Me: Yay, I am back!

Phredrik: That was fast.

Me: Yup! I have been on roll lately

Phredrik: Haha, sure you have

Me: This story is in Judai's POV! Just switching it up a little back and forth through chapters.

Phredrik: Enjoy the story

Have you ever had one of those days where you just want everyone to leave you alone. It seems like anything someone tries to say will make everything worse. You get pissed at the simplest of things someone may do. Today, today is one of those days. I flipped up my hoodie on my black sweatshirt trying to create some sort of barrier to everyone around me. Quickly slipping in my headphones and continued walking alone, staring at my feet like they where to only thing I wanted to acknowledge in the entire world. My hands shuffle across my stomach trying to find the pockets in my large sweatshirt to keep them from hanging awkwardly on my sides.

My glaze suddenly shifted up as I heard small feet pattering loudly on the sidewalk towards my direction. My eyes meet the body of a young bluenette. He is one of my classmates and best friend, though his size gave the effect he was half my age.

"Judai, wait up," the younger boy called out to me. He ran towards me ,though, often tripping over his shoe laces he didn't care enough to tie.

"Hey, Sho," I said under my breath. Sho Marufuji was my best friend ever since we where little, but today I wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone. Not Asuka. Not Kenzan. Not Manjoume. Not Sho, especially not Sho. I didn't want him to worry about me. He already has enough on his plate. Sho was always getting bullied about his height and he was always trying to live up to his big brothers expectations. I just wanted to give the kid a break for once.

Sho soon realized the bad vibe I was putting out and shut his mouth up. It hurt me to see my best friend like this so I put on the most convincing smile possible and waves a hand at him to assure him I was find. The truth is, I am not fine. This smile was not new to me. It was a mask I had always put on to hide my true emotions. No one has yet been able to read this mask I have hidden behind. Not even my older brother Hauo can tell. It didn't bother me. Why would I want people to be able to read me like a book. Nothing would be private and people would always be bothering to help me. I would rather just push off the problem for later. This seemed to be my resolution for everything lately. But today, it felt like every problem I put to the side had built up into pure energy and rammed me in the back of the head. School didn't help with any of my problems either. Just trying to balance my good grades seemed a struggle. Maybe that is the reason I am failing math. Whatever, math wasn't my best subject anyways.

I wasn't always this insecure. Growing up I was a relatively happy child. Though my childhood is mostly a blur, I remember staying happy though the custody issues that had occurred to me at a young age. In the end, my mother gained custody. Sadly, she became ill and died a few months later. I was going to move in with my father until he was sent to jail for something I rather not talk about. With no relatively close relatives willing to take me, I was sent to one of my mothers friends. She already had a few extra rooms in her house so it wasn't much of a struggle taking me and my brother in.

The rest of the walk home wasn't to my suiting either. Me and Sho walked silently until we reached the block were we where to go our separate ways. I gave him a quick wave, not will to gather enough energy to actually speak. The rest of the way home I waked with my head down until I my hands reached the lock on the huge iron bars of our fence. My fingers shuffled into my pants pocket and meet a small cold surface. I pinched the surface in my fingertips and slipped it out of my pocket. Fitting it through the keyhole in the lock and turning it until I heard the click and the lock popped open. Then slipping the key back into my pants pocket and took the lock off the door. I Gripped the fence door with one hand and slowly pulling it open; then slipped in the small space I provided for myself.

I stared at an ugly scene. It was a huge old rustic house which looked as if the framework could collapse at any moment. It was the most dreary house in the entire town. All paint which had been on it decades ago was now faded into a placid gray. I could spot multiple cracks which no one had cared enough to repair. The windows where covered in dust and several had large cracks down the middle. The lawn wasn't any better. All grass on the plot was now crunchy and brown . Not to mention, well over grown with weeds. Everything about the house seemed to be lifeless and sad. This was my home. The only home I could ever remember. I wasn't much to complain about it because I was used to it. I hadn't ever had anything better then this so I wouldn't know what it was like to live in a nice modern home, let alone have been in one. The closest house to modern I have ever been in was Sho's and his house wasn't anything special, either. It was a simple house. Simple in colour and layout, but it was livable.

I walked up the crack walkway which was overgrown with weeds. Being careful of each step I took incase a stone slab where to come lose and send me flying towards the unforgiving pavement. My feet meet the old wooden blocks of the houses porch steps. With every step I took a louder creak would be heard. It was as if the stairs where competing on which was the oldest and most need of repair. My hand meets the brass knob of the door, which is cold and sent a chill up my spine. The sensation stunned me for a minute, but I continued with my actions. Carefully turning the nod ,in fear it might break on contact. Upon opening the door, I was met by a young screaming child flinging her body towards me. I caught the child just before her impact.

"Joyce-Marie!" Screeched a shrill voice. The voice was one of many I was used to hearing. It came from our foster-mother, Cicile.

I scooped up the little child in my arm and cradled her head with my brittle hands. I had to gather most of my energy to perform this action, but I wouldn't dare droop her. This girl in my arms was my four-year old foster-sister Joyce-Marie. "Hey, Jo, I said with a little laugh. This laugh wasn't anything genuine. It was another mask I put on to hide my thoughts from my little child. Suddenly, a haggard young woman barged through the door frame across the room. She was a young woman, but her sickly appearance made her look twice her age. She sighed in relief when she saw me holding the young child. The young girl's head rested on my shoulder and her little fingers clutched the fabric of my sweatshirt.

"Hey, Cecile, I said giving her a small crooked smile and a wave of my hand. To my surprise, she didn't smile back at be. She barely even acknowledged me.

"Judai, would you mind putting Jo down for her nap?"She asked me with an annoyed tone in her voice. Just by her appearance you could tell she had worked all day. Though we do not have much money, our foster-mother still provides for us and takes care of us the best she could. She still is a very nice woman, that is, when she is sober. I responded by her by walking ,with Jo, up our old spiral stairs that lay in the center of our living room.

The top of the stairs spread out into a long hallways with multiple doors on each side. Jo's room was the room on the right, closest to the stairs. Across from her room on the left side was my older brother Haou's room and next to his was mine. Across from mine was Cecile's room, which was usually locked all hours of the day.

Propping Jo up with my knee, I opened the door of her room with my free hand; taking her inside and placing her in her small bed. I pulled the bleached Transformer covers ,which used to belong to me, over her small body. Joyce had found the bedding in the attic one day and quickly took a fancying to them. You see, she wasn't like most girls her age. She wasn't into the frilly dresses and flower tricycles , though, we were never able to afford a tricycle. Often upon arriving home, I would find her wearing one of my old shirts which usually hung down to her knees and this was one of those days.

I wiped her long black hair out of her eyes and behind her ears, revealing her bright young face. She looked so peaceful in this state. I was always used to seeing her running around the house causing trouble or carrying little critters she had found in the yard. I found feel a small smile creep into the corners of my mouth.

I made my way to my room and quickly swung open my door, throwing my book bag into the corner. I threw my body down on my small bed and clutched the plain gray covers in my fingers. I could feel a migraine forming in the back of my eye sockets and the heat of the pain made me cringe. Figuring that staying awake wouldn't help my migraine, I decided to call it an early day. Weakly pulling my body off the bed I shuffled the my dresser. I pulled the drawer open and mindlessly shoves my hand under the bundles of fabric. Before my mind could process what was happening, I felt a sharp surface meet my palm. I quickly pulled my hand out and looked at the stream of blood dripping from my hand, cursing under my breath. Grabbing a rag that was resting on the corner of my dresser, I wrapped it around my hand to reduce the bleeding. Carefully removing clothes from my dresser to see what had cut me.

Suddenly, a large frown spread across my face as I felt my teeth grind together in anger. I pulled out a broken bottle of Vodka out of my dresser. It still reached of alcohol which made my nose burn. I didn't take long for me to realize whose bottle this was. She was always drinking. She thought it was her way to relieve the stress of the bills and the cleaning. She never could think rational when she drank. Always aggressive and blaming us for her becoming like this. I was just waiting for the day she would actually hurt one of us during one of her drunken rages. Or maybe worse.

I threw the bottle into the corner of the room by my backpack and walked to my bed. In a sudden movement, I launched my fist into the sheets of my bed. It was all I could do to keep from stomping down stairs and socking Cecile right in the jaw. I repeated the action multiple times until I was content that all my rage had subsided. Then, flinging my body on the bed and pudding my feather pillow over my head.

I was too tired to change clothes. I was too tired to even think. I just laid there motionless until I drifted off into a deep sleep.

Phredrik: Wow, this is taking a lot longer then I thought it was.

Me: Yah, Its been about 10 or more hours and I barely have anything done!

Phredrik: But it is the most detailed writing you have ever done.

Me: Well, you are right and it is for my friend who I will barely ever see after she graduates.

Phredrik: Exactly, cream puff!

Me: Anyways, drop a review if you don't mind. It helps me fix a lot of the problems I need to fix. Since I am a young inexperienced writer…I need all the help I can get. Sorry for the short chapters…I want to get something posted and want to keep this long running but I haven't been on a real role lately.