In the quiet suburbs of Washington DC, there was a heated argument taking place in what seemed to be the house of a perfect family. This family was actually quite the opposite of perfect.

Underneath all of the charitable events and attendances to local car washes, the family was quite dysfunctional, to say the least. Almost every night Sebastian and his parents would fight over something. Whether it was the night's dinner options or the family's plans for free time, everything always became a federal issue.

One night, Sebastian had finally reached his limit. He grabbed his worn out grey hoodie and gathered several of his personal belongings, putting them into his school backpack. He was a senior in high school, so it was getting close for him to leave home anyway.

The purple-haired teen crept down his stairs in hopes that he would not be caught in the act of leaving by his parents. If either of them caught him he'd be beaten for sure. It was a normal sight to see Sebastian covered in bruises, but no one actually knew why. He always ended up covering his parent's mess with a lie, making him seem like a small klutz.

He had almost made it to the front door, his height of 5'5 making it easier for him to go unnoticed. But unfortunately, just as he unlocked the door and it clicked into place, his mother called his name. He cringed, knowing he was in trouble now.

His mother, Patricia, quickly tip-toed towards the front door, a way she normally walked because of her painfully stylish high heels. She locked the door and shot her son an icy cold glare. It wasn't the first time he'd try to run away from home, and it wouldn't be the last either.

"Where do you think you're going, young man?" she hissed out as she prepared to interrogate him.

Sebastian couldn't think of a lie quick enough. His mind had gone blank and he felt completely frozen. The blackout he was experiencing was only broken when his father came into view. He now knew that there was no way out of this situation.

"Oh, he was trying to leave again?" Jack, Sebastian's father sneered, eager for a reason to beat his only remaining child.

Sebastian had an older brother, Tobias, who was twenty-one years old and already half way across the country. He said that he'd come back for Sebastian, but it was obvious that wasn't going to happen. He was stuck in an abusive household that would be the death of him.

"I was leaving... I'm... I'm not going to stay here anymore and take this abuse! You beat me, mistreat me, neglect me, you don't even fucking love me! And for what?! What the hell did I do to deserve such hatred from my own parents?! I never told you I was gay, but now I am because I'm leaving this hell-hole!" the teenage son screamed, finally gaining enough confidence to stand up to his abusive parents.

Both his mother and his father had shock imprinted on their faces. They never expected their son, such a cute and shy boy, to take such a tone with them.

Jack was angered by the attitude his son developed. With one quick motion, he backhanded his child across the face, with such a force that it made Sebastian fall back and hit the ground.

The boy's face stung in a burning pain as he realized what had just happened. His father had hit him, again. This was a normal thing, but this time it felt different. It wasn't because he was leaving, oh no. It was because of his sexual orientation.

Jack grabbed his son by the collar of his hoodie and slammed him against the wall. His mother flinched at the sudden actions being taken by her husband. Never before had she seen him so irate. This wasn't the man she married, this was an alter ego, a dark side of him that she hated to witness. But unfortunately, there was nothing she could do about it. If she sided with Sebastian or tried to stop him, she'd be beaten as well.

His father punched him in the nose, almost breaking it. Luckily, Sebastian's nose wasn't quite broken, but the blood was pouring. But because he was so used to such treatment, he wasn't phased. This was a scenario that had been repeated many times as if it were someone rewinding a movie to see a certain scene again.

Jack growled, beating his son to a point of a blackout. He was unsatisfied with the boy's reaction. He wanted screams and cries for mercy, not just an exhausted child lying before him. It was cruel, even for his father, but tonight everything about the family was changing.

Patricia, feeling her son had taken enough pain for the night, helped Sebastian up the stairs and to his room. She normally wasn't the one to lay hands on him, that was mostly Jack. Sure, she had slapped him, maybe a hand full of times at most, but never punched or pushed him. She was far more merciful than him.

When they finally reached his room, the perfect son they always wanted had finally reached his limit. He pushed his mother off of him, not being in any kind of mood for human contact. Of course, Patricia understood why, and simply just left her son to his thoughts, closing the door softly.

But on the other end of the door, there was a distinct 'click' of a lock, making it quite clear that there was no way he could escape. The teen muttered a curse under his breath as he grabbed his bag. He wasn't going to stay here another second.

The small boy looked around for a way of escape. The only thing he could find was his window. It was small, only a couple feet wide, but Sebastian being a small boy himself, was willing to give it a chance.

His vision was still slightly blurry from all the blows he took to the head, but he was managing to do what he intended. He stood on his desk chair, reaching the small, high window. First out was his bag, then he started to shimmy his way through the small crawl space.

The teen got stuck for a brief moment, where his hips were only slightly too wide, but he did manage to wiggle free. Unfortunately, he wiggled a bit too much and ended up falling out of his window and into the bushes below.

The thorns of the rose bush pierced and scratched his pale skin, making him hiss in pain. He crawled out, trying not to move too much. Scratches and cuts now littered his lanky body like the stripes of a Tom cat, but he would be fine in a couple days. Sebastian quickly regained himself and grabbed his bag. He climbed over his fence and sighed in relief.

For once in his life, he felt free. He felt free from the pain, the abuse, the torture, the never ending hell his parents put him through. He could finally run away from all of that and live how he wanted. He could love whoever he wanted and not live in fear of his parents. For once in his life, he not only felt safe, but he felt happy.

Of course, since he was young, he only had an amount of money that would last him, maybe two weeks at most. Sure, he could have stolen from his parents, but he was so focused on just getting out that it slipped his mind.

He walked down the street, making sure to keep his belongs secure while walking along areas that weren't the best. The last thing he needed right now was to get robbed of the only possessions he had left. So he held everything close, hoping no one would confront him.

The only problem was that someone was following him. Sebastian just didn't know it yet, but there was someone following him on his entire journey.

The teenage boy kept walking until he found a hotel to sleep in for the night. He couldn't sleep on the streets if he did it would just be begging for a disaster. So he spent some of the money he had to get a hotel for the night.

The room was acceptable. Sure, it wasn't like at home or anything like that, but to Sebastian, that seemed like a nice change. There was a bed and a ratty old sofa across from a doorway to a bathroom, a small television, and a mini fridge in a tiny kitchenette.

Even though it was by no means livable in a long term situation, there was still something the teen liked about it. The style was similar to a rundown apartment building and he was actually comfortable with that.

The later it got in the evening, the more tired Sebastian got. He finally stripped down to his boxers, deciding to get some sleep for the night. It was late and he figured he might be on the run by morning.

As he lay in bed in an attempt to rest, thoughts clouded his drowsy mind. What he'd just done, he now realized, was completely mental. His parents would search for him until the end of time. They would have the best private investigators in the world on his case. There was no way he was going to get out of this easily.

Paranoia filled his dreams, twisting and contorting them into sick nightmares of cruel punishment; belt lashes and rope burns, littering his fragile pale skin, cigarette burns, blistering with pain, dark bruises covering nearly every square inch of his body.

He awoke with a gasp, a knock at the door tearing him out of his fictitious torture. His heart was racing like the hundreds of thousands of claps at the Superbowl. It was nearly four in the morning, why would anyone be knocking at such an hour?

The frightened teen slowly got out of the hotel bed, quietly tiptoeing to the door. He peeked out of the peephole, only to see an unfamiliar male. The stranger had straight brown hair and seemed to be around 6'0 in height. Sebastian had never seen him before which only fed into his paranoia.

The teen stayed silent in hopes that this terrifying stranger would leave, but after about five minutes of knocking and ringing the buzzer, it was clear that he wasn't going to give up.

Sebastian got dressed quickly, gathering his belongings in preparation to escape. The knocking only became louder and more intense each time. This strange figure was after him for reasons unknown but was determined to get in.

Now instead of knocking, it seemed as though this unknown male was using his entire body as a battering ram, attempting to smash through the cheap wooden door. Time was of the essence for Sebastian's escape.

So as if it were becoming an instinct, he ran to the bathroom and opened the window. This one was a bit larger than his own, making it less probable that he would get stuck this time. But just like last time, he did fall from the second level, only now there were no bushes of any kind to break his fall.

Luckily adrenaline was pumping through his veins at lightning speed, giving him the energy to get right back up and bolt. He ran around the back of the building and into a maze of alleys.

If he weren't in such a rush, he would have never gone this path. It was riddled with drug dealers, gangs, and prostitutes. He wouldn't be safe very long unless he acted like he belonged there. The small boy tried his best to act tough, but it wasn't fooling anyone. There was only one way they would leave him be.

"Hey kid, you wanna buy some weed?" a teen, no older than Sebastian offered, cornering him against the brick wall of a building.

Sebastian wasn't sure how to respond to such an offer. He was brought up to never accept drugs. On the other hand, now that he didn't have to listen to his parents anymore, he could do what ever he wanted. That side of the argument appealed to him and made the teen feel good.

"Sure," he said, taking out the amount the teen said it would be.

Now Sebastian had a small bag of marijuana. He had never done any type of nonprescription drugs before, so this could be rough.

The paranoid teen walked to the forest so he wouldn't be spotted during his illegal activities. He sat down under a large tree and took out the pre-rolled joint. He wanted to seem like he belonged so he wouldn't draw suspicion, but now that he had drugs in his possession, he thought they might help take his edge off.

He took out a lighter and started to burn the butt of the cigarette. A sweet smoke filled the air, but as soon as Sebastian took a puff, he was wheezing and hacking like he had lung cancer. This was the teen's first time smoking any type of substance, so he was going to have to get used to it.

The longer he smoked the better he got. He started having small hallucinations which made him laugh. There were little balls of fluff rolling around like kittens that were colored like Easter. His edge was finally disappearing.

The intoxicated male slowly walked through the woods, watching his fluffy hallucinations dance around like they lived in a magical forest like that of a fairytale. Sebastian giggled to himself as he pets one, making it purr in pleasure, even though he wasn't actually touching anything.

While playing with his fictional creatures, the stranger from before had managed to track him down. He walked through the woods, twigs, and leaves, crunching under the weight of his footsteps.

Sebastian heard the crunching and went completely silent. His fuzzy creatures disappeared and now he was alone. He got up quickly and hid behind a large tree. To be as quiet as possible, he held his breath.

The stranger got closer and closer until the paranoid teen couldn't take it anymore. He let out a shriek of terror as he sprint through the forest.

The male chased after him, knowing that it was Sebastian running away from him. He was determined to catch him this time. He just had to meet his personal deadline.

Sebastian ran out of the woods and into the streets, calming himself enough to seem like he wasn't intoxicated. He checked over his shoulder to make sure that he wasn't being followed, which he wasn't at the moment.

Because of his paranoia and irrational state, Sebastian was deciding to head home to get some more supplies. He thought that he would at least need something to protect himself from the person who was following him. It would be dangerous, but in his mind, it had to be done.

The teen ran home and gandered at the house before him. He couldn't believe he was actually going back to the place he considered to be hell on earth. Could he honestly be that stupid? No, but his judgment was impaired by the marijuana he'd been smoking.

He hopped the fence to his backyard quietly and looked at all the windows. Not a single one was lit, giving him the small hope that his parents might be asleep. It would make things much easier if they were.

Sebastian started to climb up the storm gutter of his home since it was really the only way to get up. He reached the height of his window and glanced down. The teen didn't want to fall and get caught in the dreadful rose bushes again. He was already covered in scrapes from the last time.

Luckily his window was still open from his last encounter with it. Sebastian was surprised they didn't close it, but then again, they probably had the police investigate everything in the house. It wasn't unlikely that they didn't touch anything in his room. They would want to have kept it just the way he left it if the police were involved.

He shimmied into the small window feet first, keeping a tight grip on the edge of the roof. He had to be extremely quiet in order to pull this off. If Sebastian were too loud he would wake up his parents, then he might never see the light of day again.

As he put his feet on the floor, the hard wood creaked loudly, making him cringe in suspense. He waited a few moments in silence, listening for any signs of his mother or father. But now came the truly insane part.

Any type of weapon was only kept in one place in the home: his parent's bedroom. Sebastian couldn't believe he was going in their room of all places. When he was around the age of four he was severely beaten for hiding under their bed for a game of hide and seek with his brother. Not only was it dangerous to be in their room, but they were also asleep in said room. He must be completely mental. But, he had come this far and he wasn't about to give up now.

He slowly made his way through the house, being as quiet and as cautious as he could. To avoid the floor making any noise, Sebastian spread out his footsteps so there would be less tension in certain spots. The whole situation was almost like a game. Just get the gun without waking up the adults and you win. Although, it's definitely easier said than done.

The door to his parent's bedroom was closed. Sebastian started at it for a moment, his anxiety for the whole situation rising. How could he be so insane? This could go so far as to get him killed. Was he actually going to go through with this? Against all odds, he was.

The paranoid teen gripped the door knob tightly, turning it slowly. He prayed it wouldn't make any noise, which thankfully, it didn't. He pushed it open just enough to see his parents sleeping peacefully. For once they seemed like normal, loving parents, but Sebastian knew the truth about them. They were cruel and full of hatred. They took the most innocent things and made them feel fear at everything in the world. His parents were by no means loving or normal.

He slowly crawled into the room, covering all skin that would come into contact with the floor with his clothes. Sebastian couldn't be too careful in this situation. Any small sound could wake them up. He just had to reach their bed, get the gun, and crawl back.

The teen managed to reach the side of the bed. He could hear his heart beating rapidly in his chest. The stress was killing him inside, but he was so close. He couldn't turn back now, not now.

Sebastian saw the box under the bed that contained the weapon he was after. He quietly elevated the box and started to pull it towards him. It scratched against the wood, making a sound that was so obvious that the teen had to stop. The springs of the mattress creaked under shifting weight. Sebastian was worried he'd be caught, so he quickly rolled under the bed, closing his eyes tightly and holding his breath.

It was his mother that had woken due to the sound. Patricia glanced around the room but saw nothing out of the ordinary. She figured it might have been a raccoon or some other animal outside. So she simply laid back down and returned to her sleep.

Sebastian felt the weight of his mother shift back into place. He stayed silent for a few more minutes, not wanting to risk being caught now. He had already come this far, he couldn't give up now. He unclasped the box and took out the loaded pistol, sticking it in his waistband. 

The teen then crept back out of the room and down the stairs of his home.  He was out the door and sprinting down the street within a matter of seconds. Sebastian could finally protect himself from the stranger that was following him. Although he didn't know why he was being followed in the first place. What could he have possibly done to the man following him? After all, Sebastian had never seen him before.

What ever the reason was, Sebastian wasn't going to let this man hurt him. He wouldn't work so hard to get away, just to be hurt or killed by some random man. He refused to let that happen.

Sebastian walked back to the forest. When he ran from the man he had left his backpack, which not only contained marijuana but everything else he had brought on his journey. The teen couldn't let anything be tracked back to him. If that happened he'd be done for. 

So here he was, walking quickly through the maze of trees in search of the only possessions he had left. The night was dead silent, causing his anxiety and paranoia to become more obvious in his mind. Each time a bird chirped or a twig snapped, he jumped in surprise, completely stopping only to realize it was something innocent.

Sebastian took a deep breath to calm his nerves. Surely he was just being paranoid; paranoid that he would be found and drug back to his parents. The last thing he wanted was to go back to them and be abused until he finally broke under the pressure.

It had been at least an hour now. Sebastian had been wandering the forest, but now he was starting to think he was lost. Small things started to look familiar. There was a certain déjà vu feeling about the situation. It wasn't because he'd been in the woods earlier, it was because he had started to walk in circles. He couldn't remember where he was smoking or where he had lost his things in the chase. His mind was just going blank.

Nevertheless, Sebastian kept searching. He wasn't going to give up so easily. The teen was determined to find his things and leave this town forever. Sebastian always wanted to get out of his home town, now he was finally getting the chance. He couldn't let this go to waste, he might never get this opportunity again.

More time passed as he kept walking and Sebastian now got the eerie feeling that he was being followed. He stopped walking all together and heard crunching twigs stop only a few moments after his own footsteps. Now he knew that something actually was following him.

Sebastian turned around only to see the same man following him once again. He was scared but also angered. He was sick and tired of being chased around by some guy that he didn't even know.

"Why do you keep following me you creep?!" the teenager yelled, ready to grab the gun in his waistband if he needed to.

"Calm down, please. I'm a private investigator. I was paid to find you. You are Sebastian Jirachi, aren't you?" the male said, it being the first time he spoke.

"It depends on who's asking. Tell me everything or else," Sebastian replied, taking the gun out and holding it shakily.

"My name is Scott. I'm a private investigator that was hired earlier today by Patricia and Jack Jirachi. They say you're their son and that you ran off today. Now, why don't you just relax and put the gun down?" the man, now known as Scott, explained, raising his hands to show he meant Sebastian no harm.

The teen processed what he was being told. Scott wanted to take him back to his parent's house. If that happened he would be locked away and would be abused every day until he either ran away or moved out. The paranoia of being sent back to his parents was killing him inside. Sebastian would rather die than go through all that pain. Then he realized, he could. He had a loaded gun in his possession, there was no way Scott could convince him otherwise.

Sebastian put the gun to his head, tears in his eyes. The private investigator looked shocked by the teen's decision.

"Sebastian! Wait! Don't do it!" he yelled, walking closer to him.

"You can't save me."

And with that, Sebastian pulled the trigger, ending his life.