Love Without Looks

Chapter 1

My eyes burned to the lights being turned on at once. I tried to keep it out by squinting, but they still hurt and felt puffy.

"Tobias, your mother made breakfast" he said, standing at the light switch with his finger propped under it. Oh, wonderful, some more of mother's 'World Famous Burnt-To-A-Crisp' pancakes, the usual Sunday morning breakfast. Avoiding the hurt that would come with groaning, I shot the covers to the ground to reveal my bare chest with sweat pants. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, proceeding to get ready.

I walked across the hall to the bathroom. The usual foul stench lingered in the air. The regret from everything that happened in here clinged to my skin, sending a storm of goosebumps all over my body. I rubbed my temples, trying to squeeze it out of my memory, but it was to vivid. It was an impossible task, it was done, they saw, and that was that. I threw my hands back down to my sides. Rage seeped in my veins and underneath my skin. I made fists to try to get my anger out. I impelled my Pierce The Veil shirt onto my body, reluctantly walking downstairs.

I spiral down the stairs and turn into the kitchen to find my parents leaning against the counter. I walked in, the old wooden floorboards creaked as I shifted my feet on them.

"What? You are looking at me like I disobeye-"

"Where were you yesterday?" my mother didn't acknowledge my speech, keeping a stern face as she spoke.

"I was at the park..." I tilted my head to the side the slightest bit, confused about their motives.

"Why don't you ever spend time with us, your parents! Instead you just go sit and do nothing!" she suddenly gained emotion in her voice.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe it's because I come home to a drunk father and a sober mother, but she just yells at me for disobeying every little word she says!"

Fights escalated quickly in my house as well as disagreement. We are just one big family that constantly fights. My father gave me a stern look through his tinted green eyes, the one and only thing I had inherited from him.

"That mouth always got you in trouble, didn't it?" he held up the full bottle of alcohol, threateningly holding it toward my chest. He suddenly smashed it against the counter, making the contents make a river in the floorboards. He held the shattered glass up to my chest, frightened impulses pumped through me. "You respect us, boy. We can disown you faster than you can say 'please'!" he demanded. Suddenly, he smashed the remaining bottle on my head. I fell to the ground, holding the right side of my head, green tinted glass falling with me. Red stained my natural brown hair. I whimpered, but was ignored.

"You deserved it anyway, don't look at us like a little lost puppy!" my mom spat on me. They both walked back to their room without another word.

I lay on the ground for 10 minutes, and they don't make a sound, while their son is on the ground with a head injury. After a long time, I knew I could walk it off. I got to my feet, wobbly on my knees from blood loss. Nevertheless, I walked into the downstairs bathroom. I turned on the sink and began to attempt to clean myself up. Water hit my hair, chilling my scalp. I roughly run my hands through it to get it all out. The water ran down with the blood, turning the  water red. I lifted my head up to inspect the wound in the mirror.

"Looks fine now" I mumbled to myself. It has scabbed up and will take a while to heal, but it's fine now. From all the drama that went

"I'm gone again, see ya' later" I whispered as I walked out the door. The world looked like it did every time, way better than the dragon's den did. I turned back to look at the house for no more than a millisecond, then I began to sprint down the sidewalk. Cars past in a blur, people turned into blobs, and I ran. Patrol officers officers sent questioning looks toward me. Shaking them off me, I continued to run.

I spotted my alternative home -- yours truly, the park. I ran there, jumping on the swing. As soon as I got there, I threw my head into my hands and let all the emotions slip out from my eyes in the form of tears. The kids kept running around, stopping to glance at me once in a while. I just sat there with tears spilling out.

"Why do you treat me like this, what did I do to deserve it?" my hands shook as I spoke. The water slipped from my face and landed on the ground. I watched it cascade down to earth, moistening the soil. They kept dropping, nonstop. I'm such a wimp, men don't cry but look at this boy here, bawling his eyes out cause he can't take a punch.

They continued to fall. The kids began to diminish back home when the storm clouds tumbled over the land. They moved slower than a snail in the sky. Gray and menacing, they poured down water onto my head. I didn't even care anymore, I just sat there in the rain, gripping the chains on the swing until my knuckles turned white. Vinegar-tasting tears mixed with the fresh rain. My elbows collapsed down to my knees.

I felt a tear slowly slip down my cheek, and watched it drop to the ground. Only it didn't land on the ground. Instead, on a little white speck peeking out from the ground. Curiosity grasped my mind, making my hand extend to pick it up.

I pulled out a full piece of notebook paper, the fringe on the end still attached. A small conversation was penned on it, one part of the handwriting was scratchy, but still readable, and the other one was neat, bubbly handwriting.

Hey sexy ;) read the bubbly handwriting, looking like a girls.

Haha, hi there. Stop passing me notes, focus on your work, rebel! I translated from the scratchy writing.

Wait, I just realized because we started dating, maybe we should exchange numbers? the girl replyed.

Oh, yeah, totally! Here's mine the short note was followed by a sequence of numbers, then under it, was the girls. Nothing else was written. That was it. My eyes stayed on the paper for a few more seconds, then I folded it back into squares, stealing it from nature and placing it in my pocket. My tears had stopped long before I had noticed.

I thought nothing of it at the moment, I was just curious, so I kept it. I traveled to the diner again. I walked in and took of my soaked coat to hang on the coat rack. Today there was a waitress with purple hair working. I sat down on the same bar stool, ordering the same thing. It came in what seemed like two seconds. I gripped the brew, watching the world move, distorted from the rain.The colors blurred together, making a beautiful scene with the rain slowly stopping and the sun peering out.

My mind wandered back toward the note I picked up. I pulled it out again. What if I called her, played a prank on her, pretending I was her boyfriend? I could get my first smile in forever. Making a split second decision, I dialed the numbers onto my phone. Oh, this will be great.