Every rose has its thorn.

Chapter Two: Never wrong

January 17th (Four days beforehand)

The streets of Newcastle had never been so quiet. Many people had not dared to brave the heavy rainfall of the day, instead opting to stay at home on this particular Saturday night. The cold, hard rain pummelled against my skin as a trudged slowly through town, with no real aim or location in mind. All I wanted to do was escape from life, even if it was just for a while. Daniel's words were ringing in my head, torturing me with every step.

"You know her as well as I do Alex, you know what she will fucking do!"

I told myself he had said it out if spite or malice, but I knew fine well that he didn't. We both knew Anna, and we both knew how she was. I decided to put these thoughts to rest for a while, as to allow my mind to clear up before I made any rash decisions that I would come to regret.

After a solid 20 minutes of walking, I found myself a decent distance away from the town and in what appeared to be a typical council estate. A few yards away was the smashed and dented corpse of a Fiat Punto, which had became badly rusted from the onslaught of rain. It was even quieter in the estate than in town, to the point where it was almost eerie. Lights flickered and flashed in windows not too far away, which I assumed was just a reflection of the calm glow of a TV. I stood serenely, taking in my surroundings and attempting to get my bearing, when suddenly I was forced back into the real world by a voice.

"Oi, you, dozy cunt!" Called a sharp, near unintelligible voice. I cursed my own bad luck and turned to face my newest acquaintance.

"Can I help you?" I replied sarcastically. I took a good, hard look at the boy and his friends: The ringleader that had shouted at me was around six foot tall, with a decent muscle structure and a shaved head. He wore a blue and white Fred Perry hat which screamed 'Chav', and well as a pair of badly ripped tracksuit bottoms and a Nike T-Shirt which must have been at least two sizes too small. His lackey, strangely the taller of the two, stood at easily six foot three. However, where he excelled in height, he lacked in muscle. His arms were pathetically weedy, and although his legs were concealed in his battered jeans, I assumed they were a similar story.

"You want a fucking fight you pussy piece of shite?" He retorted, causing his friend to snigger slightly. I laughed too, before curling my hand into a fist.

"Touch me and you'll be six feet under before you even see my arm move, prick." I snarled, cracking a knuckle. Granted, I wasn't the strongest of teenagers, but I was still pretty intimidating. Especially in cases like that, where the rain tainted my hair, changing it from a light brown to deep black. The teen was clearly taken aback by my confidence; it was evident that he was the "alpha male" of the area. He approached me and eyed me up cautiously, before spitting on the ground at my feet.

"I see you here again, and i'll fucking knife you. Get it?" He said, glaring angrily at me. Wanting to avoid conflict, I simply turned from him and began to walk away. He and his friend hurled abuse at me, but I just laughed and carried on my way.

Spotting a slightly worse for wear bus stop just down the road, I broke into a jog until I finally reached it. The rain had intensified, the volume of which now enveloped every other sound. I slumped miserably into the bus stop and checked my mobile. One new message. Sliding the screen up, I hastily went to checked it. Could it be the text I was waiting for, possibly the most important text of my life?

"You only have £0.91 credit remaining. Top up with orange by.."

No, it couldn't. Filled with rage, I hammered my phone down onto the cold, hard concrete of the bus stop's floor. Tears welled in my eyes, obscuring my vision. Why couldn't anything just go right? Daniel had been right the entire time, and I ignored him. This torture was my karmic payback, and it was certainly working. The tears began to pour down my face, drenching me in my own sorrow. As a single, empty bus rolled up to the stop, I managed to dry my face and regain some sense of dignity before stepping on and heading home.

By the time I had arrived outside my house, my bloodshot eyes had cleared and were visibly less red. This was fortunate, as even the finest detail couldn't escape my mother's eyes, and I didn't want her involved in the tragedy that was my life. I put on a faux smile and wandered past her into the kitchen. Outside, I could see nothing but the garden's bright foliage, doused to the point of drowning by the rain. After getting a quick drink of water, I retreated to my bedroom. I collapsed on my bed and sighed exasperatedly. If I was ever going to turn my life around, I had a lot of work to do. I recounted every incident that had brought me to this situation. All in all, I decided on 3 key events. 3 events that would lead to my life now.