December 1st - 9:29am

                                                                                     Virgil walked with determination in his step and murder gleaming in his eyes, hands stuffed into his jacket pockets as he kicked open the gate and walked up to his house, pushing open the large, heavy doors and slamming them shut behind them.

It was early in the morning, nine am, he had just come back from staying over his 'friends' house, listening to them rant about how much better he would be off moving away finally did it for him - he's been thinking about it for the entire year and now, in the last month, he was done, it was settled, he was running away.

Could it count as running away if he was already eighteen? He couldn't tell, but he knew he was still living with his 'family', the thought disgusting him so, and he could either move away to somewhere a few hours away, leaving him vulnerable to his family if they ever wanted to get at him or he could leave the country - specifically to America where his plans were already set.

He walked past the dining room, glaring at his so called family who all sat around the table for breakfast, young Gabriel and Harper running around with food covering their mouths and yells of laughter filling the room. The adults didn't seem to mind, they were all chatting away without a care - Virgil eyed his older siblings, Olivia sitting beside her boyfriend Michael who Virgil was sure to end up being her husband - they were so in love it was sickly.

Beside them sat William and his girlfriend Elizabeth, they acted like a married couple, only affectionate in private, so Virgil's heard. Elizabeth was very much pregnant, the bump protruding out so far she had to sit further back from the table, but it wasn't commented on - why would it be? Virgil scoffed at the idea of William having a child, the man so homophobic towards him he prayed their daughter wouldn't turn out gay.

He then looked at the elders at the table, his mothers parents and his fathers parents. They grew up in a different time, a time worse for people who were different - to Virgil it was disgusting how discriminating they all were, not just homophobic but racist, too. Virgil hated them and he hoped they hated him, too.

However, the one he loathed specifically? His mother's mom. The woman that puts him through literal Hell every time they meet. She's lowered his self esteem so far so it's non-existent. She's hit him and pop of every slur in the dictionary at him, then more, and what does his family do? What do they do? Nothing. Jack-fucking-shit.

Before he could leave his gaze softened when he caught sight of Oliver, the fourteen year old boy who was extremely timid and shy, more so than himself. To Virgil, he wasn't just a cousin - he was a brother. Someone who actually cared about him. The one person in his entire family. Now, he was sure Gabe and Harper do, too, but they were too young to understand, too young to realise Virgil was falling into a pit of darkness, one that nearly took his life...

All thanks to his grandmother and her words.

He didn't want to leave Oliver, or Gabe or Harper, but he didn't want them to have a dead sibling. He drifted away from the room, once they were out of his sight, they were out of his mind and he was stone cold once more, storming up the staircase in a flurry and opening his bedroom door quick, not looking at anything apart from his duffle-bag and clothes. Shoving everything he would need to survive inside, he collected the money he saved throughout the year and added that, too, picking up his phone, charger and finally taking a look.

His movements faltered when he finally got a good look of everything - everything he would leave behind. But the more he thought about it, the more set on the idea of leaving he became, he wasn't just leaving behind a room, he was leaving behind a life of discrimination and hate - he knew it would be tough to get his life going, but it would be even harder surrounded by these people.

Grabbing his passport, he left his room, the door slammed shut.

Heading down the staircase, he hoped he could leave without anyone finding him, but when he heard the sound of his dad's voice, he hesitated, tripping over his feet a little.

"Where are you going with that?" He asked and Virgil cursed. Why did he have to leave when everyone was moving out of the room? Turning around, he saw them all, standing in the large foyer before him, even Gabriel and Harper who stood beside Oliver.

"None of your business" he snapped back, the older generation gasping in surprise at his outburst. "Are you going to let him talk to you like that?" His father's mother asked, seemingly offended at something that wasn't directed at her. "I don't care" Virgil in before his father could speak, "he deserves it - you all do" he spat, gripping the strap of his duffle-bag tighter.

"Virgil-!" His mother tried but stopped at the glare Virgil shot her, shocked to silence.

"I'm leaving" he explained briefly, "and I'm not coming back. You treat me like I'm worthless just because I'm gay - newsflash, insulting me isn't going to change me! You're supposed to be my family and yet you all make me feel like this, so, so...unloved" his voice lowered on the last word, eyes falling down to the ground they all stood on.

"Well, you deserve it, you're ruining this family!" His mother's father said, he opened his mouth to argue, but it quickly shut. Anything he said would fall on deaf ears, Gabriel and Harper look scared as it is an Oliver has tears brimming his eyes. To them, he wasn't a person, he was a problem, and what do people do with problems? They solve them. Fix them. Make them go away.

And that's what Virgil was doing - he was making it go away.

"Try and contact me and I'll file a restraining order on all of you" Virgil muttered darkly before he turned and left the house, door slamming hard, noise making the young ones flinch. Silence settled across the room until Olivia spoke up.

"What just...happened?" She whispered, staring at the shut door in shock.

"He left" Elizabeth supplied, voice calm, understanding swimming in her eyes.

"He won't be gone for long" Matthew suddenly dismissed, "another act of attention seeking, as always" Matthew's father, Alexander, added his unneeded input, too.

"No, not this time" Elizebeth continued, Alexander turned to her with a glare. "Well, what do you know, girl-?!"

"Hey!" William stood before her in a protective manner, "don't bring her into this" he ordered strictly and Alexander didn't say another word.

"Isn't this what you wanted?" Abigail's husband, Mason, questioned the family in confusion. "What?" Amelia shook her head, "no, of course not!"

He glanced at Abigail, "you could have fooled me"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Matthew asked in a defensive tone. Abigail decided to step in, too, defending her husband. "Matthew, you have watched Charlotte hit Virgil around the head and send him crumbling to the ground without so much as a flinch - we are all as bad as each other"

"Well, why didn't you do anything!?" He fired back, Amelia grabbing his arm when he took a step forward, running her hand up and down his back soothingly.

"A dog eat dog world we live in, Matthew" she responded, crossing her arms behind her back. "If I were to step in the attack would turn to me, too. Why would I put myself under the flame for a child that isn't even mine?"

"He's your nephew" Camila murmured, Abigail snorted. "And he is yours"

Another silence settled across the room, it was thick, too thick to cut with the sharpest of blades. Everyone eyed each other, wondering if anyone wanted to add their input, Oliver had long taken Harper and Gabriel into the other room, so they weren't on anyone's mind.

"We've failed him" Aria piped up, staring at the door, then letting her eyes trail to her parents. "Raised by you I thought being homophobic was right...but it's not, and I can't forgive you for making me believe in such things - you disgust me" with the same burning rage in her eyes, she left the room with her husband following, equally as angry at the family, but Aria didn't feel any less guilty.

"Oh! This is all nonsense!" Charlotte scoffed, her dress fluttering around her to match her distressed movements. "He'll be back by Christmas, I know it!"

And everyone left it at that.

Everyone thought he'd be back in time for Christmas dinner.

But as the Christmas's passed, their hopes drowned. As older family members passed away, they were tempted to inform him, but no one could contact him - no one but Olivia, and she didn't realise this until ten years later.

And on the tenth of December she texted her brother.

She didn't expect much, but when she got a text in response, she swore to herself, to everything, she would be the bigger sister Virgil deserved.

The years changed them all - they just hoped it was enough.