A Figment of my Imagination
Chapter 1
Summary: Things are happening so fast in my life. Mom and Serenity leaving. Dad beating. Seto and I meeting on one certain night. Seto confessing to me I just can't handle them all at one! I… just can't. [SJ]
By: Klyukaizer
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Things are happening so fast in my life. Mom and Serenity left us all… after that, Dad started beating me up because of it. I don't know what I did to deserve these things! What did I do wrong?
What did I do wrong?
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"Joey! Hey, Joey!" I heard someone call up to me as I looked at my back. "Tristan?" I blinked as my best friend ran to me.
"Hey, man! I tried calling you last night but your phone line's dead! What happened? I just called you an hour before that!" Tristan scolded me as if it was my doing. I glared at him and continued walking away, "Look, Tris' I had a bad night last night so can you please leave me alone? I'm not in the mood to talk right now!"
"Hey! I was just kidding!" Tristan blinked as he stopped on his tracks for a moment, "I- I was just worried about you, Joey!"
"Well stop pestering me if you're worried!" I snapped as I left him alone. But still, he followed me, "C'mon, Jou! We're buddies aren't we? Tell me about it!"
How can I make him understand? He can never understand…
Instantly, I faced back to him and gave him a man-to-man look in the eye. "Look! There's absolutely no way you can understand how I feel, Tristan! There's no use telling you and I would only get you into trouble!"
"Huh? Is it a bully?" Tristan smirked, "I'll fight him off for you!" Tristan said boastfully as he clenched his fist into a ball.
"THAT IS EXACTLY IT!" I screamed, "You're always like that! [Joey! Let me help you!] [Joey! I'm always there for you!] No, Tristan! NO! I am not going to drag you into this mess!" I snapped.
"But, Joey-"
I faced away, "No…" I said in a demanding but low voice. "Please, Tristan. For once… think for yourself only… forget about me…" And with that, I walked away, unable to look at my best friend's face.
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"Dad! I'm home!" I said as I entered my house… well, junkyard to be exact. I tried to see the beauty of the house as I scanned through the place… but not one comes into my mind… Only memories.
Painful memories. (Literally!)
The floor was covered in spilled alcohol, mixed with some blood. The coffee table was split into half and shards of glass were scattered all over the floor. The walls were covered in blood and some of the wall's wallpaper was split in half. It was as if I was facing hell.
"Hey, punk!"
And I was facing the devil, himself.
"You're late." My drunken father said flatly as he threw the bottle of wine he just drank to the other side of the room. "I- I got into detention for being late this morning." I reasoned as I tried to walk over to him and maybe help him. But no… he had given me a punch.
"AND WHY THE HECK WERE YOU LATE THIS MORNING! HUH? AIN'T 8 HOURS OF SLEEPIN' ENOUGH FOR YA?" He screamed as he kicked me over and over again. I didn't like it! I didn't like it one bit! Metallic blood was bubbling all over my mouth as I felt like throwing them all up at once.
"YOU ARE GROUNDED FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE YOU PIECE OF USELESS CRAP!" He yelled as he picked me up by the collar and threw me to the already-broken coffee table. I screamed as I felt the shards of glass pierce through my back and felt my right elbow being twisted. "Get up!" He ordered as he walked over to me and looked down on me.
"I said GET UP!" He screamed as I felt myself being hit at my manhood.
I gave out a loud yelp as I doubled over. Obviously, hurt by the constant impacts he brings me. Somehow, tears had already made there way to my face for the next thing I had snapped back to reality, I had been gritting my teeth for a while now and my tears were endlessly falling down to my neck.
"No wonder your mother and sister left us!" He snapped. "They already knew they had a stupid son and a worthless brother!"
"Someday… you will be alone…" He whispered into my ear, "…and no one will be there to help you!"
"We will all just laugh at your face!"
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My eyes snapped open widely as I blinked back the tears. 'It's already morning?' I tried to sit up and register the surroundings and found myself at the same position yesterday… sleeping at the broken coffee table. I grumbled as I felt my stomach growl in hunger.
'When is this all going to end?' I looked at my watch and found out it was already 8:40. School starts in 9:00. At least I wasn't late yet. Slowly, I got up and went to my room, changing into some more decent clothes a.k.a. my uniform. It seems that all the running blood had all dried up overnight. And as soon as I took my shirt off, the fabric had actually stuck to the parts where the blood had dried.
Blood… so red. So sticky. So scary. Yet so beautiful.
I slowly got down as if nothing had happened the night before (like I always do) and head over to the door. "Dad! I'm going to school now!"
"Yeah, whateva!" He answered back from the kitchen as I slammed the door behind me.
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Hands inside my pockets, I walked cockily through the hallways as I looked at everyone I passed by. There were lovers making out by the lockers, teenagers running around, there were even bullies bullying on the nerds. And then… there was the richest man in school.
Multi-billionaire and CEO of Kaiba Corporation, Seto Kaiba.
"Mutt, watch where you're going!" He snapped as he purposely hit me by my right elbow. I suppressed a yelp at the sudden contact. I forgot… It was the same spot where I fell last night. "What's wrong, mutt? Sprained your elbow just by a little tug?" Seto smirked.
I glared at him fearlessly, "So that means you admit you hit me on purpose!"
"Hn! Yeah… so? What's a stray dog going to do about it?" He mocked. Oh that face I would like to punch. AAAAAHHH!!! No, Joey. Stay calm. You must stay calm. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing!" I snapped angrily, but as soon as I faced away, I was instantly filled with sadness.
How can I expect them to understand?
Day by day… it's been always the same routine. They don't understand! They don't even try to understand me!
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I felt a tap on my shoulder as I looked at Tristan who was sitting behind me.
It was a note.
He handed me a note. I quickly opened it and found 3 hand-sketched drawings of Yugi, Tea and Tristan… indicating the note was from them:
Meet us at the playground after school, Joey! Okay? – Tea ^_~
And after that, maybe we can head over to the arcades! – Tristan ^.^v
Yeah… let's have a sleepover at my house afterwards! – Yugi ^-^
Yes, these 3 are my friends! My best friends… and it takes a "note" for us to realize… that something was afoot. And the 3 of us definitely have to talk about it!
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"You wanted to see me?" I asked softy as I walked to them with my hands on my pockets. "Yeah!" Tea smiled as she looked up to me with a cheerful face. Was that for real? Or was she trying to make a smooth introduction?
"Let's go straight to the point, Joey. We know something's wrong and we're just trying to help you! Don't you trust us anymore?" Yugi asked sadly as he approached me, I slowly backed away from him as I felt Tristan do the same thing. "Don't try to deny the fact the you know something that we don't!" Tristan joined.
"C'mon, buddy! Just tell us!"
"I can't, okay? I'm sorry…" I panicked with all the emotions from the bottom of my heart. "Look, guys. Joey's scared right now so let's just do this slowly!" Tea suggested as I mentally thanked her for that. "Joey… I know you're scared and we understand that!"
Yeah, right…
"We're not rushing you to tell us… just do it slowly and let us understand one at a time. Then… maybe we can help!" Tea smiled. "Maybe?" I snapped as they all looked at me strangely.
"I don't need help if all you can do is maybe!" I yelled. "Call me selfish or what! I need help badly! And I don't need maybe's!"
"Then let us help you! We can never start if not one of us takes the first step, right?" Yugi joined, "Make us understand!" He gave out his hand for me to reach. But no… I didn't want them to interfere. I didn't want them to interfere with my life!
"NO!" I yelled as tears flooded quickly down from my eyes, "You can never understand, Yugi! You can never understand how I feel! NEVER!" And with that, I quickly ran away from them…
Friends?
I… I don't think we will be anymore…
I don't want to bring them along in this mess…
I… I can't risk it!
To be continued.