Johanna walked down the stairs slowly, hoping it wasn't who she had in mind.

"Goddammit! Where's my keys?!?" A gruff manly voice growled on the other side of the door, the started pounding on the door. Johanna's heart starts racing in fear, not knowing what to do.

"Johanna! You let me in this goddamn house you bitch or else I will hurt you!" The voice screamed in drunkenness, his footsteps clattering against the ground outside.

Dawn froze, shaking in fear watching her mother do the same thing. Johanna pointed upstairs, her finger slightly shaking to signal Dawn to go back up.

"Dawn, go upstairs." Johanna said calmly as Dawn crept back to the bathroom. The pounding on the door kept getting more violent, along with slurred words.

"I SWEAR TO HELL IF-" the door swung open to reveal his wife glaring at him, which made him furious.

"Why you looking at me like that!?" He yelled, his voice barely echoing through the tiny home.

"John, I was going to open the door, I was just cleaning the bathroom." Johanna said, the first excuse coming to her mind. The man grumbled I response, then stomped upstairs.

"This damn house is shit! Where's that fucking brat gone to anyways?!? She needs to clean the house dammit!" He yelled as his footsteps kept getting louder and louder.

Dawn closed her eyes as she heard the familiar stomping and yelling getting closer upstairs, her body cramping up more every step he heard. The footsteps passed by the bathroom and into the other room, and after a few seconds her father burst out yelling.

"Why the fuck is there a dress?!? DAWN-NOEL GET OUT HERE RIGHT NOW!" Dawn cringed at him yelling her name and slowly crept out of the bathroom, deciding it was better to get his crap done and over with sooner rather than later.

John looked around angrily until he spotted Dawn in the hallway, looking like a five year old. "What the hell is this?!? Do you think that you can do whatever the hell you want?!? You're not leaving this house, GOT IT!?!" He roared at Dawn, who instantly started spilling tears from her eyes.

She started to shake her head "N-n-no! P-please, d-don't say th-that!-"

SLAP!

Dawn froze instantly, lifting her hand to caress her stinging cheek that he had slapped.

"You're not allowed to do anything! You're a worthless human being! Nobody cares about you, cause I certainly don't!"

"Then why do you care if I go out?!?"

John shoved his pathetic so called "daughter" to the ground after her reply, which caused her to start crying. He grabbed her by her shirt and dragged her across the ground, hearing his wife screaming at him to stop.

"JOHN!! STOP! PLEASE STOP!" Johanna yelled as she raced to help her daughter. Dawn flailed and kicked with all her might, but he kicked her in the stomach.

"I HATE YOU!! YOU'RE JUST PATHETIC!!" John screamed, throwing insults at the girl who went limp and sobbed, begging him to stop.

After a few minutes of the commotion , John saw a car pull up into the driveway. He clenched his jaw and fists, then turned back to throwing more insults.

~~~~~

Paul groaned during the whole way through traffic, but managed to finally escape the hellhole and get on his way.

"Get the fuck off the road if you're driving that slow! Arceus!" Paul shouted as a rusty old car cut him off, going about ten miles under the speed limit. He punched his fist on the horn, making the person driving instantly regret cutting him off, quickly switching lanes faster than lightning. Paul rolled his eyes and blazed by the car, feeling more irritated now than before.

About ten minutes later, he huffed and ran a hand through his hair after he pulled into the driveway to the house. He stepped out of his car and slammed it shut, deciding to approach the house without his moodiness from driving, since it would've probably made everything fall apart. He started walking, but he stopped and heard yelling and shouting, it almost sounded like an argument going on...?

He looked up at the house and into the windows, seeing a familiar mans' face and a women with short navy blue hair arguing. Was this the right place? Well, whatever.

Approaching the door, he shifted his feet underneath him and rand the doorbell, shoving his hand back into his pocket as he casually waited. He heard yelling get louder, until the door clicked and opened, revealing the same woman he saw through the window. Her eyes were swollen red from crying he assumed, and she looked miserable.

"So you must be Paul?" Johanna coughed out, her voice hoarse and crackly. The teenager nodded his head, slightly raising an eyebrow. "I assume you're here for my daughter?"

"Yes." Paul said shortly, feeling an irritation grow in the pit of his stomach again from her procrastination of just letting him inside. Why was she so nervous..? How did she know his name too? Wait, maybe it was her mom?

Paul watched the woman's eyes start to water, suddenly feeling that something was wrong. She quickly wiped her eyes, taking a shaky breath.

"I-I'm so, so s-sorry...sh-she can't.." Johanna stumbled out, choking on her words with sobs in between. Paul just stood there shocked, his eyes widened slightly and frozen in place. A mans' voice echoed throughout the house, grabbing both of their attention.

"Close the damn door Johanna! Your damn daughter won't SHUT UP!!"

A thud came from in the house, followed by more shouting fro the mans' voice and an all-too-familiar voice faintly was heard crying.

"Don't touch her John!" Johanna yelled, while Paul grew angry inside from the hatred he had for that damn man. He heard her crying, and he wanted to help her so badly.

"Please, please forgive me, I'm so sorry-"

"Can't I help?!" Paul shouted, surprising both Johanna and mostly himself, he didn't know that he was that pissed off for despising "John".

"I promise I'll take care of her, I don't want you to get hurt either." Johanna desperately said.

Hurt?!? HURT?! What was going ON?! What was that damned bastard doing to his Troublesome?! He wanted answers RIGHT NOW.

Paul gripped his fists together tightly, his knuckles turning white instantly.

"Why?!? Why can't I-"

"I'm sorry!" After the woman cried out, she started sobbing as she put a hand over her mouth with the other hand shitting the door closed, not knowing what to do anymore. Her daughters night was ruined all because of her. She couldn't protect her at all. All the trust Dawn ever put in her feels so wasted from how she could ruin everything for her.

Johanna cried as she ran up the stairs, hearing the teenager yelling and pounding on the front door, begging for her to come back. Everything was her own fault. Everything. She's the reason why the daughter she loved so much was like this. The reason why her younger brother was gone forever.

Why did this happen to her? Dawn never deserved this, and everything Johanna did made it worse. Why couldn't she do anything right?

Paul slammed his fists into the door, feeling so much anger, hatred, confusion. He shut his eyes and angrily growled under his breath, feeling like everything was just gone.

"LET ME HELP!!" Paul shouted one last time, slowly letting his fists pound less and less from the now bent door, until he had no energy left. His hands were bruised and knuckles were swollen with purple darker than his hair. He could still hear her voice ringing in head, invading his thoughts. Resting his head and fists on the door, trying to diminish the headache that throbbed in his head from yelling so much that his face had turned red, his windpipes stinging when he gulped. His mouth was dry, but he didn't care.

Who would care if someone was him right now?! His date to effing homecoming was screwed up because of that-..!

Paul opened his eyes and turned around to see that it had become dark outside without even realizing how long it took to get here and by the amount of time he stood there feeling useless. What was he supposed to do? Go back like everything was fine, even when it wasn't at all? He didn't give up on things, but this was something completely different. Knowing that a teenager was being abused but no way to do anything about it?

Paul listened by pressing his ear against the door, but there was no sound. Completely dead silent, and that sent a shiver down his spine. What could've happened?

'Anything you dumbass!' Paul yelled in his head, deciding to walk around the house counterclockwise to see if there were any other windows he could see through. There was, but nothing was there except the walls.

Paul felt his phone buzz inside his pocket, so he pulled it out and checked it.

From Pathetic Pikachu boy,
     Hey dude! Where r u?! It's been over 2 1/2 hours!!! The limo's been here for a while and the guy is gettin really cranky, WHERE ARE YOU?!?!!

Paul quickly texted him back, he really didn't want to ride the limo anyways.

Just go without me, I need to do something. There's a lot of traffic.

He wasn't technically lying, but not telling the truth either. He had to do something.

~With Ash & the others~

"He's not coming on the limo? Awww man, there's a lot of traffic!" Ash complained, tugging at his red tie. Since Serena wore a red dress, he wore a red tie to match it perfectly.

"Don't pull at your tie Ash, you'll stretch it out." Serena reminded again, smiling at her date, who rubbed his nose sheepishly.

"I hope they're okay, especially Dawn, I'm really worried about her." May softly said, hoping that her best friend was safe. Drew patted her shoulder lightly, providing a little comfort "She's a strong girl May, and Paul won't give up if there's anything wrong, so have faith. Like Dawns quote, no need to worry."

Reggie sighed, he should've known and expected that Paul would've done something like that. "Well, my lil bros' pretty strong, he'll bet up anyone since I used to always wrestle with him when we were younger, sometimes even nowadays."

Ash thought of an idea "Hey Reggie! How about you come along with us and we'll stop at Dawns house in case they're still there, and if they are you can drive his car so they can come with us." Gary smacked Ash on the back a couple times, actually quite surprised that the dense boy had thought of a good plan. Ash smacked his hand away, earning an eye roll from Misty.

Reggie nodded in agreement "Yeah, that'll work. Let's go guys!" They all went inside the fancy black limo, while the driver sighed in relief.

'Thank Arceus we're going now!' The driver thought as he quickly took off after the doors closed, making everyone slide around since they didn't even have time to buckle the seatbelts.

"WOAH!!" The teenagers yelled as the limo swerved quickly, making everyone squished to the right side of each seat.

May had squished into Drew, who complained "June! Stop squishing me! Unless you're too desperate for me." May instantly shoved herself off of him, earning a smirk from the Grasshead "HEY! It's your fault!"

"No, it's yours!"

"No!"

"Yeah!"

"I'd be loving it if a girl landed in my lap, that'd be a dream from cloud nine baby! Ride me ladies!" Gary yelled and cracked up as Drew and May kept fighting about who's fault it was. The driver burst out laughing at Gary's words.

"Boy, you got yourself a nice future ahead of ya!" The driver cracked up, making Gary smirk and tighten his tie.

"How about getting your ass off of me?!? Idiot!" Misty hissed, practically kicking and shoving the brunette off of her. Gary just flashed a flirty grin "Babe, you know you want me."

"NOT EVEN!" Misty shouted, following with a slap on Gary's cheek, making him completely knock over on the ground out of his seat. May laughed at him, holding her stomach from laughing too much at the hilarious scene.

Ash would've laughed, but currently he was being deflated by people. "Help me! I'm dying of being crushed!" Serena and Reggie were currently groaning by the sudden impact of their bodies smashing into each other.

"I really don't want bruises on homecoming night, or my hair to get messed up." Serena pouted, even though her hair was curled and in a beautiful fancy bun with some curls framing her gorgeous face.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting the turn like that." Reggie apologized, luckily Serena having no worries but Ash was groaning and whining about being squashed and flattened.

"Look guys! Look at all the sparkling apple cider!" Ash yelled, pointing out the drinks. He grabbed a bottle, not knowing what'll happen next.

"NO!! Don't do it!!!" May yelled, already preparing for the worst. She ducked, Drew looking at her with a weird look on his face.

"Nothing's gonna happe-"

A crapload of apple cider drops and fizziness flew everywhere, with Ash trying to put the lid back on while it sprayed everywhere, with everyone screaming at him to make it stop.

"I can't do it!" Ash yelled desperately, his hands becoming soaked and sticky from the fizzy drink. Gary was laughing his ass off at the sight, ignoring the apple cider that continued to fly everywhere. Serena squealed as she hid, trying not to get the drink on her.

"GIVE ME THAT!!!" Misty practically yelled, dramatically swiping the bottle from Ash's hands and closing it in a split second.

"What the fuck?! My hair's all sticky now!!" Drew yelled as he combed through his hair multiple times with his hands, attempting to make it perfect again. May laughed at him, glad that none of the apple cider touched her.

"I told you!"

Reggie sighed, being stuck with a bunch of freshman was a lot of work to deal with. He was just concerned for his bro and Dawn, and he was anxious to arrive at her house.

JC: Cliffhanger....again. Teehee!

Paul: What the fuck?

Dawn: I didn't read...

Ash: AWWW man! Why is it always MY fault?!

Gary: *wipes tears from eyes* That...was...PRICELESS!! *laughs butt off again*

Misty: SHUT UP!! *whacks with mallet*

Gary: *falls unconscious*

May: Ouch...that one's gotta hurt!

JC: See you later!

Dawn: BYE! Hope this chapter was awesome!

Paul: You didn't even read it.

Dawn: Neither did you!