Like a Train Wreck - 2. Chapter 2: Kangaroo Country

Did Miracle leave like he was supposed to? No, he didn't.

He had gotten dressed and didn't even bother to make the bed. He was kicked back in the recliner that was provided in the small living area, his eyes focused on the television as he popped a single piece of popcorn into his mouth, the bag sitting on his lap. However, at the sound of the door being unlocked, he looked over at it before grabbing the remote control and muting the television.

That bastard was going to pay for what he had done. That was for sure.

Of course people could blame him for allowing it to happen, but he honestly didn't know any better. He was young and very naive, even more naive than those his age.

He threw the remote control towards the bed and heard it land on the mattress, getting to his feet just as the door opened and moving over to throw the rest of his popcorn into the fancy looking trash can beside it.

The sounds of laughter could be heard as Eric and his tall, blonde, and beautiful fiancé walked in together. However, all laughter ceased when the two looked over and saw Miracle standing there.

The woman's smile faded and a look of confusion washed over her face. And Eric? Well, let’s just say given the way his jaw had tensed up and the way those eyes had widened, he was pretty pissed.

Despite how angry and hurt Miracle was, the thought of revenge was sweet enough to bring a smile to his face as he approached the couple.

"Guess I stayed later than I was supposed to Eric ..." Miracle started, letting the words trail off carefully.

"Eric, who the hell is this?” The woman turned to the man, spitting questions at him in rapid-fire breaths. “Why is he in our room?"

Eric stared at Miracle, and then looked at his fiancée. "Oh ...well you see ..."

"I was his rent a fuck,” Miracle interrupted Eric, giving her pleasant smile before he pushed his way between them to walk out the door. “I just didn't get paid."

He stopped in the hallway and turned around to look at Eric. "Sorry ... I forgot to make the bed, too." His eyebrows lifted. "Good luck at the wedding."

And then he took off down the hall, hearing the screaming begin and fade as he got further away. He ran towards the elevator. Once getting there, his hand lifted to grasp the wall and his eyes shut tight, his mouth opened and a loud cry escaped as he burst into tears.

He slid down to sit on the floor, his shoulders shaking and he trembled. It wasn't fair. Why had it happened again? Why wouldn't anyone love him?

He was tired of being used, tired of being taken advantage of. In truth, it made him feel really degraded, but what bothered him the most was that he couldn't understand why it kept happening. He sometimes wondered if having a reason would make the rejection of love easier. That, and he figured if he knew what it was that he did wrong, he could change it.

Miracle was a troubled and misguided soul. He often felt lost and confused, wanting nothing more than to do the right thing and to be a good person. He wanted to be normal just as much as he wanted to be loved. During his time alone, he was usually quiet and he would think about things a lot. He would try to see the bigger picture, trying to understand himself and the people he had come into contact with.

Miracle eventually made it back to his parents’ room, walking down the hall to reach the door. He sniffled, his hands lifted as he wiped his eyes, trying desperately not to look like he had been crying. This was one of those times that he wished he had a mirror. Well at least now if someone wanted to call him a home wrecker … it would be true.

He had just broken up an engagement tonight, he was sure of it. Taking a deep breath, he reached for the doorknob, twisting it and opening the door as he headed inside the room.

"Where have you been? We were worried sick about you!" Martha stood up while Hunter and Craig looked over to find Miracle walking into the room.

"I just went exploring,” he replied, his head remaining down and turned to avoid any questions of him crying. “There wasn't any need to worry."

"You should have told us. We thought you had come directly to the room," Craig chimed in. "From now on, please ... just tell us where you're going."

Miracle gave a nod of agreement. "I'm just going to go to bed. I'm really tired."

He turned around and moved into the other bedroom that was attached and shut the door.

Hunter stared at Miracle as he moved into the next room with a thoughtful look on his face. Craig and Martha may have bought Miracle's story, but Hunter didn't. He had already started to notice a pattern and the expression in his eyes told it all.

The way Miracle would go out in such a good mood only to come back like this was even more suspicious. It had happened on several occasions and Hunter knew there was something wrong. He just hadn't figured out what exactly it was.

Hunter had always been a quiet person himself, sometimes a bit unsocial like their mother. He could be considered the good kid, never staying out late, always sticking at home, and studying.

He knew of the expectations of his parents and in that sense, he envied Miracle. He envied the freedom that his little brother had. Sometimes, he wanted to just be free to live and to grow, to go out and be careless, to break some rules.

He loved Miracle, though. That was his little brother and he loved him more than anyone in the whole world. He wanted to see his brother happy, wanted to protect him from the evils of the cruel world, and in that sense, he felt like a failure because he knew something was wrong and he hadn't been able to find out what it was and fix it.

Hunter was the bigger of the two brothers. A little taller than Miracle, he stood at about five foot eleven and had sandy blonde hair that he often kept trimmed neat and spiked. He worked out sometimes but he wasn't overly muscular. If one had to stereotype Hunter, he was more preppy than anything, but minus the stuck up attitude.

On the outside, the Hart family looked picture perfect, a model family. But on the inside, they had issues, like walls that kept them from fully connecting with each other.

Summer of 1995

And there he was, a little four years old Miracle. He was there on the beach near a cabin. It was out in the middle of nowhere and a place where nature was as far as the eye could see. Nearby was a road that barely saw traffic more than a few times a week, and even then it was very little. To put it simply, it was a personal paradise.

He smiled as he stood in the stand wearing a pair of swimming trunks. There was a man and woman with him; they looked young, no older than their mid twenties. It wasn't Craig and Martha.

No, this was a different man and woman.

Miracle smiled and laughed with such happiness as the man tossed a large beach ball at him and he tried to catch it. When he missed he ran off to grab it. He turned around and looked up to see the man and woman, embracing, kissing, so young, and so in love. He smiled, walking towards them as they ran out into the ocean waves, splashing each other and playing around.

Miracle soon ran off to join them. So much love, so much happiness.

Perfection!

But it was nothing more than a memory, a dream that was once lived.

A dream ... that had died.

August of 2007

A dream that Miracle had been woken up from by the sound of an alarm clock going off in his ear. His eyes shut tighter, face scrunched up, and he reached up to slam his fist against the alarm clock. Missing the snooze button, he ended up knocking it off the night stand altogether and heard it hit the floor with a thump.

A new country! Today was his first day at a new school. He really wasn't sure what to think of it. Should he be excited or should he dread it instead?

He pushed himself to sit up and reached over, yanking the plug out of the wall to stop the alarm clock from ringing at him.

"Okay, okay, I'm awake ..." he said, opening his eyes just a bit more. "And I'm talking to an alarm clock. Way to start the day, good job me!"

His excitement was sarcastic as he usually was in the mornings. He stood up and sighed, heading towards his closet where a mirror hung and lifting a hand to run his fingers through his short, dark brown hair.

Miracle stared at himself, a thoughtful look on his face as he contemplated talking to the mirror next. He frowned at himself and shook his head, reaching out to pull the closet door open and fishing through his clothes.

Grabbing a random white t-shirt along with a pair of jeans, he put them on and threw on a shirt over his t-shirt next to complete the ensemble. He moved to his dresser and grabbed a pair of socks before heading out of his room.

And there he stood, outside the school building as teens made their way out of the bus and moved around him to get to wherever it was they had to go. The constant sounds of chattering could be heard, so much of it that he couldn't understand a single word that anyone was saying and it all jumbled together.

Miracle couldn't help but grin. For some reason he found school to be a funny place. He was pretty sure he had left a mark at his previous school, one that would last for a while.

He looked down to check the list that he had of the classes he was assigned to. They had moved here before school had started so he was allowed to register with the rest of the students. That saved him a trip to the main office to get a schedule.

Wonder how long it would be before he had to go there for ... other reasons?

Well, he had managed to find his English class with ease since it was near the main entrance about five doors down on the right. He stood there out in the hallway as others quickly filed into the room.

He made a few attempts to try to get in, taking a step forward before having to step back when he realized he would get trampled if he tried. However, it wasn't long before he found his way inside and, last but not least, Miracle had walked in!

"Settle down class, settle down," the teacher called out to everyone before his hand lifted to wave Miracle over. "We have a new student joining us this year."

Why did they always have to do that? Couldn't the teacher have just kinda ... ignored him? It wasn't as if anyone cared to know about him, who he was or where he came from anyway. He looked around as everyone turned their eyes on him in the expected reaction.

A nervous yet small smile appeared and he turned, walking over to the teacher’s desk and turned around to face the class.

"Um well ... hello people!" He smiled, trying to be enthusiastic about this, though, no one seemed very amused.

"I'm Miracle and ... uh ... well, I'm from Australia. You know? Kangaroo country?" He smiled, giving two thumbs up. By this point they had to be thinking he was a total nerd.

He was greeted with blank stares.

"So ... uh ...if anyone wants to know anything just ... well, just ask." He smiled, chuckling nervously.

"Take a seat over there beside Sterling." The teacher pointed towards the empty seat beside Sterling, who was one of the biggest nerds in the school. He wasn't all that bad looking, maybe dressed a bit odd and out of date and with glasses, but other than that he didn't look to bad.

Sterling had some good qualities. He wasn't a little twerp that was for sure. He was about five foot nine, a little bigger than Miracle, but a little smaller than Hunter. He weighed about a hundred and fifty-five pounds and had a mop of brown hair that was long but not overly long. If he brushed it and styled it that would make all the difference in the world. Sterling was a good-looking guy, he just didn't appear to know how to show it.

Miracle gave a nod, glad that the whole introduction thing was over. He knew he'd be the laughing joke of the day. He moved over to the desk beside Sterling and threw his book bag down. He sat down and folded his arms on the desk, burying his face in his arms as a few giggles were heard.

"For being so nervous, you handled it well."

Miracle lifted his head up to see that it was Sterling whispering to him. A small smile appeared. "You think?"

"Yeah."

"I'm still trying to decide if it was decent or if I broke the world record of worst school introductions." He pushed himself to sit upright only to slouch in the seat once more.

"I thought it was funny."

"At least someone did. Now I can die knowing at least someone enjoyed it."

Sterling chuckled. "Do you ... do you want to have lunch with me?"

"Sure." Miracle smiled, knowing he had to try and at least make a friend.

Sterling wasn't sure why he had spoken to Miracle. He didn't have any friends, didn't talk to anyone really. He never did have that much confidence. He wasn't sure if he spoke up because Miracle was new and might actually be kind to him or if it was because he found Miracle to be utterly beautiful at first glance. Sterling was satisfied with deciding for himself that it was probably for both of those reasons.

Then the door to the classroom opened as a girl stuck her head in. "Is there a Miracle Hart here? Miss Carter wants to see him in her office."

The English teacher looked at the girl and then over towards Miracle, waving a hand to let him know that he can go. Well that didn't take long did it? Already he was being called to someone's office!

He said quickly in an aside to Sterling, "Meet me in the lunch room at the very back table, okay?"

Sterling gave a nod and a smile.

Miracle smiled in return before reaching down to grab his book bag and stood up, making his way out of the classroom with the girl. He was surprised when they did get there to see it was the counselor’s office. Yeah, he somewhat expected it to be the principal, he didn't know why but he just did.

A smile was offered to the girl in appreciation for showing him where it was and he headed inside, closing the door behind him. A glance was given to the woman who sat at the desk going through a file, assuming that it was his file. He moved over and took a seat in the chair that sat across from the desk.

"Thanks for coming in, Miracle." The young woman looked up and smiled at him.

"Did I really have a choice?" he asked in a joking manner.

"I've been going through your file and there is something in here that really concerns me.” She glanced up at him with serious eyes. “Mainly the reports of you stalking a teacher at your previous school."

Miracle grinned at that and leaned forward, crossing his arms on the edge of the desk. "That isn't what happened at all."

"Really? Do you mind telling me your version of events then?"

"It's simple really. That man and I had an ongoing sexual relationship. When I found out he didn't love me, I threatened to tell on him since it was illegal after all. He went to the school administration first and they...well they believed him."

Blunt but honest, he thought as he waited for her reaction.

She looked up at him and it seemed to spark her interest in a very concerned way. "Do you remember your birth parents?"

Miracle stared at her for a moment before he leaned back and a grin appeared. "Do you have any of those ink blots? I've always wanted to try those."

She grinned at him and gave a shake of her head. "Unfortunately, I don't. I am only a school counselor, not a psychiatrist."

"That is unfortunate ... very unfortunate."

She looked down at the file again. "So do you remember your birth parents?"

So much for avoiding the topic of his birth parents. Miracle really felt uncomfortable at the moment. He kept everything a secret, kept everything bottled up inside. Most of the time it was easy for him to avoid any questions, but this woman seemed more determined than anyone else in his life to get answers.

His response was again delayed as he thought about it a few moments. "Only thing I remember is that everything is their fault.” He tilted his head and raised both eyebrows pointedly. “Can I go now? It's almost time for the bell to ring."

He hated his birth parents. He didn't hate the memories he had of them but he held them personally responsible for everything that had gone wrong in his life. Why did they have to fuck everything up? He couldn't help but to believe his life would be completely different if they hadn't wrecked what most would consider the perfect life.

Miss Carter looked at him, wanting to question him further but then she glanced at the clock putting on a smile, she nodded. "Maybe some other time?"

"Maybe." He said, grabbing his book bag and leaving the office just as the bell rang.

From this point on, he had made up his mind that he was going to avoid this woman as much as he possibly could. His life wasn't any of her business and it wasn't anyone else's business either. He sighed, watching as the doors open and the halls began to flood with people. He reached into his pocket to pull out his class list and unfolded it. Gym was next? God, he hated gym class.

Those eyes rolled and Miracle folded the piece of paper back up and shoved it into his pocket as he started making his way towards the gym, knowing it was a class that was never hard to find. He couldn't help but to think about his brief conversation with the school counselor. He couldn't help but to wonder if she would even care if she weren't being paid to care.

Soon he came upon the double doors, pushing his way through one of them and he stepped inside the gym. He looked over at the teacher who was standing there, checking names off as guys came out of the locker room. Well he didn't bring any extra clothes so the teacher would just have to deal with it. He dropped his book bag beside the door and made his way towards the center of the room where people were crowding up. Those eyes shifted to the side, glancing over a few of the people, noticing how a few of the guys were eyeing him for their own individual reasons, whatever they were.

"Alright, class since this is the first day we are going to play basketball."

Nope, it wasn't happening. Miracle looked at them and since he hadn't been eyed or noticed by the teacher he would make his way over to the bleachers and sat down. He couldn't play basketball to save his life and he wasn't about to allow another teacher to force him into embarrassing himself. The other guys all seemed very happy and excited and went to playing after the teacher tossed out a basketball for them to play with.

Miracle sighed and leaned back against the seat behind him.

"So why aren't you playing?" The teacher, Mr. Davidson asked as he approached Miracle.

"Because, I can't play to save my life."

"It's a good time to learn." He sat down next to Miracle, watching the others.

"If I wanted to learn, I would learn on my own where I wouldn't get laughed at."

"First days can be tough." He looked at Miracle.

"Yeah...ask the English teacher about kangaroo country." He forced a smile and did the two thumbs up again. "He will know what you are talking about."

Mr. Davidson laughed and nodded. "Well I'll give you the day off, but tomorrow you need to be prepared to participate."

Like hell he would. "Thanks… I really appreciate that." He added a small smile.

Mr. Davidson looked at Miracle with such a lingering gaze, those eyes wandering for a moment before he quickly caught himself and looked away.

Miracle noticed despite the man's efforts not to be noticed. "I've done it before ... students and teachers don't ever work out."

Mr. Davidson quickly looked up and shook his head. "Oh no no no, I don't want you to get the wrong idea."

"Sure you don't." He gave a shake of his head, obviously not believing the man. "Can I go to the library or something?" He asked, leaning a bit closer. "Please?

Mr. Davidson tensed up in discomfort and tried to ease back. "Sure...yeah, go ahead." He said.

"Thanks." He smiled and stood up before moving to grab his book bag and head out of the gym. Well he had gotten out of that easy enough; gym was taken care of for the day.

Now he needed to take care of it for the rest of the year.

As if his day couldn't have gotten any worse. Now he had to go to a school where the principal was either a straight man or a man that just wasn't interested. Guess there would be no pulling strings here?

By the time he headed out into the hall way the bell would ring for lunch. He looked up to see the hall flood once again and started to make his way through the crowd, seeing up ahead, he smiled, cheering up in spite of the previous incident.

He made his way through the crowd and as he got closer, he noticed a couple of jocks had started messing with Sterling, pushing him around. Sterling's books had already been knocked out of his hands and scattered across the floor along with a bunch of paper with various things, study notes, little pictures he drew and stuff like that.

"Oh look who it is, the president of kangaroo country!" Brad grinned.

They were never going to let him forget that were they? Miracle walked up to Sterling, not looking amused.

"Oh my god Kev... we got to see Sterling make his first friend ever!" Brad lightly clapped his hands together.

"Look... just leave me alone. I didn't do anything to you." Sterling said, kneeling down to try to pick up his stuff only for Kevin to start kicking it around.

Miracle looked at Sterling and Kevin before his eyes shifted over to Brad.

"What would you have said if you had to stand in front of the class like that? Oh wait, I forgot; you’re as high on confidence as you are on steroids."

Brad's smile faded and he moved over, shoving Miracle back against the lockers.

"I'd shut up while I was ahead if I were you."

Miracle stared up at Brad who was taller and much bigger than him, yet he wasn't afraid.

"What are you going to do? Call me names? Beat me up? I've had worse happen." Miracle then tried to move over to help Sterling.

Brad grabbed Miracle by the shoulder and shoved him back against the locker, harder this time.

Sterling finally managed to scramble up his things and he stood up while Kevin laughed at him. "Don't make it worse, Miracle. Let’s just go."

Sterling hated Brad and all of his friends more than he hated anyone. It used to bother him a lot more in the past. Right now, he was worried more about Miracle than himself.

"I know your kind. You have it all... good looks, popularity, money. All the things that make you feel better than everyone else."

Miracle pushed himself away from the locker,hands moved to Brad's chest as he shoved him back and kept walking towards him until Brad was backed up against the lockers across the hall.

"But one thing you don't have? You don't have kindness. As of this moment Sterling is beating you in that department. Are you going to let him win? Are you going to let him have something that you don't have?"

Brad stared at Miracle, noticing how close the boy was to him and he tried to hold back a grin but despite his efforts, a small glimmer of a smile appeared. The way Miracle stood up to him, he liked it.

Miracle noticed the small smile and one of his own appeared, glancing towards Kevin who was still messing around with Sterling, poking and prodding him. His eyes then returned to Brad and a finger lifted, poking him in the chest before that finger trailed downward.

"When you learn to be kind? Come find me. Oh... and try to teach your friend the same thing." Miracle said before backing away and he turned, shoving Kevin out of the way.

"Come on, Sterling." He threw his arm around the boys shoulder to guide him towards the lunch room. "I'm hungry."

"So why... uh well... why did you flirt with Brad? He's like... the biggest jerk around here."

"I don't know. I guess...well he smiled and… he didn't beat the crap out of me." Miracle shook his head and shrugged.

That bit of information really troubled Sterling. He had known Brad for a long time and he knew Brad was neither nice nor was he into guys as far as he could tell. He grew quiet as he poked at his food with a plastic fork with a vaguely worried look on his face. The entire thing made him uncomfortable, he wondered if he was going to lose the friend he just made. He also wondered if Brad had something up his sleeve.

"Don't look so horrified." Miracle grinned, finding the look on Sterling's face to be funny enough to laugh a little.

"What?" Sterling looked up at Miracle and grinned. "I'm not horrified. That...well that’s a bit of a dramatic description."

"Well I'm a dramatic person." He teased, unsure if it was true or not.

"What other kind of person are you?"

"Well I had sex with an officer to get out of jail once." Miracle's eyes widened in a comical way. "Guess that makes me a dramatic slut too, huh?"

"Are you serious?" Sterling almost believed him.

"No, I've never been to jail, thankfully." He laughed, taking a sip of his sprite.

Sterling grinned at him and shook his head. From what he could tell, Miracle had a good sense of humor, despite the bad or even annoying events of the day.

"Not that I'm complaining but why have you been so nice to me? No one is ever nice to me. They are either very cruel or just ignore my existence altogether."

"Because I don't ever judge without good reason, Sterling." Miracle looked up at Sterling. "I know what it's like to be misunderstood, to be given a label by people who don't even take the time to get to know you."

Sterling grew silent as he took in Miracle's words. Miracle didn't seem like the type to be treated badly, he seemed very likable in Sterling's opinion. He was kind and bright, funny and nice. At least Miracle had been thus far.

Miracle had been treated badly though. He was bright and funny, kind and nice but he was nicer than he should have been to a lot of people. He had been called a whore and a slut before. He had been called plenty of things along those lines but no one had even taken the chance to try to understand him. They just wanted to take what they saw at face value and place a judgment on him.

It hurt him when people called him those names, when people treated him badly; it hurt when no one understood him or accepted him. However Miracle considered himself to be a strong individual, he tried to be. That wasn't to say he denied being hurt because he had been hurt plenty of times but he liked to think of himself as more of a survivor than a victim. Miracle hated the thought of ever being someone's victim.

Pushing open the doors of the main entrance, he headed down the steps to the side walk. He started to head towards the buses only to have a red mustang pull up in front of him with a screech of the tires, cutting him off. He took a step back with an annoyed look on his face when the tinted window was rolled down to reveal that it was Brad.

Miracle grinned and looked away, shaking his head. "You haven't learned yet."

"Then why would I be offering you a ride home?"

Miracle was a bit surprised at first and even a bit skeptical. After giving it a second of thought he decided to ignore his insecurities. It was just a ride home after all. He moved around to the passenger side. He pulled the door open, climbing into the passenger seat, shutting the door.

"Because... you nearly ran me over and you feel remorse." Miracle grinned at Brad as the car took off.

"Hey, I know what I was doing. I wouldn't have run you over."

Miracle grinned and laughed, shaking his head as he looked out the window. The ride home hadn't taken long; traveling by car was certainly faster than traveling by bus. They pulled up at Miracle's house, parking the car along the side of the street. His Dad was still at work, that was obvious because that silver Lexus wasn't in the drive way.

"How is that for service?" Brad smiled.

"Hmm ... it's good." Miracle opened the door. "But ... I'm not ready to be home yet."

"What do you want to do?"

"Let me just go in the house real quick and I'll be back." He grabbed his book bag and got out of the car, not bothering to shut the door.

He headed to the front door, opening it and sticking his head inside to see his Mom fell asleep on the couch watching her soaps. He walked inside and dropped his book bag next to the door, heading into the kitchen. He moved over to find his Mom's purse on the table and he started to dig through it.

Credit card retrieved, he made his way out of the house, ever so gently closing the door. He then took off in a run towards Brad's car before hopping back in, pulling the door shut.

"We'll have to go to an ATM to get the cash. No one will believe that I am Martha Hart." He grinned, waving the credit card at Brad.

"You're bad." Brad laughed, amused.

"I can be bad sometimes... I can be real bad." Miracle said, leaning closer, he hesitated at first before he saw Brad leaning closer as well. His eyes drifted shut as they kissed.

Brad's hand moved up to the back of Miracle's head, eagerly returning the kiss before their lips parted and his eyes opened.

"Let’s go." Miracle said and Brad grinned as the car took off.

They had gone to the ATM to get the cash and ended up at the nearest hotel. Brad had gone in to get the room where they both ended up, in bed together.

A loud moan echoed from within Brad's throat and escaped those tender lips as he finished himself. He rolled off the top of Miracle and fell to lie down on the bed beside him. Miracle would grin and rolled over on his side, an arm moving across Brad's chest as he curled and cuddled up against him.

"Damn...fuck..." Brad breathed heavily, the biggest grin on his face.

"I guess it's safe to assume you enjoyed it?" Miracle asked, placing little kisses along his neck.

Brad grinned at Miracle and leaned forward, a rough and deep kiss being placed on the boy’s lips. "Let’s stay...I'll want you again in the morning."

Miracle smiled and nodded, knowing he could come up with some kind of excuse as to why he didn't come home. He cuddled up closer to Brad and his eyes drifted shut. He felt so warm, so loved and so happy. He didn't have to sleep alone and he was sure that he would never have to sleep alone again.

For once, he felt safe. This was not some greedy older man, this was Brad. Miracle felt with all of his heart that Brad would fall in love with him. Why wouldn't he? After all Brad was a bully and yet he chose not to harm him despite how he talked to him. What other explanation was there? Brad had to love him.

Little did he know, things were about to spiral completely out of control.