Hope and Blood
by ShadowGraffiti

A/N: This story uses some people that really do exist… Corey, the main character, really does exist, but I made most of his life up.

Warning: Character abuse, drinking, swearing, extreme angst

Laugh Away the Pain
chapter 1

‘FREAK'. That's what it read. ‘FREAK'.

‘Oh god no…” a young, blonde boy felt his heart sinking as he read the word gratified across his locker. ‘This isn't happening…'

“Hey dip-shit!” he had barely turned around when a giant hand covered his face and Joey slammed him backwards into his locker. He had to choke back a yelp, and instead, he let his back slide down the cold metal and onto the floor.

“Sucks to be you, Corey!” he received a kick in the shins from Roy, Joey's sidekick. Roy was the kind of guy who would never be popular if it wasn't for his leader, and he knew it, and basically taunted everyone because he knew he couldn't be touched. Joey, on the other hand, was the most sought-after guy in the whole school.

Joey's life was perfect. He was the quarterback of the football team, he was dating the star cheerleader, he got good grades, he was rich, he had good looks, he was nothing but muscles, and all the girls fawned after him. It was your typical high-school scene, with the popular jock that had everything.

Corey, on the other hand, had almost nothing, and in the school's eyes, was a nothing.

He had a sort of surfer-boy look to him, which was not very accepted in the Arizona high school. His hair was a light blonde and cut pretty short, a couple pieces falling around his blue eyes. He was paler than someone would expect an Arizona boy to be, tall, and skinny. He actually wasn't that bad looking, but Joey seemed to love picking on him, so everyone shunned him. No one ever tried to see the thoughts behind his blue eyes, or felt the pain he held so deep inside.

Corey had few friends, and none of them went to his school. He was a slightly relieved, though, because he was a bit afraid that they'd follow Joey and forget him if they did.

Corey didn't understand why his life had become so wrong. When he had been in junior high, he had been the guy in Joey's place. He could have any girl he wanted, and he was surrounded with friends. What really hurt, though, was that Roy had been his best friend. His school life had, at the time, been perfect. He had been at the top, he had had friends, and everyone liked him… not because he put people down, like Joey, but because he was nice to everyone. He could have made anyone laugh, and he was always grinning, whether it was mischievous with the thought of his latest prank, or simply laughing with his friends.

He had been happy. Truly happy.

Then, high school had come. Roy had spilled every secret Corey had to Joey, and that was what put him at the top, and Corey at the bottom. And at age sixteen, two years since life had been exactly what he wanted, he was miserable. He hadn't truly been happy in two years. It drove him to the brink of insanity, and he had almost killed himself several times. The only thing that stopped him was his family…

No, not his family. His mother. Images of her face, twisted in horror, tears running down her cheeks, was enough to kill him right there. He could never leave her… not alone with his father. His father beat his mother, and Corey as well, but simply because Corey was always defending his mother. The feeling of protection over her was always what made him lift the knife from his wrist.

He hated school. He wanted it to be over. He still had three weeks, and didn't know if he could make it that long. Corey longed, more than anything, for summer. Instead of the daily torture he received at school, he could hang out with his friends, not a care in the world. Alex, Andrew and Paige… he would be with them. His best friends, especially Alex… they wouldn't treat him like he was there only for their entertainment. They would treat him like a friend, telling him all the hilarious stories that had taken place that year during school. They always had stories to tell when they met up on the weekends, but never enough time to tell them all. They all went to the same school, and they had roll-on-the-floor-laughing experiences together.

For some friends, that would have pulled Alex, Andrew, and Paige closer together while Corey was pushed away. Instead, they told him everything, fighting sometimes over who could tell what, and by the end of the summer, it was as if Corey had been with them all along.

It was that longing… to be with his friends, to laugh with them, to be happy once more… that made the blonde get up from the floor that day. That was what made him open his locker, collect his books, and head to class. That was what allowed him to finish the day, then trudge home, throw his books on the floor, grab his tennis racquet and head outside to where Paige was honking her horn.

It was the reassurance that they knew nothing about what went on at school. They knew nothing about the pain his father inflicted on him almost every night. They didn't know the bruises so commonly found on him were from him trying to stand against his father. They thought he was just a normal kid, with a normal life.

And he loved it.

~*~

“Hey guys!” Corey grinned, hopping over the side of the black convertible and into the backseat, next to Alex. Alex, the shortest of them, was Indian, with brown skin, short black hair, and glasses. He wasn't at all bad looking, and could probably have most of the girls he wanted. He was the closest to Corey.

Andrew chimed a ‘Hey' back before engaging in conversation with Paige. Andrew had brown hair, the top bleached blonde, and was the tallest of them. He was more filled out than Corey, though, not appearing quite as lanky. He had large teeth and a bright-white smile, making him look somewhat like Lance Bass, but he would kill anyone that told him that. He had a good heart, though, and was usually the one laughing, not the one making people laugh.

Paige was very pretty, but none of the three guys had an interests in her. They knew her too well. She had long, blonde hair and hazel eyes, and was a little shorter than Corey. With her face, she could have easily pulled off the cute/adorable appearance, but her personality and style made her appearance more sassy-ish. She was easy to talk to, and always made people laugh.

“Corey, when do you get out?” Paige asked, cutting into his and Alex's comparison of homework (they were both trying to prove they had more than the other).

“Of school? Uh… like… three weeks,” he shrugged.

“Dude, no way…” Alex looked shocked. “We need you to play in the tournament!”

“Tournament?”

“Yeah, they want you, me, Alex and Andrew to play in the Sweet Sixteen. Imagine… four of us representing Rasta! One of us is bound to win!” Corey could see the excitement in Paige's eyes from their reflection in the rearview mirror.

“When is it?” Corey felt a faint hope flicker to life in him.

“Next week. You could probably get out of most of school, too!” Alex had no idea how happy Corey was to hear those words. None of his friends knew about his daily torture, and that was the way he intended to keep it.

“Alright, I'll see if I can talk my mom into it…-” the blonde was cut off by Paige shouting a long ‘Wohooooo!' at the top of her lungs, Alex and Andrew joining in as well. “Hey, hey, calm down! She hasn't said yes yet!”

“Oh shut up, Corey. We all know you won't let her rest in peace until she says yes!” Andrew laughed, and Corey narrowed his eyes in mock-warning. Paige simply saw that as a reason to go on.

“Yeah, and even if she didn't say yes, you'd probably fake your own death or something and sneak out anyway!” they all burst out laughing, except for Corey, who still was faking an angry pout.

“Give it up, man! You know it's true!” Alex laughed, shoving Corey's shoulder. Corey fell to the side and on his way back up, he picked up his racquet and waved it dangerously.

“Alex.”

“Yeah.”

“Shut up.”

“No way!”

A swipe and a shriek as Alex ducked. Andrew suddenly became worried, giving it the, “Hey guys, cut it out!” while Paige just started laughing and turned up the music as loud as she could.

It was in these type's of moments that Corey was able to forget about Joey, or Roy, or the graffiti on his locker, or his hellhole-of-a-life at school, or the pain his father put him and his mother through, or… well… anything! For the rest of the night, he was just a normal kid laughing with his friends.

And that was all he wanted.

Being a tennis player had not made life easier on Corey. While other guys played football, or soccer, or baseball, or basketball, he was playing tennis. With how Joey taunted him for that, the blonde might as well have been a cheerleader. It didn't matter to him, though. He wasn't going to give up the sport, the reason he and his friends got together each weekend, just to try and improve his social status. He only had two more years to suffer… he wanted to stick with his friends forever. ‘I've made it this far,' he'd often tell himself. ‘Why give up now?'

Practice that night was no different than any other night. He always played hard and gave it his all, and now that he was being picked for the Sweet Sixteen tournament, it was finally beginning to pay off. He'd just have to live through exams after that, and then he'd be free.

When the coach confronted him on the subject, Corey simply smiled and said he'd be there. His back was to the bleachers, and behind them, he could hear Alex and Paige laughing, while Andrew kept saying, “Dude, you guys, shut up! He'll hear us!” Corey, trying to hold back a grin, just flipped them the birdie behind his back, then had to bite his lip to keep from laughing as Andrew began his, “I told you guys!” speech.

~*~

“Don't forget to force her mom into saying yes!” Paige called as she drove away from Corey's house, leaving him on the front yard, watching his three friends disappear. He waved until they were out of sight, and simply stood there until Paige's music was out of hearing range.

His smile faded. Dread began to take hold of him. A sigh escaped his lips, and he had to swallow hard before he could force himself to turn around and face his house.

The house he hated.

Corey tried to be silent as he snuck inside. He didn't want to face his parents. All he wanted was to shut himself in his room… he could get food anytime that night. He didn't want to hear them screaming at each other… he didn't want to see the new bruises his mother had gained that day… he didn't want to watch his father waste himself…

Unfortunately, the moment he was inside, he was greeted by the sight that always seemed to haunt him for days:

His father, holding his mother tightly by the shoulders, pressing her against the side of the stairs, screaming at her. Yet no matter how often he saw it, the blonde could never get used to it. He simply stood, frozen in place, until his father finally went over the edge. Corey reached out, even though he knew he couldn't stop it, and a horrible regret filled him when that reality set in, and a sickening sound filled the room.

Seconds afterwards, his father still stood over his mother's fallen form, palm outstretched, while his wife lay sobbing on the floor, holding her bruising cheek where he had struck it. It was in this moment that his father finally realized that Corey was there.

“Corey!” he spat, anger filling his eyes. For a moment, his mother's sobbings stopped, as if she was silently hoping that he wouldn't be there.

“Dad…” Corey forced the word from his mouth, and moments later, his mother was sobbing worse than before.

Her son had seen it again. When he was young, he would always ask where the bruises on his mother's skin had come from, his large eyes filled with curiosity and worry. He was only four when he finally found out how they got there… yet even now, over ten years later, it still shocked and mortified her just as much as the first time he had accidentally walked into the room.

“What the hell where you doing out, young man?!” his father screamed, advancing on the teenager.

“Tennis, dad… I go every Friday…” Corey swallowed, taking a step back, but a sudden terror took over him when he heard a crunch beneath his shoe. Sweat beading on his forehead, he forced himself to look down, and his fears were confirmed.

A smashed beer bottle. His father had been drinking.

Immediately, Corey realized that his father was still coming towards him. For a split second, he contemplated getting out his racquet to defend himself, but then dismissed the thought, knowing he would only anger his father even more. He only had to take one look at his mother, lying broken, once again, on the floor, to know what he had to do.

“Dad, you've been drinking again,” he said calmly. Before he could even react, his father's large fist flew through the air and connected with his cheek. White-hot pain seared through his face and sent him spiraling to the ground, but he did not cry out. He did not let the tears fall. He simply hit the ground, then began to get up. This angered his father, who then grabbed him by the short-hairs and yanked him to his feet before spinning him around and slamming his back into the wall.

“YOU THINK YOU CONTROL THIS FAMILY?! HUH, BOY?! YOU THINK YOU'RE STRONGER THAN ME?!”

“George, leave the boy alone!” Corey's mother called through tears, trying to sit up.

“You stay out of this, Sandy!” George dropped Corey and turned to face her, eyes flashing dangerously. Sandy didn't notice.

“Corey, get out of here!” she pleaded, tears in her eyes, and horror filled the teen when his father grabbed a vase that had been next to the door for decoration.

“I SAID STAY OUT OF THIS!” he smashed it on the floor next to his wife, and she cried out, curling up in a ball next to the stairs to shield herself. George then spun around to face Corey again, clenching and unclenching his fists.

“Calm down, Dad. You don't know what you're doing,” Corey tried not to let his voice quake, or his face portray any emotion. As he expected, George grabbed him by the shoulders and smashed his back into the wall again, but Corey did not let his facial expression change at all.

“You think you can tell ME what to do, boy?!” George spat. The alcohol on his breath made Corey want to puke. “Well?! ANSWER ME, DAMNIT!” His back hit the wall again, making him inhale sharply. He wouldn't give in, though. He couldn't…

“Corey…” His mother's voice was a sob and a plea, sorrow and regret hanging in it and ringing in the teen's ears. He knew that she wanted him to run, but Corey couldn't. He wouldn't leave his mother alone. When he was a boy, he could simply hide in the shadows. He would pull his knees to his chest and rock himself back and forth, crying… and praying for it to be over. When he was a boy, he could just hide, or sprint to his room and lock the door. When he was a boy, he didn't have to bear any of it…

But he was a man now. He could no longer back down. Nor would he, even if given the choice.

“Leave mother alone,” for the first time, he let emotion dance across his face, and for a moment, his father started to believe he had finally forced fear into his son's heart. However, he soon realized that the emotion was not fear, or sorrow, or regret…

It was anger. He realized that an edge had found its way into his son's voice, and it held a warning… a threat…

“You think you're so special, don't you, Corey,” George spat his son's name like a taunt, anger glowing in his eyes. He grabbed a fistful of Corey's hair, making him cry out, and yanked him forward so that the teen could no longer keep his feet, but could not sink down to his knees. Corey winced in pain, squinting his eyes and gritting his teeth. “You think you're so great… what, with your pretty-boy looks and you wonderful life, don't you?! But don't you know that you're nothing but a little SHIT! NOTHING BUT SHIT, YOU HEAR ME?! YOU ARE NOTHING!”

And for the first time in Corey's life, he finally had the courage to say what he'd always wanted to say. He knew it would result in pain, but he had to do it. He could not back down.

“I won't harm my wife, though,” he seethed through clenched teeth, daring to open his eyes. “I wouldn't make the same mistakes as you. I will never be as fucked up as you!”

What happened after that was nothing but a blur to Corey, but suddenly, he was on the floor, blood running down his face and into his eyes. His vision was dancing and his head was swimming; he was aware of very few things. One of them, however, was pain… the pain that shot through his back as his father smashed his foot into it. He could not help as he curled into a ball on the floor, his arms over his head. Everything was becoming a blur, but pain was growing in his head, like a hot sphere of flame. It blinded his vision, taking over his emotions and feelings until it was all he could concentrate on. He pain that thundered through the rest of his body faded away… even the cold, wooden floor beneath him slipped from existence. All he felt was pain… so much pain…

One, last thought flickered through his mind before it all faded away:

‘I lost… again…'

~*~

Pain. Unbelievable pain. Awful, blinding pain…

Hate. Undeniable hate. Pure, thought consuming hate…

Regret. Horrible regret. Deep, terrible regret.

These were the first things that Corey was aware of. They were the first things that flickered danced across his mind to let him know that he was still alive. His father had beaten him, but he had not broken him. Corey could not be broken. He had been through too much.

Slowly, he forced his eyes open, and immediately, he was greeted by a horrible light that burned and stung until he squeezed them shut again. He had to open and close them several more times before he could get use to the light.

Corey groaned, blinking several times, before trying to sit up. A wave of dizziness swept over again, and as he fell back to the ground, he suddenly became aware that he was lying in something wet.

And then, he realized that it was a pool of blood. His own blood.

Everything came rushing back, making him cry out and grab his head where he had been hit. The bleeding had stopped, but he didn't doubt he had lost a great deal of blood. He groaned, wondering whether or not he should call an ambulance. Warily, he began to sit up again, and found his shirt was drenched in blood as well, and there were a few, brown stains on his shorts. He felt nautious, but still, he staggered to his feet, holding onto the door handle for balance.

‘Mother…'

The thought darted through his head, making him snap his eyes open, his whole body freezing and tensing. Fright overtook him, and he had to swallow hard before he could force himself to look down.

His mother still lay by the stairs, and there was a scab on the side of her head. Next to the broken, porcelain glass on the floor was regular glass, and Corey realized his father must have smashed something glass on Sandy's head to knock her out.

Without a moment's hesitation, he was staggering to where his mother lay, but by the time he had reached her, his strength had failed and he collapsed to his knees.

“Mother…” he choked softly, his throat feeling as if it were made of sandpaper. He lifted one arm to her shoulder, gently trying to wake her. When she opened her eyes, he released a rush of breath that he hadn't even known he was holding.

“Corey… are you alright…” she pushed herself to a sitting position, her arms shaking as she did. She met his gaze, and slowly, tears began to spill down her bruised cheeks. Her face began to twist into sobs as she looked at her son, pale from blood-loss and weak as well, and horrible regret gripped at her heart as she began to cry.

Corey saw the pain in her eyes, and immediately, he pulled Sandy into an embrace. She held onto him with as much strength as she could possibly muster, holding on to him like a lifeline, afraid to let go. He hugged back with just as much emotion and just as much fear.

“I tried, mother…” he said softly, burying his face in her shoulder, and she hugged him tighter.

“I know, Corey. I know… but you can't win. Not against him. He beats you simply to keep you weak… you can never win,” she began crying again, rocking them both back and forth.

“I'll win someday, mother. I promise.”

The declaration only made them both cry harder.

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A/N: I'd like five reviews on this before I post the next chapter. This chapter was just to kinda introduce you to Corey and tell about his life… after this, I will get into the plot, which has enough twists in it to last you a lifetime!! I swear!! ^_^

Please review.