"Joey!!!"

Joey woke up sharply, hearing a far-off voice calling his name. He sat up in his bed and realised Serenity was missing.

"Serenity!! Where are you?!" Joey jumped out of bed and raced down the stairs. He followed Serenity's cries outside. He opened the front door and stared in disbelief at what he was seeing.

His mother had bags in the car, piled high. She was in the front seat, starting up the car.

Then Joey panicked as he saw Serenity in the back seat of the car, crying and calling out to him. Joey ran down to the car, where his mother had just turned on the engine.

"Joey!!!" Serenity cried, pressing herself against the glass of the car window. She tugged at the door handle, but her mother had locked the doors.

Her mother put her foot on the pedal and the car started to drive away.

"Serenity!!! Don't go!!!" Joey called out, running after the car. "Wait!!"

Joey ran as fast and far as he could, managing to keep up until he reached the end of the street.

There he stood, watching hopelessly as Serenity's face, streaming with tears, called after him from the back window.

Joey stood, feeling miserable and lonely. He realised he was crying and ran back to the house.

He shut himself in his room and knew that he had once again been useless, and now he had to pay the ultimate price.

Serenity was gone, and he knew it. He knew she wasn't coming back.

Joey sank to the floor, crying and feeling pathetic. It was like his mother had not only taken his little sister and best friend away, but it always felt like she had taken a part of him.

He knew he was nothing without Serenity.

Just then, he heard the front door bang. He looked up and held his breath hopefully. Maybe his mother had changed her mind?

Any minute now, he would hear Serenity running up the stairs, calling to him...

Joey's heart sank as he heard the familiar grunts of his father downstairs. He hadn't come home last night, but now that he was back, when he realised they had gone...

"Joseph!!!" Joey's stomach clenched as he heard his father stomp up the stairs.

Joey's door swung open sharply and his father's angry face appeared in front of him.

Joey looked at the floor, his eyes streaming with tears, feeling more insignificant than he had ever felt before, knowing that he was going to have to face his father's anger.

"Where's your mother?!" his father shouted. The smell of drink coming off him made Joey feel suffocated.

"They've gone." Joey said, in a voice close to a whisper.

"What do you mean, gone?!"