There she was, as always. It was a hot Sunday at the mall and he hated the Arizona heat, but she was worth it. She was Scarlett, the pretty little goth girl he had met a several times at the mall and he believed that he did like her. He was a tall boy with long hair that went strait down to the middle of his back. He wore an old swat bullet proof vest and a dirty pair of Tripp pants that where cut off a the knees to show off his Vietnam combat boots. He was not pretty and was always anti social. His glasses threw off the intimidating look and his demeanor was that of a boy who had been beaten in life.

She was beautiful and tall, a year younger then him and the center of attention. he knew that she liked him a little because she had kissed him once and it made his heart drop to think about it. He knew something was diffrent when he woke up that day. He knew it was his day hat day. That day he saw her older sister with her. Her older sister was short and a little bit wider then her and he knew the older sister was his key to have a chance with the girl he thought he loved. So he made his move, he started to hang out with the odler sister. She really was his key beacuse within an hour him and Scarllete where in each others hands and kissing gentally. He loved the little blushs he got when he kissed her and loved the way she would play with the pockets on his jacket. But his good fortune did not last long.

She quickly became tired of how much he was around her. He would come around once a week and spend the day with her, and that was to much for her. The stables was the place they would go, he hated horses and was deathly afraid of them. But she loved them. Scarlette had a horse of her own and he would do his best to smile and even ride the horse when she asked him to. Thanks to her he even began to get over his fears of other things like hightes and even his fear of large crowds. But two months later she called him, which scared him beacuse she never called. She told him she had a braver and better man she wanted to be with, so she left him that day.

He never recovered. He picked up smokeing and not leaving his house, for nearly a year he sat in the basment of his house and never came out, he would have things delevered to the basement and not the front door. All his windows where blocked and he let his tan fade to a sickly color.

With his computer being his only source of contact to the outside world he treated it as if it was gold. But one day it died. He knew how to fix it, he knew what he needed, but he also knew that meant leaving the safety and seclusion. So he did reluctently. He got dressed in his old tripp pants and his vest, he strapped on those old boots and brushed his now short hair. He sighed, looking at his new form in the mirror. He had started to work out for some odd reason, his chest now formed and his stumic a smooth six pack he could not see why he did it. He knew the one girl he wanted had found a man, so why try anymore.

He left his house and stopped at the door, he knew his neighborhood and this was not it. The cars on the street where new, and the houses seemed different. He shrugged and began to walk to the bus stop and foze. It was her, sitting there at the bus stop. But she was different to, she had lost her beautiful posture and she had bruses on her arms and legs. He walked over quickly, forgetting his fear as he knelt beside her crying and shakeing form "What is wrong" he asked, supprised his voice even workd. She looked at him and suddenly clung to him. Crying she told him "He is not better then you. Please, I need a place to get away from him" He smiled, this is what he had wanted. His pretty little goth girl had come back. He nodded and kissed her cheek while smiling "Ill take you home with me. Its safe there. I just have to pick up a few things" she nodded and fell in line behind him, he took ehr home that night and they talked. He found out she was told he had died and that she had been waning to see him. He kissed her that night. And she never left his side after that. The old boyfriend showed up but once and surprisingly he did not back down. The boyfriend turned out to be smaller then he was now and he scared him off quickly. Years latter they married and had three children, a freak like him, a pretty goth like her, and a little boy who turned out a bad egg. But every family has one of those and he loved that bad egg till the day the bad egg killed him and Scarlette, the pretty goth girl he loved.