Haruhi smile at something he said, which seemed to please the guy. I knew that fucking look that was the look I usually gave Haruhi whenever we used to talk. The loving stare that he was giving her made me just want to run up and beat the shit out of him, but I knew that Haruhi would only hate me more then she already did if I did that to what I assumed was a friend of hers. So I just clenched the handle of my bag so I could resist the urge to attack him and continued walking, quickening my pace as I got closer to them. For a few seconds my eyes locked with Haruhi's, her smile falling as soon as our eyes met, but what shocked me was that Haruhi actually looked sad. She hasn't looked at me like that since we first broke off our friendship. It was probably because of my bruised nose that she was feeling pity towards me. Usually, I would hate that someone felt that way towards me, but I was glad that Haruhi wasn't just giving me that impassive expression anymore, hopefully, it'll last.

"Are you alright Fujioka?" The guy asked, snapping Haruhi out of our trance and I finally realized that I had stopped walking. She looked back over at the guy and her smile returned. "Sorry, it's nothing. What were you saying?"

I just looked down dolefully before shoving my hands into my pockets and resuming making my way towards the exit, trying my best to ignore the conversation behind me.

---

For the next few hours, I went to a local Starbucks and studied the best I could. I told myself that I would leave once I finished my drink, so to make sure I would stay as long as possible I got the hottest temperature in the largest cup they had and nursed my drink so I could stay out as long as possible.

I pulled out my keys as I made it to my front door and unlocked the door. I wanted to try and sneak up to my room so I could avoid mom as much as I could, but as I closed the door softly behind me I heard footsteps coming from the kitchen.

"Hikaru," mom greeted happily as she walked over to me. She cupped my face and forced me to look down at her, "how was school today sweetie?"

"I-"

"How's your nose?" She asked as if she forgot the first question she asked me. She lightly brushed her thumb along my nose, making me wince as the pain shot through my nose. Mom's expression fell when she saw that I was in pain and cupped my face again. "My poor baby. I still can't comprehend why anyone would do this to you." She removed her hands from my face and grabbed my arm before tugging me towards the kitchen. "Come on, let's go ice your nose."

"Mom I fine, I really need to-"

"Hush," she said as she walked up to the kitchen table and forced me down in a chair, "you stay there while I go get an ice pack."

She patted my head before making her way to the fridge to grab an ice pack. I couldn't help but tremble as I watched her, all I wanted to do right now was take this opportunity while she was distracted to rush to my room, but I knew that she would get angry if she saw that I was gone. I felt like a cornered animal.

Once she got enough ice in the ice bag she closed the cap and made her way back over to me. "Here baby put this on your nose."

"Mom really, I'm fine-"

She literally pushed the ice bag to my nose, causing me to gasp in pain as soon as the bag touched my nose. "Ow, mom stop. You're hurting me."

"Don't be silly Hikaru. I'm helping you ice your nose. Now stay still."

She moved the ice bag, causing my nose to hurt more. I grabbed the bag to try and get her to apply less pressure on it, "Mom really, you're hurting me. Please stop, I'll just-"

"I said stay still!" She shouted. I instantly obeyed her orders, placing my hands in my lap. She placed the ice bag back on my nose, causing me to let out a grunt, which only seemed to anger her more. She threw the ice pack at the wall, resulting in me jumping as the ice pack particularly exploded loudly on the wall. I looked up at mom, who was now scowling down at me. "I'm trying to fucking help, and you're thanking me by complaining?!"

"M-Mom I-"

"Shut up!" She yelled before slapping me, I cowered in fear in my seat, placing my arms on the table to hide and protect my face as I laid my head on the table. My breathing began to quicken along with my heartbeat, in fear of what might happen to me as she continues yelling at me. "God, I'm just trying to be a good mother by helping you, but you're too much of a fucking brat to appreciate it!"

"I'm sorry…" I apologized in a frightened, but hushed voice. "I'm sorry…"

"Oh baby, it's quite alright." She said in her cheery voice again as she grabbed me and hugged my head to her stomach. I tried my best to hold in another pain-filled grunt in fear that it would anger her again. "I know you're sorry. You just have to realize that all I want to do is help you, alright?"

"Yes, mom…" I muffled in her stomach. "I know…"

She separated from me and cupped my face again so I was looking up at her. Her smile was sweet, but not motherly. It was as if she was looking at me as if I was just a pet she was taking care of.

I could feel tears began to burn in the back of my eyes. But I refused to let them come out as mom stared at me, not wanting to show her any more weakness.

"Now you sit here while I'll start dinner." She gave me a kiss on the forehead before making her way to the kitchen. "I'm making your favorite."

I remained in my seat as she cooked, too afraid to even try and get up in fear that she would snap again. I watched her while she cooked, to make sure that she wouldn't hurt herself. I couldn't tell what she was making because I was too far away to see, but from the smell coming from the kitchen, I could definitely tell I wasn't going to like it. For the next twenty minutes, mom stumbled around the kitchen as she cooked. I tried to help her when I grew worried that she was going to cut herself while chopping up something, but she would just tell me to go sit back down, which I obeyed to.

When there was about five minutes left until dinner was ready Isao arrived home from work, to my dismay. He completely ignored me as he made his way to the kitchen to help mom with anything she needed. Ever since Christmas, I made it clear that I wanted nothing to do with Isao. He tried apologizing and give me a bull shit excuse saying, "I'm really sorry, I just didn't want to anger her any further."

Then with the shit that happened a few nights ago. I could barely even stomach looking at him. He had helped mom abuse me before, but I was a bit fearful that if mom snapped during dinner that he would help her again.

Once mom finished cooking dinner, she had Isao set the table before she brought out the food and placed it at the center of the table. I looked at what she made, expecting to see a burnt, almost charcoal version of an Italian dish, but it wasn't. It was actually a perfectly cooked pan of stir fry...I hated stir fry...but it was Isao's favorite dish…

But I knew that if I didn't eat any of it, it would only anger mom so I forced myself to eat at least one plate of it, but I could barely finish half the meal before my body felt like it couldn't keep any more of it down. So, when mom and Isao were distracted with their conversation I scooped my leftovers back into the pan.

After dinner, I tried to go up to my room to study, but mom kept insisting that I stay down and have dessert and spend some family time with them. I knew that trying to convince my mom to let me go would be futile and only anger her, so I went along. We played some board games that mom in the back of the closet for a few hours while we ate some brownies that Isao had brought home from work. Most of the games went by smoothening and even though I was terrified of mom snapping again, I actually had a little fun, until the last game. We were playing Life and it first started off nicely as the other games, but about halfway mom's mood began to turn sour because she kept landing on bad spaces.

"It's your turn honey." Isao said after moving his game piece.

Mom glared at the board for a few seconds before spinning the wheel and having it stop on seven. She moved her car number of spaces and her glare hardened at the space she landed on.

"Tornado hits house, pay $125,000. What the fuck? Why do I keep landing on all the bad spaces?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "This game is just mostly out of luck." I spun the wheel, landing on a ten and moved that number of spaces. "TV game show winner, collect $95,000."

Mom cursed under her breath before grabbing some money from the box and throwing it at me. "Here's your fucking money."

I began to grow nervous as mom only seem to grow angrier. I knew that in only a matter of minutes she would snap if she didn't hand next on a good space. I gulped as I heard Isao spin the wheel.

"Mom, maybe we should end the game early. It's late and I really need to-"

"Shut up!" She barked, causing me to jump a bit. "We're having family time right now and none of us are going anywhere until we finish this game."

"I know mom but-"

"I said shut it! I don't want to hear another word out of you until it's your turn. You get that?!"

I looked down, nodding in response. Mom's next turn didn't go well either, landing on the burglar space and giving up $50,000. When it was my turn I could feel mom's glare on me as I spun a six and moved my piece, but as I read the space I landed on I could feel my blood grow cold.

"What did you land on Hikaru?" Mom growled out.

I looked back up at mom, meeting her dark glare. I really wanted to lie about the space I landed on so she wouldn't be mad, but I knew that once I moved it would reveal that I was lying it would only anger her more.

I gulped before answering in a small voice. "Find buried treasure. Collect $80,000…"

Mom's expression turned furious and swiped the game off the table, sending the game pieces and money everywhere.

"Screw this fucking game!" She cursed before landing her eyes on me, who was cowering on the couch. "You cheated, didn't you?"

"No, I didn't cheat mom." I answered truthfully, but she didn't buy it.

"Don't you fucking lie to me. You landed on all the good spaces while I landed on all the bad ones!"

"I promise that I'm not lying mom. It was just out of luck. I don't even think you can cheat in this game."

Mom growled in response before grabbing my forearm and tugged me off the couch. Before I could even catch my balance she threw me to the floor harshly. I didn't have a lot of time to react to the throbbing pain in my side as I heard her footsteps coming towards me and grabbed my shirt collar as she knelt down next to me, lifting me up so our faces were only a few inches apart. To say that I was terrified was an understatement. I couldn't feel an inch of my body as if I were paralyzed, but I did feel my body began to tremble under her dark, death intent glare.

"Mo-Mom I promise I didn't cheat." I finally was able to stutter out, feeling tears welling up in my eyes from fear as her glare only hardened. "It-It was just out of luck-"

"Shut it!" She snapped, causing me to flinch and look away, too scared to even look at her. "When are you going to fucking realize I can see through all your bull shit lies Hikaru?!"

"M-Mom I-"

"I said shut it!" She hissed harshly, which only made me tremble more.

Then the sound of glass breaking caused my heart to stop and once I opened my eyes to see what I broke the color immediately drained in my face. In mom's hand was a broken bottle of champagne that she was drinking out of while we were playing the board games. As I stared at the sharp edges of the broken bottle, memories of what happened last year began to flood through my mind. My breathing began to grow heavy as my heartbeat quickened, almost to the point that I thought it would burst out of my chest. I was going to try and get my body to move so I could try to get away, but before I could even try mom put the end of the broken bottle up to my neck, making me remain still.

This was it, I was going to die, and over a stupid fucking board game. I was no longer going to be able to see Kaoru again, or protect him when he comes back...and I'll never be able to officially apologize to Haruhi. Tears began trailing down my faces as I felt the cold, sharp glass touch my neck.

"Mom, please stop." I pleaded desperately.

"Then admit that you cheated!"

"But I-"

I cried out as she pressed the bottle closer to my neck, almost to the point that it would break skin.

"Admit it!"

"I'm sorry!" I cried. "I cheated playing the game. I'm sorry!"

Mom's furious expression faltered and she let go of my collar. I let go a ragged breath in relief. "See, that wasn't so hard now was it?"

"I'm sorry…" I breathed out weakly, which mom just responded with a soft smile as she caressed my tear stained cheek.

"Awe, I know you are honey but, " the next thing I felt was a sharp, burning pain across my chest as mom used the bottle to slash from my left shoulder to the mid part of the right of my chest in a diagonal line, "you still need to be punished for cheating and lying."

As mom stood up I rolled onto my left side and brought my hands to my chest, feeling my shirt began to get wet as blood began to seep out of the cuts.

I heard the bottle drop on the floor behind me before I heard mom began to head towards the stairs. "I'm going to bed." She said in her sickening cheery voice as she ascended up the stairs, but stopped halfway to look down at me. "Oh, and thanks for cleaning up honey. I really appreciate it."

She then went to her room, to where Isao was waiting for her for about five minutes as he left after mom threw the game of the table. I remained where I was for a few minutes, staring at the front door in the dark living room, where the only light there was from the kitchen.

What was I still even doing here? I could've run away a long time to escape this Hell. One of my excuses was that I was waiting for Kaoru, but I could just tell him where I would be staying at so once he got home he could live with me. Every second that I remain in this house I get closer and closer to death...but if I leave, mom would never get the help that she needs, especially since Isao isn't doing anything about it. She would just drink herself to death and I would feel guilty that I didn't stick around to save her…

So that's the only reason why I am staying here.

---

I quietly groaned as I felt the burning pain in my chest as I woke up. After I cleaned up the living room last night I got the first aid kit to patch up the cuts. Luckily the cuts weren't that deep so I wouldn't need to get any stitches so after cleaning them the bleeding stopped so I didn't bother bandaging them since the cut was so long and didn't want to waste any of the medical supplies that I might need in the future.

I slowly opened my eyes and was greeted by the morning sun shining through the window. I blinked a bit, letting my eyes adjust, seeing that still sitting at my desk. Papers and pencils were sprawled out on the desk along with my math book that was opened to the lesson I was studying. I must've fallen asleep while studying. I didn't remember doing so, but after all that happened last night, I guess my body was just so exhausted that after only a few hours of studying I just knocked out.

I slowly sat up and raised my arms to stretch the crick in my neck and back, but as I raised my arms, the burning sensation in my chest only grew. I groaned again as I lightly traced the cut with my hand as if that was going to help with anything, but I knew it wouldn't.

As I began to wake up more, I noticed something a bit odd. My room was a lot brighter than it usually was when I woke up. It was as if it was later in the morning rather than six…

My eyes suddenly went wide at that realization and looked over at the clock, growing horrified. It was 10:25! Shit! My math class was going to start in five minutes. I must've forgotten to set my fucking alarm! I literally launched out of my chair and got ready as quick as I could. I tried to multitask by brushing my teeth and getting changed, ignoring the pain of the cuts on my chest the best I could so it wouldn't slow me down. I didn't bother brushing my hair or try to look presentable as I took off the bandage off my nose and ran back over to my desk to shoved everything messily in my bag before rushing out of my room.

If it gets out to Mr. Suoh that I was late without a proper excuse he would pass it over to mom...and I didn't know what she would do, but I knew it would be far worse than what happened last night.

---

I ran down the hall towards my math class, not stopping no matter how much my legs burned and out of breath I was. The class started almost half an hour ago and because of fucking traffic, I was even later than I would've been.

I finally made it to my class and opened the door, drawing everyone's attention over to me from their tests.

"I'm...I'm here…" I panted out, only causing the teacher to glare at me.

"Well, I'm glad you decided to interrupt the class taking their test to announce your entrance Mr. Hitachiin."

"Mrs. Amari I-"

"I don't want to hear your excuses today." She said as she handed out a test to me. "Just take your test and sit down."

I nodded and took the test from her before heading to my seat. I flipped through the pages of the test, seeing what seemed like hundreds of questions (which were probably only about twenty) and began to feel the stress of everything came crashing down on me as I flipped back to the front page. I looked at the other students in the room, seeing that most of them were still working. How was I going to finish this in twenty minutes while the rest of the class had almost an hour? I gulped and looked down at the test to see the first question.

If AE=EC, what is the length of AB?

A.) AC=10

B.) x=30

C.) A&B

...

I blinked a bit before reading the question again and looked at the figure that was given to me...This wasn't what I studied for. I flipped through the test again, seeing that all the questions were none of the types of equations that I studied for and began to panic. But I studied the lesson that Kazukiyo told me to study Lesson 17, but on the top of the test it says…

'Well, we have a math test tomorrow on lesson 16.'

Shit, I studied for the wrong lesson! With everything that happened yesterday, I must've gotten the lessons mixed up. Ok, ok, calm down. Try to remember anything before winter break from any of the lessons or homework. I re-read the question and tried to work my way through it.

'Ok, so side AE and EC are equal, that means I can deduce that this is an isosceles triangle in the diagram. Side AC has a length of 10. If I move the square up or down it will change the length of AB so that means that's not sufficient. So if I add x=30 to the diagram, that doesn't help side AB, just one length and since I'm given no length in this diagram I apply the rule I did earlier, so that also makes B insufficient. For C, if I add all the information to the diagram from the two other options it shows that the statements from A and B combined forces the diagram into only one possible shape, so side AB is forced into having only one length so the two answers combined force side AB into having exactly one length. Which means the statement together is sufficient.'

I circled C then looked back at all the work that I just did, a small smile spreading across my face as I stared at the work I just did, feeling it click in my mind as I went to the next problem, not wasting any more time.

For the next fifteen minutes I felt like I was making great progress as I finished the front page and flipped to the next page on the back, but as I began jolting down the work for the next problem, a hand suddenly appeared out of nowhere and swiped away my test from me. I blinked a bit as I began to realize what just happened and looked up to see Mrs. Amari frowning down at me.

"I told everyone multiple times to pass up their papers Mr. Hitachiin, but I guess you weren't paying attention like usual."

She turned to leave and I began to panic when she began walking back to her desk.

"Wait, I'm not finished yet."

"Well, that's what you get for being late," She said, "and before you ask if you can finish your test after class, you should already know that I don't allow that."

I just watched her as she placed my test on top of the pile of the other students' before going over to the whiteboard to write what we were going to do for the remainder of the class period. I quietly groaned as I laid my head down in my arms, not caring if I hurt my nose in the process. All I wanted to do was cry right now. If mom literally almost killed me over a fucking board game last night, what was she going to do when she found out I failed this test? Just the thought of what might happen to me sent a chill down my spine as I tightened my arms around my face as if it was a protective barrier.

"Mr. Hitachiin," I moved so my eyes were exposed and looked at Mrs. Amari and saw that she was frowning at me again, "I would appreciate it if you would lift your head up and pay attention to what I have to say."

If this was a couple of months ago I would've just glared at her and quipped back at her for targeting me all period, but I didn't have the energy too, and I also didn't want to anger mom any further for disrespecting a teacher. So I listened to her and lifted my head, secretly wiping the tears that were welling up in my eyes with my blazer sleeve then laid my head in my hand as Mrs. Amari went back to speaking.

"I'll have all your tests graded by the end of the class, but in the meantime, you all will have a group assignment. I've already grouped everyone up into groups of four on the board. So look who you guys are grouped up with then group up with them please."

I looked over at the board and saw my name under group four with Kimiko, Kozue...and Haruhi…

I literally felt my stomach drop as I saw Haruhi's name below mine. Great, this day keeps getting better and better. Maybe I should ask Mrs. Amari if I could switch groups, but knowing that she has a strong disliking for me, she probably wouldn't listen to my request and tell me that I'll have to deal with it. I looked over towards Haruhi and saw her packing her items, and not acknowledging me whatsoever as she made her way over to the other girls in our group. The girl with the two blue bows in her hair, who I assumed was Kozue, smiled over at me and waved for me to come over. I looked back over at Haruhi, who still had her back towards me and gulped before grabbing my bag and made my way over to my group and took a seat in the open desk, which unfortunately was next to Haruhi.

Please God, let this go smoothly. I'm already having a bad enough day as it is.

---

Haruhi

"Is this correct Haruhi?" Kimiko asked as she pushed her paper towards Haruhi.

Haruhi looked over her group member's work to see if she had gotten the formula and side work correct, then checked her own answer before nodding. "Yep, it's correct."

"Yay," she cheered as she took back her worksheet, "that means we're done."

"And with ten minutes to spare," Kozue added happily, "so we can talk about whatever we want."

"So Haruhi, when do you plan on coming back to the Host Club? Everyone misses you, especially Tamaki."

"Yeah, aren't you and Tamaki dating? I overheard him talking about how you've been avoiding him for about a month."

Haruhi immediately felt uncomfortable about the question. She still hasn't broken up with Tamaki officially because she didn't want to see him ever again for cheating on her, and she thought avoiding him would've made it clear to him that they were over, but she guessed not. Haruhi subconsciously looked over at Hikaru, seeing that he wasn't even paying attention. He was doodling on the back of his paper as he laid his head in his hand. She knew that he would've been quiet through them all working together, but she sometimes caught him just staring off for a bit until someone, who wasn't Haruhi, pulled him back to reality, then would apologize in a weak voice before trying to help again, but seemed too afraid to speak sometimes. He's been acting like this since yesterday ever since he came back to school after missing three days. By seeing how his nose was badly bruised yesterday she was positive his mom had something to do with his change of demeanor. The bruising on his nose was slightly better than yesterday, but there was now a faint bruise on his left cheek...as if he has been slapped.

"Haruhi?" Kimiko called out, breaking Haruhi out her thought. "Do you know when you'll be back?"

Haruhi shrugged. "I don't know. I've been pretty busy and haven't had a lot of free time lately. I don't know when I'll be able to come back."

"Well, we'll be waiting for you when you finally come back." Kimiko smiled, which made Haruhi start to feel guilty.

She didn't plan on ever returning to the Host Club because she couldn't bear to see Tamaki, let alone be in the same room as that bastard for a few hours after school, but she didn't want to let her guest down and have them wait for her almost every day while she had no intentions of coming back.

"So Hikaru," Haruhi broke out of her thought at Kozue's voice and saw that the girl was facing towards Hikaru with a sweet smile, "how had Kaoru been in New York?"

It seemed as if Hikaru didn't hear her as he continued to doodle on his worksheet. From getting close to him while they were friends, Haruhi began to notice whenever Hikaru was really deep in thought he would doodle lines or random shapes, but sometimes she noticed whenever his mom would hurt him worse than usual than slap or yelling at him, he would doodle stick figures on his paper, as if he was vaguely recreating the events of what happened to him. Haruhi took a peek at his doodle and saw that he was drawing what seemed to look like a broken liquor bottle with dark liquor falling from one of the large shards of glass...or blood…

Just staring at the picture sent a cold shiver down her spine. Could this indicate what his mother did to him a few days ago? She knew that his mother either punched or kicked him because of his bruised nose, but what does the bottle have to do with that? Could something have…

"Hikaru?" Kozue touched Hikaru's forearm and as her hand touched him he immediately jumped and ripped his arm away from her and looked at Kozue with a terrified expression that made Haruhi's chest hurt. When Hikaru finally realized what was going on he let his frightened expression falter and grew slightly embarrassed, but Haruhi could still tell that he was terrified from his eyes.

"Hikaru, are you alright?" Kazue asked concerned.

Hikaru looked at his group members, seeing that they were all worried about him. Even Haruhi didn't fight back to keep her expression neutral this time like she's been doing for the past month. Haruhi knew Hikaru hated whenever people pitied him and she's noticed that if he's really nervous like he's been for the past few days was that when people pitied him, it would only make him even more nervous than before while he'd usually be angry.

He swallowed the lump in his the lump in this throat before taking in a shaky breath. "Ye-Yeah…" He stood up from his chair. "I just need some air."

---

It's been ten minutes and Hikaru still hasn't returned yet. All the students have already passed up their group assignment and have returned to their assigned seats. Haruhi was having a difficult time trying to convince herself that there was nothing to worry about and that he was fine, but she knew that she was just kidding herself. When he left she caught herself almost chasing after him, but her stubbornness made her stay where she was.

Even though she wouldn't admit it to herself, she wasn't really mad at him anymore, she actually kind of missed him. He might have been a difficult person when they first knew each other, but he had a reason to be. His mother, who is supposed to love you unconditionally no matter what, is abusing him for shit he didn't even do and his father just up and disappeared. Then with Kaoru in New York until the spring, he had no one…

It took Haruhi a few weeks, but Haruhi was finally able to break her way into his heavily guarded heart, that nobody else has ever got close to doing. He began to let go of the tough guy facade that he had up and began showing her who he really was. He was a sweet and caring, a little clingy at times but she understood why. He was similar to an abused puppy and when they finally trusted someone they would keep close to the person they trust and protected them. He was nothing like all the rumors she was told about him, almost the exact opposite actually. He'd never once tried to take a pass at her or any other girl that she's seen when she's around him. They were the ones who usually made passes at him, but he would ignore them. He wasn't manipulative or what Tamaki said "the devil" in human form, but I guess he wanted people to see him that way. So they would hate him so he wouldn't get close to him in fear that he'll get hurt by them...just like what Haruhi has done.

She knew that Hikaru wasn't to blame for what happened that night. He tried to stop her from drinking, but she pressured him to join her. It was her fault that they ended up sleeping together...but she used him as a scapegoat...and even when he tried to fix everything between them she wouldn't allow it.

She now wished that she took his offer to talk and work things out instead of just breaking things off, but she felt it was too late now to try and rekindle their anything now...Just that morning she was just overwhelmed with everything that had happened between Tamaki cheating on her to sleeping with Hikaru, she took out all her anger and distress on him because he was there, even though the reason why they slept together was her fault.

She lost her virginity to him from drunken, most likely rebound sex. Which she didn't want to lose it that way at all. She wanted it to be romantic and with the right person, like how a lot of hopeless romantics dreamt it to be, but that wasn't going to happen. She knew that Hikaru was also affected negatively, but she wasn't sure if it was for the same reason. Even after getting close to him to the point that he would almost tell her everything, she still didn't know if he was a virgin or not (if he was he certainly wasn't one now). She would've thought if she still didn't know him, that he would've been far from a virgin with all the female students chasing after him, but as she got to know him she highly doubt he would be that easy to get into bed. Especially when he would barely let anyone touch him, but he allowed her to...He trusted her so much that he allowed Haruhi to touch him without him flinching and even allowed her to hug him, which he didn't allow anyone else to do at all…

Haruhi broke out of her deep thought when she heard the door open and saw Hikaru walking into the classroom. Out of habit, Haruhi turned away from him before he could notice her staring as he made his way back to his desk. She could smell the earthy musk of his cologne as he walked by which indicated to Haruhi that he used his time out to calm his nerves by smoking. She was upset that he was still smoking after he promised Kaoru and her that he would try to quit, but she guessed the stress of everything was just too much for him right now.

"Alright," Mrs. Amari said as she organized the stack of papers in her hands before standing up from her desk, "since everybody is finally back I'll pass back your graded your tests."

She heard Hikaru let out a deep sigh as the teacher began passing back the tests. As Haruhi got her test back she was disappointed to see with her grade. Yes, she got an A, but it was a low A, about one point away from a B. She'd admit that her grades have dropped a bit since the whole ordeal because she's felt too much like shit to bring herself to study or would catch herself spacing out, wondering what Hikaru…

Haruhi shook her head before she could finish that thought and took a glance over at Hikaru, who was staring out the window as his test was laid face down on his desk. She knew that Hikaru didn't even look at his test to know that he failed since he was only able to finish about half the test. From what Haruhi remembered, whenever Hikaru failed a test the teachers were instructed by Mr. Suoh to call or email his mother, telling her that he was most likely slacking off, even though that wasn't true.

Hikaru might've looked like he didn't care at all about failing the test, but Haruhi could the dread in his eyes that gave her an uneasy feeling in her stomach.

---

Hikaru

I've been sitting in my car for the past thirty minutes, fiddling with a button on my blazer as I stared at my house. Kazukiyo decided that he would cancel our sessions for the rest of the week, which was against my wishes because he felt like I was still too affected by being "jumped" to pay attention. I was going to stick around at school for a couple of hours to try my best to avoid going home, but people kept coming up to me to ask if I was ok or try to get me to tell them what happened again, so I decided to just leave. Sometimes I wish people were still afraid of me so they would stop bothering me, but I guess when Haruhi became my friend they must've thought I wasn't that bad of a guy after all...which right now I hated because I just wanted to be alone. I looked up at the sky and say dark clouds were forming. It looked like it was going to rain any second. It would be best to leave now if I didn't want to get caught up in the rain.

"Let's just get this over with." I sighed out as I turned off the ignition to my car.

I grabbed my bag from the passenger seat before exiting my car and slowly made my way over to the front door. I took in a deep breath before unlocking the door and entering the house. I looked around the living room as I closed the door, not seeing mom anywhere, but even though I didn't see her I knew that she was home because her car was out in the driveway. I walked over to the couch and placed my bag down and took off my blazer as it began to feel a little too hot to wear at the moment as I felt my heart began to pound loudly in my chest as I heard heel clicking from the kitchen, making their way to the living room.

"Hikaru," I heard mom's voice as she stopped before entering the kitchen, "are you home already?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat before smiling over at her nervously. "My tutor had to cancel today because of a personal family emergency." I lied.

"Oh, well I hope everything is ok." Mom said, actually concerned. Which confused me.

Wasn't she supposed to be mad? I failed a test and the teachers were required to contact mom or Isao whenever I failed. Did they forget to contact her? I really hope that was the case and they don't plan on contacting her later tonight. Although, I'll mostly stay in my room tonight just in case that happens.

Mom smiled warmly at me. "Well, I'm glad that you are home early today. I didn't want you to get caught up in the rain. There are stupid people driving out there and I wouldn't want you to get hurt."

"Yeah…"

"Also, since you're home so early you can help me with dinner. Since it's supposed to be pouring down rain in about an hour I wanted to make a warm homemade meal. I'm sure you and Isao would love that."

"Sounds delicious mom." I said, knowing that it'll probably be the opposite.

She turned and was about to walk back into the kitchen when she remembered something. "Oh, speaking of rain. I left some blankets outside to dry after I washed them. Can you be a dear and bring them in for me while I prepare for dinner."

"Sure mom."

"Awe," she walked over to me and cupped my cheek, making my body stiffen as her dry, rough hand touched my face, "this is why I love you." She patted my cheek before leading me to the French back door and grabbed onto the handle. "The blankets are on the porch to the right, next to the porch swing. There should be around four folded up there."

I nodded and walked outside as she opened the door for me. Even though I was relieved that no one has contacted mom about my failing grade, I still didn't want to be around her. Especially after what happened yesterday. With the stronger alcohol that she still had, her abuse has been a lot worse than usual. One of the days that I was forced to stay home I took a peek into the alcohol cabinet to see how many of the stronger liquors she had left and what frightened me was that there seemed to be more than there was a couple of days prior. I didn't know if Isao bought her more or she got some from her work that was still left over from the New Year's party. I was tempted to try and throw some of the alcohol down the drain, but I knew if mom found out she would immediately accuse me because I've done it before in the past. So I wouldn't want to risk the punishment she would give me if I did it again.

I walked over towards the porch swing and grew confused when I didn't see any blankets. I looked around the porch swing to see if she hid them somewhere to protect them from the rain, but I couldn't find them. I even checked if they fell onto the grass, just in case mom had them on the railing, but nothing was there.

I soon began to feel droplets of rain to fall and seeing how only in a matter of seconds that it went from a little drizzle to actual rain and thunder in the distance told me it'll begin to pour in only a matter of minutes.

"Mom, are you sure that you put the blankets near the porch swing? I can't find-"

I immediately grew silent when I heard the door slam and heard a soft click as if it were locked. I looked over at the door for a few seconds, as if I was processing what I just heard. Then when I finally realized what might be happening my stomach dropped. I made my way back over to the door but as I tried to open it the doorknob wouldn't budge. I was locked out.

Ok, try not to panic. Maybe mom forgot that I was outside and closed the door.

When I saw mom walk past the door I jiggled the door handle to get her attention.

"Mom, you accidentally locked me out." I said, keeping my voice calm, even though I could feel myself growing nervous for the reply she was going to give me.

Mom cocked her head to the side innocently, as if she didn't know what I was talking about.

"No, I didn't. I did it intentionally."

"But why would you-"

"You know, I got a strange phone call today from your math teacher Mrs. Amari." She cut me off, swishing the champagne in her glass. The calm facade I had on instantly fell and turned fearful as she continued. "She said that you failed your math test today and showed up late to school. I told her she must've had the wrong kid because my perfect son would never embarrass me like that." She looked back up to me with dead, glazed over eyes. "But she emailed me the attendance sheet stating your absence and I found this in your bag."

She held up my half-finished math test from today. Shit, she must've searched my bag when I was outside.

"M-Mom please, let me explain."

"And you just give me one of you bull shit excuses?" Mom hissed, scaring me by how fast her demeanor changed. "You embarrassed me Hikaru. Your teachers probably think I raised a fucking dumb and pathetic son." She took a long sip of her drink before continuing. "I saw this article on the internet where it said that the cold could make a person smarter. So, to make sure that you won't embarrass me again by your idiocy, you'll be staying out in the rain until I decide that you should be allowed back inside."

"But mom, it's practically pouring outside and I'm soaked. It's also supposed to be below 30 degrees tonight. I can't-"

"Then you'll become even smarter and won't have to embarrass me by failing any more tests."

"But mom-" She just ignored me as she took a sip of her champagne and walked to the living room, out of my view. "No, no, no, mom please let me in!" I pleaded as I jiggled the door handle harder, but my pleas only hit deaf ears.

I tried everything I could think of to try and open the door. I yanked on the handle, rammed my shoulder into it. I even tried to see if I could pick the lock, but it was all futile. I was tempted to grab a rock from the yard and throw it at the glass, but I knew if I broke the door it would only make mom furious.

I took a few steps back from the door, to see if I could find any other way in. Even after just being out here for around ten minutes I felt the temperature drop, and it didn't help that I was so soaked that my white uniform shirt was literally sticking to my body. I could see my breath turn into mist in the air and the rain began to feel like razors as the ice cold water landed on my skin. I needed to find a way in because I knew that it'll only grow colder as the day progressed.

Then suddenly an idea popped into my head as I remembered what happened Christmas Eve. The window to my room might be unlocked so if I could find a way on the roof I could get in that way. Without any hesitation, I rushed over to the fence and unlocked it before running out to the driveway. Since Isao's car wasn't here yet, I had to find something else to use as a step stool to get onto the roof. I noticed our empty trash black trash bin against the fence, maybe if I laid it on its side it would give me enough height to pull myself up onto the roof.

Without giving even giving it a second thought I ran over to the trash bin and rolled it over to the driveway before tipping it over on its side. I carefully got onto the bin, using the wall as support so I wouldn't fall, and when I was tall enough I grabbed onto the roof and went to lift myself up, but it was far more difficult than last time. The roof tiles were too slick from the rain to get a firm grip and when I tried to hoist myself up, my arms would just slide back to the point that I would almost slide off the roof. My chest would also brush up against the side of the roof, causing pain to shoot through my whole upper body, but I tried my best to ignore it as I continued to try and get into the roof.

"Come on, Come on," I strained in pain as I reached to grab another roof tile to help myself up, but as I grabbed it my hand immediately slipped, almost causing me to fall off the roof. "Shit!"

I couldn't do it, the roof was too slick to get a good enough hold and even if I was able to get up onto it, there was no way I could get to my window without slipping and most likely falling off the roof. I soon gave up and dropped back down on the pavement, sitting down on the black trash bin as I tried to regain my breath, but the cold was making it hard to breathe. My muscles ached and the wound on my chest was burning from it being pressed against the rood. I lightly brushed my fingers over the scars, wincing a bit as I felt them under my drenched uniform shirt. I looked down at the shirt to see if there was any blood and was relieved to see that my shirt was still white and only had a little bit of dirt from the roof around the chest area. So thankfully my wound hadn't reopened.

I moved my wet bangs out of my face, watching as the rain poured around me. I was left out here with no way in. I couldn't spend the night in my car because my keys were in my blazer pocket, along with my phone, and if I went to a neighbor's house they would just call my mom and my punishment would only be worse.

The sound of a door opening broke me out of my thought. I looked over my shoulder and saw my old neighbor Mrs. Amano walking out onto the front porch to grab some sheets she left out before they could get even wetter. I couldn't let her see me or she would definitely question why I'm outside in a storm. So, before she got the sheets down I made my way back to the backyard.

Hours slowly passed and I could tell that the sun was beginning to set by how dark the clouds were getting. The rain has lightened a bit, but not by much. Although, I couldn't say that about the temperature, which dropped about another ten degrees.

I sighed out tiredly as I leaned my head against the wall. I've barely moved from where I was sitting next to the door since I came back in the backyard. I gave up trying to get mom to let me in, knowing there was no use in begging. I could hear her inside as she walked through the kitchen and dining room, talking and humming happily to herself as if she has forgotten that I was even out here, but I knew she hasn't. She was just trying to torment me by making the house look so warm, which was working. She had lit a fire in the fireplace, which we rarely ever used. I could smell from the vents that she was cooking some type of soup, and even though I wasn't a fan of that type of meal, it smelled amazing and warm.

My only source of heat right now was the heat coming from the vents, but it wasn't much. I tried to do anything to distract myself from the cold and also try to kill some time so I decided to play a solo game of solitaire with waterproof cards that we had.

Just like the first aid kit, Kaoru and I prepared a small chest of random board games and other items so if mom did ever lock us out again we could pass the time. We also had put some jackets and blankets in there, but as I searched the chest underneath the deck they were missing. The lock was broken when I dragged it out, so either mom or Isao found it and took them so we couldn't keep ourselves warm out here like the fucking demons they are. However, I was just glad that they didn't take out any of the snacks and water in the chest, although the snacks were expired so I didn't risk my health more by eating them.

I placed the last king on top of the third pile, winning the game for the tenth time. I glared at the now four stacks of cards. This game was starting to get old. At least the last time I was stuck out here Kaoru was with me so I was able to play more of the games we had to pass the time until mom let us back in, but without him here I couldn't think of any other card game to play but solitary.

I huffed as I regrouped the cards and was about to shuffle them until I heard the beep of a car being locked. Could that be Isao? If it was I could make him think that I locked myself out and maybe he could let me in. I dropped the deck of cards in my hands and ran over to the glass door. I didn't see mom anywhere so it could be possible that she was either upstairs or room, which gave me more of a chance for him to let me inside.

The front door opened and instinctively a smile of relief spread across my face when I saw Isao enter the house and put his bag down before shrugging off his coat.

"Isao!" I called out to get his attention as I banged on the glass. "Isao!"

Isao looked over towards where my voice was coming from and looked surprised to see that I was outside during a terrible storm.

"Hikaru, what the hell are you doing out there?" Isao asked as he began making his way over to me.

"I accidentally locked myself out while getting something for mom." I lied, I didn't even know if I could lock myself out with this door. "I tried calling mom but she couldn't hear me and my phone is in my blazer pocket that's on the couch. Can you please help me?"

"Sure, anything to get you out of that terrible storm."

I could feel a huge wave of relief wash over me as I saw him grasp onto the door handle, but sadly it was short lived.

"Isao honey," Mom greeted happily as she walked into the kitchen. "You're home." She grabbed Isao's arms and turned him away from the door, shattering any hope of him letting me in. Isao just stood there puzzled as mom gave him a peck on the cheek and smiled brightly. "Don't worry about Hikaru, this is his punishment. He showed up late to school this morning and failed his test, embarrassing our reputation. So he has to remain out there in the storm until I decided that he learned his lesson."

"Uh...alright, if you say so…"

"I made you this lovely soup that one of my assistants gave me a recipe for." She said as she began to lead him away. "I'm sure you're going to love it."

"No, no, wait mom!" I pleaded out to her as she walked away. I began to pound on the glass again to try and get her back over. "I promise that I learned my lesson. Just let me back in...please."

I laid my forehead on the glass as I felt warm tears began to trail down my face. I was so close, so fucking close and of course when I was finally going to be saved from this torturous punishment she just happened to pop up. Soon I heard footsteps heading back over towards the door. I looked up to see mom's deadpan expression.

"Mom please I-"

But instead of listening to me she just pulled down the blinds, leaving the only source of light that I had was a single porch light. I laid my head back on the glass as I listened to the rain began to grow heavy again. I began to feel all the pent up emotions that I've been holding back began to rise up as if I were a volcano about to erupt. I clenched my teeth as I tried to hold back all of it, but it was too much to hold onto and in a matter of seconds I exploded.

"Fuck!" I screamed as I hit the glass door with my palm. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" I took a few steps back, away from the door as I gave it a dark, murderous glare. "I fucking hate you, you fucking bitch! You're just a piece of shit mother who chose alcohol over her own fucking kids and abuses them! All because your fucking husband left and you're taking out your anger on us! I'm fucking sick of it!"

Sadly, my screams were silenced by the storm around me, not letting anyone hear me, and I was barely able to even hear myself. All my pent up emotions were flowing out of me, as if a dam had finally broke, causing myself to breakdown even harder by all the fucking shit that was going on in my life.

"Not only that my mom fucking abuses me, the only person I considered a friend still wants nothing to do with me because I fucking slept with her! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to fuck you, but maybe if you let me take the drinks back like I offered to do, none of this would have fucking happened!" A random surge of adrenaline ran through and the next thing I knew I began trashing the porch. I threw lawn chairs, flipping over tables and began hitting the porch railing with a stick from a broken rake. "You promised that you'd be there for me whenever I needed you! You promised to comfort me when my mom abused me! You tricked me into being your fucking friend then dropped me as if I meant nothing to you, just like my fucking dad!" I began hitting the railing harder. "You told me that you loved us and you'd be home later that day but you never showed up! You're the reason why mom's an abusive alcoholic. You're the reason why Kaoru and my lives are fucked up! I hate you! I hate all three of you!"

The stick finally couldn't take anymore and broke in half, causing me to stop. I began to catch my breath as I finally felt all the adrenaline leave my body as I stared down at the broken stick in my hands. Tears began to fall down my face again as I hugged the stick to my chest and collapsed onto the floor into a fetal position as I finally broke down. I may have said I hated them...but I mostly hated myself that I didn't. With every ounce I had in me I tried to forget about dad, escape mom's abuse, and get over Haruhi, but I just couldn't. I just cared too deeply for them to ever hate them, which made me hate my life even more.

"Please God, just kill me." I quietly sobbed. "I beg of you, please just end my suffering."

---

Haruhi

Haruhi let out a tired sigh as she closed her notebook. She had finally finished her last assignment and now could rest for a while before she had to go to bed, but she knew that it was going to be hard for her to officially relax while she had so much on her mind. For the past few weeks, she couldn't stop thinking about Hikaru and worrying about him. It was understandable how she acted when they woke up together in the motel room after a night of drunken...mmhm...but she now really wished that she didn't end their friendship. She could tell that, just like her, Hikaru was miserable without their friendship, but it was more noticeable that it was affecting him a lot worse. He put all his trust into her and now probably feels like he can't trust anyone anymore in fear that they'll do the same. He already had a bad enough life with his mother abusing him, now she probably only made it worse.

She let out another sigh before getting up and heading to her room. She thought she could kill some time reading a few pages of her new book she got before starting dinner, but she as she went to the small bookshelf in the corner of her room another book caught her attention. She plucked the book from the shelf and ran her hand through the soft leather cover.

'It's the journal that I used to keep tabs on Hikaru's and my relationship.'

She unhooked the latch as she made her way over to her bed before sitting down to begin reading.

Day 1: I decided to dedicate this journal on my relationship progress with Kaoru's twin brother Hikaru, to try and get to know him. Today he broke down and told me about how his mother abuses him and Kaoru. I tried to bring him to the Host Club but that didn't work out so well. I should've known it would've ended badly by how Hikaru and Tamaki always talked bad about each other. Although, I was able to convince him to have dinner at my house (after not allowing him to leave before the food was done cooking) and promised me to talk to me whenever his mom abused him. Hopefully, I'll break down that mean, bad boy exterior and see who Kaoru and Kyoya say he really is.

*flip*

Day 17: I think I somewhat made a breakthrough. He was a dick, as usual, today, but today was the first day that he didn't tell me a single time to leave him alone today, so I think I'm making progress. Fingers crossed this is just the beginning.

*flip*

Day 24: I made a fucking breakthrough! He smiled! He actually smiled and laughed! All because of a stupid joke that my dad told me last night. Who knew a tough guy like him would crack because of a dad joke. I wonder how long it'll take him to admit that we're friends because at this rate I think it's going to be soon.

*flip*

Day 39:...I can't even believe it. I thought it would've taken longer but it happened today...he actually called me his friend. Even though it happened during lunch (which he bought for me) I'm still shocked by it. I'm really starting to like this new Hikaru that's coming out. Hopefully, he'll stay.

*flip*

Day 39 con: I don't know what happened, but after our tutoring session today when Tamaki senpai came to pick me up for our date Hikaru got angry and stormed off...Could he be jealous that he's not my only friend? God, I really hope I can fix this as soon as possible.

*flip*

Day 42: We made up, thank God. So I was right about him being jealous of him not being my only friend. He also made it up to me for acting shitty by helping me with my dancing. Making great progress.

*flip*

Day 53:...I can't do this anymore...I just can't. I'm sorry…

Tears began to fall on the already tearstained page as Haruhi finished reading the last entry. A tsunami of guilt consuming her as she re-read it, only making more tears fall. What was she doing to herself? She was only making herself feel far worse than she already did...but she missed him terribly. Shit, she even missed him insulting her for just breathing, but if she called him would he even pick up? He seemed like he missed her too, or was he just acting depressed because the abuse at home was so bad?

She felt her phone in her pocket of her sweater and bit her lip as she continued arguing with herself if she should call him or not. Then as she was about to finally decide what to do, a bright flash of lightning appeared, instantly lighting up the room, accompanied by a loud roar of thunder. Haruhi shrieked and began frantically searching her room.

'Earplugs! Where are the earplugs that Tamaki gave me at the beach?!'

After a few terrifyingly slow seconds passed of searching she finally found the earplugs in a drawer, but just as she was about to grab them she noticed the earphones that Hikaru had given her a couple of months ago. She took them into her hand and stared at them as tears began welling up in her eyes again as she remembered the day he gave them to her.

'Just plug these into your phone or laptop if you got one and when a storm hits the music will distract you.'

As another roar of thunder hit. Haruhi immediately grabbed a blanket and wrapped it protectively around herself before taking out her phone and plugged them the earphones in before shoving them in her ears, playing the first playlist that was on her phone, and as the first song began to play her heart began to hurt.

It was a playlist Hikaru gave her to help draw out the thunder. She didn't really know any of the names of the songs, but to her surprise they actually calmed her down during every storm since he gave them to her, even helping her fall asleep.

'Fuck it. I'm calling him.'

Pausing the playlist she dialed up Hikaru's number (who was still under her favorites) and listened to the ringing on the other side.

"Come on, come on, please pick up." She pleaded, but her pleas grew silent by the sound of the voice message, causing the tears welling up in her eyes to finally fall.

"What did I do..?"

---

Hikaru

I didn't know when it officially stopped raining. All I knew was that I had fallen asleep after my break down and when I woke up the rain had stopped. I must've not slept for that long though since my clothes and hair were still damp and I could still hear mom and Isao were still up in the living room, so the most I slept must've been an hour.

Once I was finally up I decided to clean up the mess that I made in the backyard earlier. If mom saw that I trashed the yard she'll probably keep me out here a lot longer for ruining her "precious" yard, but at least cleaning somewhat distracted me from the sharp, burning pain of the cold, which has dropped even lower.

I huffed out an annoyed sigh as I was sitting back in the same spot next to the door, as I bounced a small red ball on the railing of the porch back and forth.

"Oh Isao, you could do nothing wrong." I imitated mom in a quiet, high voice as I bounced the ball. "You could literally murder my children and I'll still love you, but if my sons so as much as breathe the wrong way, I'll beat the shit out of them and lock them out in the freezing cold, but I promise that I'm a fucking great mother." I growled as I threw the ball at the rail harder. "Fucking bitch!"

I squeezed the red ball tightly in my hand and was about to chuck it at the rail with full force, but before I could there was a loud slam on the door, making me jump, accompanied with mom screaming.

"Whatever the fuck you're doing out there quit it! Do you hear me?!"

"Yes mom." I sighed out as I began picking at the rubber ball glumly, but the sound of mom hitting the door a second time cause me to jump again.

"I can't hear you!"

"Yes mom." I repeated louder, a little nervous that it was that it still wasn't loud enough for her liking, but I calmed down when I heard her footsteps walk away from the door.

I let out another sigh, watching my breath turn into mist in the air. Watching the mist made me really crave a cigarette, all the stress that happened in the past few hours was too much for me to handle, but my cigarettes were in my bag so there was no way of getting them until mom let me back in, which was hopefully soon. By how dark the sky was and what I could see through the blinds of my neighbors' bedroom window at what they were watching, it was most likely around eight or nine. I've been out here for around six hours.

I leaned my head back against the wall, staring up at the semi-clear night sky. I desperately wanted to go inside. I was cold, hungry, thirsty, and I really needed to use the bathroom. Yeah, I could've gone in the bushes, but I'd rather that be a last resort because I had a little pride.

I covered my mouth with my arm as I coughed. Great, now I'm probably going to be sick tomorrow from being out in the rain and cold for so long. Just what I needed in my already shitty life. I coughed again before standing up and making my way back over to the chest to find something quieter to do. I rummaged through the random shit that was in there, picking up a book that looked interesting. Kaoru was the one who put old books he already read in here so we had something to do if we got bored of playing games. The book was worn out from being in the chest for so long and probably from getting wet from the rain today, but I could still read the words on the pages.

As I was flipping through the pages, I heard the sound of the door unlocking and opening. I immediately dropped the book back in the chest and stood up, expecting to see that mom was finally allowing me back inside, but as I looked up at the door, whoever opened it had already closed and locked it again, but they seemed to have left a small bowl of food and a bottle of water out for me. It didn't look warm, but at least I could finally get something to eat today. I closed the chest and made my way back up, to the porch to see that either mom or Isao left me a small bowl of rice from what I assumed was leftovers from our dinner a few nights ago. I know that I shouldn't have expected anything arm, but I was still disappointed.

I sat down and took the bowl in my one of my hands as I pick the fork in the other and began poking at the old clumps of rice. The rice was hard and bland, but at least I would have something in my stomach, which made my body start to feel more energy by finally having some food, but not by much. The bowl wasn't even the size of my two hands cupped together, so even though I took my time eating so I could savor the food as long as I could, I was done in about ten minutes.

I didn't know how many hours passed by after I finished eating, but I knew that it was close to midnight. Mom and Isao were still up and by how much mom was laughing I could tell that they were drinking. Well, at least they were fucking happy while I was out here freezing to death outside, fucking assholes.

I turned the pages to the book I was reading and began reading the next page. I've already read half the book at this point, which was surprising for me. It usually took me months to get me this far because I would only read a few pages of a book then forget about it for a few weeks. While Kaoru could probably finish this sized book in a day.

Although, now it was getting harder and harder to read as I began to feel myself doze off, but I would jolt back up before I could finally fall asleep. I bookmarked the page before tossing the book to the side, rubbing the bags under my eyes.

"Shit…" I sighed out heavily, looking towards the door. "When are they finally going to let me back in?"

I lost track of how many hours I've been out here anymore. All I knew was that I've been out here since the sun has been up and now it was almost pitch black, minus the small porch light next to the door. I coughed a couple of times in my arm and sniffed. Fuck, I was differently sick now. My nose was almost stuffed to the point that I couldn't breathe out of it. I didn't know if it was because I was getting sick, but I suddenly began to feel warm, but not the good, cozy warm you'd feel next to a fire, but the kind you feel sweaty and gross.

My ears perked up when I heard footsteps making their way to the door. I turned my head when I heard the door unlock and opened, seeing mother's impassive expression. A bit of me began to feel hopeful that she was finally going to let me back in...but yet I knew mom when she was drunk. She was unpredictable, and the way she was looking at me with no expression at all made it impossible to know what she might be thinking.

"Mom, I'm really-"

"Hush!" She hissed, which I instantly obeyed too. She readjusted the large designer coat she had on as if she was taunting me, and opening the door slightly wider with her heel so I could just barely feel the warm air coming from inside, and it made my body began to shiver almost violently again. She crossed her arms over her chest as she leaned her back against the glass door. "You've been out here for a while, let's see if you've gotten any smarter. I'm going to ask you a series of questions and if you get them all right then you'll be allowed back inside."

"Wait, what type of-"

"What is the velocity of a moving car going twenty miles per hour with the respect to the surface of a highway, traveling northward?"

I just blinked, confused at the question she just gave me. "Huh-"

"What is the square root of 1,493?"

"Wait, hold on-"

"What was the first book Ernest Hemingway wrote?"

"Mom-"

"Who was the first Windsor Monarch of the UK?"

"Slow down-"

Her expression turned angry as I didn't answer her questions immediately and began walking over to me. "Answer the damn questions Hikaru."

I looked up at her with fearful eyes. "Mom I-"

"Answer the fucking question!" She repeated in a bark as she roughly grabbed my face, causing me to flinch as I tried to turn my face away from her. "Answer them!"

"I don't know!" I finally answered, a few tears trailing down my face. "I don't know…"

"Hmm." I looked back up at her and saw that her expression was no longer angry, but back to impassive. Which only made me more terrified. "I guess being out here for eight hours wasn't enough. You'll just have to stay out here longer then."

My eyes went wide as she let go of my face and began making her way back to the door.

"Wait mom," I got up and ran to follow her. Grabbing a hold of the door handle just in time before it closed, "please let me back in. I'm sorry I failed the test. I promise it'll never happen again."

She stopped fighting to close to the door and just stared back at me, before giving me that terrifyingly sweet smile that always made my gut churn.

"Oh honey," she then kneed me hard in the gut, causing me to let out a pain filled gasp. My stomach was still tender from what happened a few nights ago, so it made my stomach hurt far worse. I collapsed onto my knees as I held my stomach, pain surging through my entire body as mom continued to speak, "you should already know that I can see through your bull shit."

She then kicked me in the face, making me fall to the ground before slamming the door and locking it. I stayed in that position for a few minutes before slowly getting up so I was holding my torso up with my arm. I felt something slowly trailing down the side of my lip and used a shaky hand to wipe it, seeing that it was blood. Great, another wound that I have to deal with. At least my lip was only cut and nothing worse happened, but I knew that if it bruised people might get a little suspicious tomorrow, which was the last thing I needed.

The porch light suddenly turned off, shrouding me in darkness. I could feel myself want to break down again, but my body wouldn't allow it. So I just sat there, staring at the floor as the cold air blew past me, though my body didn't react to it. It was the least painful thing I was feeling right now.

I let out an exhausted sigh, I was extremely tired and wanted to just wanted to sleep to get this whole fucking night over with, but I knew that the cold weather was going to make it difficult, unless…

I finally noticed something folded up underneath the porch swing and a light bulb lit up in my head. The covers for the barbecue! I can't believe I haven't noticed them before. I could use it as a substitute for a blanket. Not wasting any more time, I used the railing to help myself up, wincing from the pain that was still coming from my stomach. I took a couple of seconds to catch my breath before staggering my way over. I grabbed the covers underneath the porch swing and felt the material. It felt scratchy and light, but it would be better in keeping me warm than nothing at all.

I wrapped the covers around me and sat down on the swing, using the heel of my right foot to make it move a little, which was actually quite comforting. I could see why babies thought this was relaxing because in a matter of minutes I began to grow tired again. I laid down on the swing, having the covers wrapped around me like a cocoon so I could keep myself as warm as I could, and not be bothered by the damp cushions.

I stared off at the lights coming off from the windows of the other houses and seeing smoke coming from the chimneys, making me wrap the covers around me tighter. I was lucky enough that I was exhausted from everything that happened today, so I could sleep through the rest of this hellish fucking night.

---

I woke up to the sound of the door opening and immediately felt horrible. Besides my body aching, I felt weak and sick and my head felt so congested that it was hard to breathe.

I slowly opened my eyes when I heard footsteps coming towards me and saw mom glaring down at me. Please God, don't make her ask any more questions. I could barely think straight as it is from how sick I felt.

"Mom-"

"Get up!" She hissed, before grabbing the cover before harshly tugging it, making me fall hard on the wood porch, knocking the wind out of me. Then before I could even catch my breath she grabbed the collar of my shirt and forced me up and led me back towards the house before pushing me inside the house. "Get ready for school. I want you out in less than thirty minutes, alright?"

I nodded, too sick to even say anything as she walked away. I got up and walked over to the couch where my blazer was and grabbed it. I reached into my pockets to get my phone and keys, but as I was searching I couldn't find my phone. I grew confused, I knew that I put my phone in my blazer, but where the fuck was it?

"Mom?" I called out to her. "Do you know where my phone is?"

"Oh, that thing." Mom replied back innocently from the kitchen. "It kept being a nuisance by vibrating so I took care of it."

I felt my stomach drop in an uneasy way at what she said. "What do you mean 'took care of it?'"

There were a few moments of silence before I heard a cabinet door loudly shut before footsteps began marching over to the living room with my now broken phone in her hand. I looked at my phone in complete horror and took it from her, desperately trying to turn it on.

"What did you do to it?"

"I told you that it was being a nuisance so when it wouldn't stop vibrating I threw it on the floor before throwing it in the bathroom sink full of water for about an hour."

"Why didn't you just turn it off..?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper as I sat down on the headrest of the couch.

Mom rolled her eyes as she swished the red wine in the wine glass in her hand. "I don't see why you're so upset. It's just a phone. You could always by another one."

"I don't have any money…"

She shrugged her shoulders. "Not my problem." She took a sip of her wine before softly grabbing my face, making me look up at her. Her impassive expression was haunting to look at. "Maybe this will finally get you to start behaving, and who knows," she rubbed the new bruise on the left side of my lip with her thumb gingerly, "maybe I'll give you a new phone as a reward for being good."

She patted my cheek before walking back towards the kitchen. "You have twenty minutes."

I just watched her leave before staring back at my broken phone, running my thumb along the cracked glass of the screen. I would usually be furious about this, but right now I felt too sick to feel anything. I just wanted to leave this fucking house and get away from mom as long as I could today, no matter how awful I felt.

I tossed my phone to the floor before rubbing my temples to calm the huge migraine that had formed.

"Shit."

---

Hey guys, I'm really sorry for the two-month wait. Do I have excuses, yes, yes I do...ish. Mostly school has been taking up most of my time and looking for a job. But I hope this really, really long chapter makes up for the long wait. (It better because it was torturous to type!) I will try to update quicker since I'm back in the mojo of school...kinda

Also, thank you so much for all the recent reviews, favorites, and follows from the last few updates. To be honest I was a little upset that his story didn't get that much recognition at first because I really love writing this story. Then suddenly, but slowly, a lot more people start reading it and loving it (even some of my favorite authors' XD) and it makes me even more motivated to write stories. So thank you all, I love you. :)

Please Favorite, Follow, and Review. Until next time.-HH1957