"Lance O'Brien." the speaker for the Classical Piano Music State Championship announces. "Age: 13."

With a deep breath, I stand up and walk up to the stage from the front row of the audience.

Pressure.

I enter the stage with a neutral posture. Never look cocky.

This suit is too tight.

It doesn't matter.

If I act like it doesn't bother me, no one will know the difference.

I turn to face the audience with a small smile. I take a bow and then lift to introduce myself. "Hello, my name is Lance O'Brien and my first piece will be Canon in D Major."

"Look at all these trophies, Lance!" my father barks at me, one hand tightly knit in my hair, the other pointing at the collection of silver trophies from across the room. "Mathematics! Spelling! Horsemanship! Art! Literature! Now music!!"

"Don't you want something to be proud of??" asks my mother in a shaky voice who is next to my father.

"Shut up and let me take care of this!!" he snaps at her, to which she scurries out of the room in fear.

However, from my knees, I'm not as excited as my parents. This is normal. Every time I enter in some sort of competition, it's never be good enough for them. They want gold for their only child, but I'm okay with anything. I am indifferent and really only do it to please them. Although, it's not like I have a choice.

"You have so much talent!!"

I look up at my father with a neutral expression. Soon it will be over. He will get tired and drink himself to sleep and it will all get better.

His hand raises in a flash and jabs me across the cheek hard enough to send me to my hands. I feel the tingle and sting from where he hit me flame and begin to throb.

Normal.

He takes a fistful of my hair and yanks me up to my pathetic feet. "Mr. Tanaka is going to Japan soon to teach at a school. You're going with him, understand!?" he growls to my sniffling, yet still neutral expression.

Don't cave in.

You're stronger than that.

Are you?

I don't say anything to him. Nothing I could possibly come up with would be good enough for him in this state. The very sight of me angers him. The best thing for me to do is remain calm. I'm good at that.

I wish that was a sport...

"ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING!!?"

He throws me to the floor which causes me to hit the back of my head on the edge of the bed on my way down. My hand reaches out to the floor to try and break my fall, but my father only stomps on it instead.

Crackle!

I can feel bones in my hand shatter in my hand and fingers in the flesh under his foot. This is the most pain I've ever felt up until this moment. I don't even want to spell out the sounds that spill out from my body for how embarrassing and shameful they are.

"You're always looking at me like I'm not even here! It's like you hate me!! You hate me and your mother, I know it!!!" he yelled and sent a sound kick to my gut. "Well guess what, Lance??? We love you!!! We love you more than anything else in the world and that's why we push you so hard! We only want the best for you, you resentful shit!!"

It's safe to say that I lay on the ground, a sobbing mess. A bloody, coughing, gasping mess.

My father steps off my hand and steps away, but only before sending me a final blow to the side. At least one rib snaps. "That's why you're going away. Because you hate it here, in this paradise of a family. You hate us and I don't even know why. I hope you retained enough information from Mr. Tanaka's Japanese lessons, because you'll need it."

Even though my eyes are barely open anymore, I can faintly make out the image of him leaving me on the floor of my bedroom for my mother... No. For the maid to find me sometime later to which I was finally rushed to the hospital.

"Mrs. O'B--"

"Uhm.. I'm her housemaid: Ms. Lovelace."

"Oh.. Well tell Mr. and Mrs. O'Brien that Lance has 13 broken and fractured bones in his right hand, 3 broken ribs, and needed 2 stitches on his head. Not only that, but he has suffered a mild concussion."

"Oh, I see.. Poor boy."

"Yes, he's resting now. Do you know how this happened?"

"Oh.. No. No I don't. You know how boys play."

"Hm.. No, I suppose I don't... Tell him to be more careful I guess."