Unity

Chapter One

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I remember my small hands clutching the only photo that I ever had of my parents. My mother's blonde hair was long and looked like silk gently flowing in the humid air of Shiganshina. Her green eyes complemented her hair, as uncommon as blonde hair and green eyes together were. Her teeth were perfectly white and straight, which really made her wide smile look nicer. She wore a pale green dress that went a little below her knees. Her waist was small and she was very light. 99% of people would say that she was beautiful.

Not me. I'm the 1% that argues with the majority of the crowd. Sure, she's got a face meant for TV and a body most women wish they could have, but that's no match for her wicked personality.

My father aside her, with his light brown hair and big, blue eyes. His stand was only an inch or two higher than my mother's, but that didn't matter. Why would it? He was built perfectly. His desired arms wrapped tightly around my mother's waist. A model couple, the public would say. What could possibly fight against their attractive looks?

Absolutely everything. Everything intensifies when they have a failure of a child, in other words, me.

My arms flailed with the picture in them, soon throwing it across the room angrily. I've never been like this before. I'm always calm and collected. I never let my emotions take control of my actions. I guess today is the day I break my streak.

The glass shattered hard against the cement wall. Every piece collapsed, eventually letting the shiny paper from inside free, only to see the light for 30 seconds. I tore up that picture and made sure to burn every last bit of it.

I didn't want to remember my parents. I didn't want to remember their words put into violence.

If only my bruises would go away so everything could be erased.

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"Snap out of it, Armin. You're freaking everyone out, you shit-head." My grandfather waved his hands in front of my face vigorously, as he did everything.

"You're the only one here." He scoffed at my remark and set down his coffee cup hard enough that coffee splattered everywhere.

"Oh yeah smart-ass? Well you're creeping me out!" I threw on my backpack and tied the shoelace on my left shoe.

"I'm thinking. Frankly, I don't quite understand how my thinking creeps you out. You don't even know what's on my mind." He growled from deep within his throat and knocked over the chair I had just gotten up from.

"You change your attitude or I'm sending you to the orphanage!" Nothing out of the ordinary happened that morning. It was the same old fart sitting in the same old chair saying the same old shit.

My feet guided me to the front door where I streamed outside to walk to school. School used to be where I went to get my mind off of the problems that happened at home, but over the last few years, school had gotten just as bad. My family hated me from the first time they ever found out that I am transgender, and even more when I acted on it. When I went into 6th grade, I met a boy named Levi and we quickly became friends. During the middle of the year, I decided to tell him that I was transgender. He didn't take it well, and my secret didn't stay long. Not only did I lose my dignity, but I lost my only friend, as well. That year was the year all the tormenting started. Bullying, abuse, exploitation, corruption, and now it wasn't just happening at home.

I pulled open the door to Shiganshina High. High School... as if middle school weren't bad enough. I entered the cafeteria and sat at the table in the back. I pulled out a book that I had just recently bought at my local bookstore. I've been saving up for it for 3 months, and I've been really excited to read it. It was about a girl with a tough past. When she thinks all is over, she finds a key. She soon finds out that the key leads to an unopened door in her basement, and when she opens the door...