2. Sound of Silence (Prologue – Jim)

Hello darkness, my old friend.
I've come to talk with you again.
The vision that was planted in my brain still remains,
within the sound of silence.
In restless dreams I walked alone,
narrow streets of cobblestone.

(Atrocity – Sound of silence)

It was nothing special about that day. Or at least he thought this day would be oddly normal, like every day. He was bored. And he was alone. James Tiberius Kirk was just about to turn thirteen and was already sick of his life. The boys he was hanging out with were... buddys. Collegues. Classmates. But they weren't friends. He didn't trust them. Strictly speaking he didn't trust anyone except himself. His Stepfather was not interested in him, so Jim (his cognomen) did what he wanted to and ran directly into problems frequently, even though his mother tried his hardest to stop him.

But he wasn't listening.

And this was good, because if he would listen to his parents, he wouldn't have met this little vulcan boy. He had house detention but escaped through his window to play football with the other boys from school when he met him. It was a vulcan boy, small and airy with black hair and deep, dark brown eyes. Alex hit him after they accidently bounced into each other so Jim stopped him from beating him up, because this kid didn't even seem to try to defend himself. Jim had some distinctive sense of justice and also a strong protective instinct so he couldn't help it. And it worked. Alex let go and left.

„You alright?", he asked with a little smile on his face. Spock looked away and Jim raised an eyebrow.

„Yes, I am."

„You're bleeding."

„A normal reaction of a body which was being hit."

„Does it hurt?"

Jim sighted and tried to find something in his face, which would show him an answer Spock wasn't willing to give. Okay, Jim wasn't so sure if he himself would answer... After all, they were total strangers. After some time of awkward silence, Jim started talking again. „Alex is a total twit, I'm sorry you had to meet him.", he laughed and put his hands into his trouser pockets. „I'm Jim by the way. Jim Kirk", but Spock didn't replie again. There was a moment of silence between them again, before Jim harrumphed quiet. „So... you're vulcan? What are you doing here all by yourself? I bet you're not much older than me?", he wanted to know and waited paitently for an answer that didn't came either. Man, were all vulcans so hard to get to know? „You know, I don't bite. You can answer me.", Jim said again, still smiling.

„I am Spock.", he finally said, which made Jim's smiling turn into a grin.

„Spock.", he echoed. „Well, that's one cool name."

It seemed that Spock wanted to say something, but was interrupted by some cold drop on his face which made him freeze. Jim could see it by the look of his face. The drops came more frequently every second and Jim sighted. „Oooh man! Summer rain. Why today?", he moaned and wanted to run under something where he was safe from the rain. Half the way he stopped and turned around. „Spock! Don't just stay there, come on!", he shouted, but Spock didn't move, so he ran back to pull him away. „This is the first time I am seeing rain in my whole life.", Spock answered him and held up his arms so the rain could fall onto the interiour side of his hands. „Fascinating.", he said. Jim stared at him in surprise. This boy called rain 'fascinating'? He really was... interesting. Jim couldn't tell what it was, but something was going on inside him that made him want to know this Spock better. Maybe it were his eyes. Maybe his curiosity which pressured him to get to know everything he didn't understand. Then he laughed and ran his fingers through his soaking wet hair so that it didn't fell into his eyes anymore. Jim saw Spocks face trembling. He couldn't make out what kind of trembling it was, but that didn't matter anyway.

„Come on, we'll get sick if we're staying in the rain.", Jim told him and both of them went down the street until they found a building with a overlaying roof where they could hide from the rain. Jim could see Spock shivering and continuing to stare at the rain. „Spock!", the vulcan boy jerked at the sound of the voice not far from them. He had an umbrella with him and came towards the two boys with an alarming determination.

„Even on your mother's home planet you can not be without getting into a brawl everytime I do not pay attention to you. Did I not told you to not get into trouble while I am away, son?"

„Yes, father. I apologise fot that.", Spock answered with a very quiet voice.

„Uhm... I'm sorry but it was not his fault.", Jim interrupted and the man who seemed to be Spock's father.

„I think you and I do not know each other."

„I'm Jim. One of my buddys overreacted and... well... Anyway it wasn't his fault.", Jim shrugged his shoulders. Sarek waited a few secons like he was thinking about this answer. Then he turned to Spock again. „Come with me, Spock. We need to go home.", Spock nodded in silence and gave Jim another glance, before he turned and followed his father without any further words. Jim remained under the roof, staring at the two vulcans indecisive. Something about him was strange but he couldn't tell. Jim wasn't dumb and listend to what his father said. This Spock was half human and if he was right about the 'problems' they spoke of, he seemed to have no friends at all, too. When he heard that, Jim suddenly felt a rush of relatedness to this boy. He wanted to know more about him.

Spocks eyes looked sad.

Jim sighted and glanced towards them until they were out of his sight. Then he turned and walked back home. He was soaking wet when he arrived and just wanted to go into his room, but was interrupted.

„James.", the sharp sound of his stepfather echoed in the corridor. Jim didn't respond.

„I think I told you to be home at 6pm."

„I forgot my clock."

He let out a disgusted sound. „Useless boy.", he murmured and Jim rolled his eyes, left without answering. He locked the door behind him and threw his bag on his bed, let himself fall next to it. Whenever his mother was off planet his stepfather was beyond all bearing. No wonder Johnny – his stepbrother – ran off two days ago.

Jim was hoping to meet this vulcan boy again the next day and came back to the place where they met. But Spock wasn't there. Neither was he the next day. It was a week later when he lingered through the streets again. Jim was bored as usual and tried to avoid his schoolmates and his father, so he didn't pay attention to where he went. He didn't pay attention until he realised it was Spock and his parents which were standing outside a house a few meters afar from where Jim was. He fastened his steps and nearly ran towards the small groups of persons.

„Hello, Spock.", he waved with his right hand and smiled at the little family. He presumed they were his vulcan father, his human mother and the parents of his mother. Jim smiled slightly. Spocks mother smiled in surprise and tousled Spocks gleaming black hair. „Oh my, love. You didn't tell me you made friends down here.", she said, audible pleased, which made Jim grin. Spock looked uneasy and pressed his lips together. Jim wondered what he was thinking. „He's not my friend.", he answered and turned, went into the car. Kirks face literally jumped the rails. He didn't understand why he said that. „Wha... Spock, wait!", he called him, but Spock shut the door and didn't even made the slightest attempt to react to him. It was Spocks father who recognised him. „You are the human boy from last week. I have to apologise, but we will fly back to Vulcan today.", he said. Jim nodded and wanted to say that he'd like to make friends with him, but... now he didn't know if this was a good idea. Spocks mother looked confused, but Jim didn't care. He had to admit that he was miffed by Spocks behaviour. After a few seconds he kicked a small stone away and left the house without any explanation.

Why did he say that? He preserved him from being beaten up and was nice to him. Why did he act so rude? Kirk frowned and sighted. He didn't exactly knew why, but he saw someone in Spock, which whom he finally could make good friends. It would have been great to finally have at least one he could call a real friend. But it seemed as if he was the only one who thought that. Now that he heard the sound of the car getting more quiet every second, he felt oddly lonely.

And the prologue of Jim, sorry for that!
I hope you enjoyed it anyway :3!

Since I'm german and my beta-reader is also german, I'm not sure whether everything I upload is correct.
So if you find something, I'd be more than glad if you could tell me, so that I won't make the same mistake twice!
(It'd be perfect if someone would be willing to beta this, but oh well.)