Proving His Independence [bxb]

Chapter One

**Elias Woods In Media**

Elias' POV

Dog's aren't mans' best friend, adrenaline is. Or at least it's mine.

The rush of being caught doing something illegal and the chase... Thrilling. A police chase is even better, and I'm living the dream as I speak.

Me and my friends were caught graffiti-ing the side of the police station. 'Racists' written in an epic design was written by my friend Hades, who is black and has been pulled over by these very cops many times for absolutely no reason, other than his skin tone, his brother was even tasered when he went to show his ID, as apparently he was 'threatening' the cop.

Bullshit.

'Dickheads' and many other crude words had been written by us, to express our true feelings of the men in uniform. We were all feeling the thrill, when we heard a shout and then the chase begun.

"Hurry up, dicks, I can't afford to be caught again!" Nikolai  yelled, just ahead of me, and I saw Felix flip him off.

"Just 'cause you do track, don't mean you can judge my running skills!" He replied, but sped up anyway.

"Jump!" And we simultaneously jumped the fence which blocks our escape route, effectively blocking the unfit cops that had been chasing us.

We kept running until we reached our warehouse, deeper in the woods, out of sight.

I collapsed laughing onto the solid, wooden floor. Nikolai and Hades jumped onto the large, black sofa we had 'acquired' and caught their breath, chuckling. Felix lay next to me on the floor, struggling for breath.

I quickly got up and rummaged the drawers in the corner of the room, looking for the object. Finding it, I jogged back to Felix, passing him it.

"T-t-thanks." He breathed before taking a puff.

"Moron. Why the flip would you go running without your bloody inhaler?" I cursed at him, rolling my eyes. He simply shrugged. Sighing, I grabbed my rucksack and swung it over my back.

"Wasn't exactly planning on getting caught, dick."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Gotta go guys, 'rents will flip if I'm not back by midnight." The boys yelled their goodbyes before starting up the PS3 to play Call Of Duty. With that, I left, ready for the long walk home.

***

"Where have you been, young man!? You say you'll be back by 9 and you arrive at this time? 1 in the morning is not bloody 9 o'clock, the last time I checked!" She screeched. Ah, mothers.

"Well, yeah. I know that. And I was out, at a place, with people, so now can I go to bed? Just a tad tired, you know." I spoke monotonously, staring at my scuffed up shoes. Well, they're going to need replacing.

"No, you bloody well cannot go to bed! Not until I get a proper explanation for your whereabouts!" Fuming, she grabbed my shoulder and pulled me into the living room. Oh great, this means an early morning family discussion about my 'atrocious', 'appalling', 'immature'- the list goes on quite alot- behaviour, and in the end it ends with them grounding me, taking my laptop that I never use and not allowing me to see my friends, yet I sneak out anyway.

As you can probably guess, I'm a bit of a 'rebel', so to speak. Truthfully, I just want to let loose before all the responsibility sets in. I'm 18, finished secondary school, and college, and I'm having a leap year before University, just so I can get together what I want to do. Really, I'm using it as an opportunity to relax, let loose and get high of adrenaline.

"Elias Woods, where have you been? I've had it up to here with this behaviour. You're 18 for heaven's sake! Act like it!" My dad boomed.

"Believe it or not, I'm better than most my age. I could be a druggie, alcoholic, a runaway like my sister even. Yet I'm still here, healthy, unless you count the chocolate addiction I suffer, so be happy. Now, goodbye, goodnight and on't let the bed bugs bite." With a sarcastic wave and a cheeky wink, I ran up the stairs, shed my top and trousers leaving me in only my boxers, and flopped into bed, asleep in minutes.

***

"We need to talk." I heard as I was lathering nutella on my toast. I froze. It's too early for this. Our bloody neighbours decided it was appropriate to blast Suicide Silence all night, full volume, so we didn't get much sleep. Don't get me wrong, they're a good band, but come on, is all night necessary?

"What about?" I said, boredly. I really had no energy for this.

"You. Your behaviour. And your request to live alone." Dad replied and I rolled my eyes at the first bit, but my eyebrows scrunched at the last part. Live alone? What's the catch? There's always a catch.

"What about it?" I say, slowly turning to face them. They too resembled myself; messy hair, bags under their eyes and they looked almost ready to drop asleep any second.

"We need to sort out your behaviour. It's getting out of hand. I mean, vandalising? Breaking the law? That's a step to far young man."

"How did you-" I stuttered, astounded. How did they know?

"Graffiti, your signature, in every local newspaper. We're not stupid, Elias." Mum sighed, "So, we're doing something about it. You are going to prove to us you can be independent, live alone and survive alone. You'll need to get a job, pay bills, buy food, clothes, any other necessities. The house, it will be your grandparents, Tim and Ally's, old house, which is fully furnished with 3 bedrooms. You may want to get a roommate to help pay finances. Prove to us you can do it. Your father has no faith, but I do, so, are you up for it?" She finished, with a raised eyebrow.

"On one condition." I don't think my expression has ever been so serious in my life. They had no right to do what they had done.

"Which is?"

"I want Dexie back."

"Son, you know we-"

"I want her back and then I'll agree. You can have me gone for however long. As long as I get her back."

"Elias, I don't think we-"

"She's my blood, I have rights, you know! I'm fed up with the excuses."

"Alright, fine. Survive a week without needing help, and you can have her back."