I pulled a pillow over my head and groaned. "Go away sun," I said, my voice muffled against my mattress.

"Rio, are you still asleep?"

My dad's voice floated over to me and I tightened my grip on my pillow. Maybe if I played dead, he would go away.

"Rio, come on, get up. It's almost noon," dad said, shaking me. He grabbed the pillow and yanked it out of my hands. "Up."

"I'm not a dog," I said, grabbing another pillow.

Dad snatched it out of my hands before I could even pull it over my head. "Get up, kid. Seize the day."

"I'd rather seize my pillow," I said, longingly eyeing my pillows in his hands.

He hit me in the head with one of the pillows. "There, seize that. Now get out of bed. I'll make you lunch."

"Oh goody," I grumbled, kicking my covers off and swinging my legs over the side of my bed.

I rubbed my eyes, making a mental note to shut my blinds at night so that the stupid sun would quit waking me up. I stood up and sleepily follow my dad out of my bedroom and into the kitchen.

I yelped as I stumbled over something. My dad gripped my arm and righted me before I could fall over.

"Rio, glasses," he said, releasing my arm once I was steady.

I reached up, touching my face. "Oops."

Well, that explained why the world was a violent swirl of colors and barely identifiable blobs.

"Stand there and don't move. I'll get your glasses," dad said with a sigh, walking back towards my bedroom.

I managed to lower myself into a chair without injury, rubbing at my eyes again as if that would clear my vision. I had always had horrible eyesight, and had had glasses ever since I was three years old.

Dad came back into the kitchen, handing me my glasses. I put them on and instantly the world was clear and I could actually see my dad's face.

"I don't know how you always forget your glasses," he said, shaking his head.

I shrugged. "I'm used to being blind. Sometimes I just forget."

"What do you want for breakfast?" he asked, going over to the fridge to see what we had.

"Eggs will do," I said.

"Alright," he said, pulling out the carton of eggs and the frying pan. "Are you hanging out with Mitch today?"

I shrugged. "Maybe." Mitch was my best friend. "I might just go to his house. I don't have anything else to do today."

My brother stumbled into the room and sat down at the table. He ran a hand through his hair, looking exhausted.

My brother, Hank, was a good looking guy. He was tall and muscular, with clear skin and hair that most people would kill for. He had a light tan and a healthy build, with bright eyes. He was a heartthrob kind of guy.

Or, at least, he had been.

The guy sitting across from me was disgustingly thin, his hair a mess, his skin broken out. He had bags under his eyes, and a glazed over look in his eyes. It was hot outside with the sun beating down, but Hank was wearing a hoodie. Why, you might ask?

Well, to hide his scarred and discolored arms from years of using heroin.

That's right ladies and gentlemen, my big brother was a drug addict. You name it, Hank's probably done it. Heroin was his drug of choice, but he took what he could get when he was desperate for a fix.

When we were kids, Hank had had amazing self respect and dignity. Now, he had sex for drugs when he couldn't find money to steal from me or my parents.

"Why are you staring at me?" he asked in annoyance, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I shrugged at him. "Aren't you hot in that hoodie? I'm not even wearing a shirt and I'm sweating."

"I'm fine," he grumbled, turning his attention away from me. "Dad, can you make me food?"

"Sure Hank!" dad said, grabbing more eggs for Hank.

When he was 14, Hank had been on his way to a bright future. Good grades, good friends, good family. He had wanted to be a teacher. He never thought smoking weed once or twice would matter.

But that's the thing about hindsight: it's 20/20.

I pushed those thoughts out of my mind. Hank was 22, and was a high school dropout with his mind on nothing but drugs.

Dad slid me a plate of scrambled eggs and a bottle of ketchup. I poured the ketchup on my eggs before hungrily digging into them.

Dad sat down with us once he had made scrambled eggs for himself and Hank. Hank reached over, snatching the ketchup away from me to pour it on his eggs.

"Are you going to Mitch's house?" Hank asked me.

"Maybe," I said and shoved another forkful of scrambled egg into my mouth. "Do you want to come?"

He made a disgusted face at me. "Don't talk with your mouth open you scumbag."

"That didn't answer my question," I said once I had swallowed down my food.

"Hank, you can't today. You have to help me out at your Uncle's house," dad said.

"I don't want to. Ethan's annoying," Hank grumbled. Ethan was our cousin.

"Stop that. You're helping us," dad said, rolling his eyes.

"On that note, I'm going to head over to Mitch's house," I said, standing up. I went into my bedroom and quickly changed into clean clothes. I managed to tame my wild hair before leaving my house.

I got in my car and pulled out of the driveway, heading towards Mitch's house. He had recently gotten back together with his boyfriend, Jace, so hopefully I didn't walk in on them doing the ziggy wiggle like the horny guys they were.

"So if you want to piss off your parents, date me to scare them, show them you're all grown up. If long hair and tattoos are what attract you, baby then you're in luck," I mumbled along with my music as I drove.

I pulled into Mitch's driveway and hopped out of my car. I went up the driveway and let myself into the house.

"Hey Rio," his dad, Jasper, said as I came up the stairs.

"Hey Jasper. Is he in his room?" I asked.

"When isn't he?" Jasper rolled his eyes.

I laughed and turned down the hallway, going over to Mitch's bedroom door. Mitch hated it when people walked into his room, but I tended to ignore that and do it anyways.

I pushed the door open, slightly surprised that it was even unlocked, and let myself in. Mitch was lying on his bed with Jace, and he raised an eyebrow at me as I came in.

"Knock," he said in irritation.

"I never do," I said. "Anyways, I'm bored."

"Hi bored, I'm Mitch," Mitch said.

"Mitchell," I said, crossing my arms. "I will knock your teeth out."

"My teeth have had enough abuse," he said, lightly running his tongue over his chipped tooth.

I snickered. He had been dared to give a blowjob to a beer bottle, and ended up chipping his tooth on it.

"I don't want to hang out with Rio," Jace said to Mitch.

Jace didn't like me because he thought I was trying to get with Mitch or something like that. I had absolutely no romantic attraction to Mitch, and any sexual attraction I'd had to him at first was completely gone as well. Jace insisted on being paranoid about our relationship, though.

"Aw Jace," I said, grinning at him. "I want to hang out with you."

"Mitch," Jace moaned. "Make him go away."

"I can't," Mitch said, kissing Jace. "Unless we make out sloppily enough that it scares him away."

"I'm perfectly fine with that," Jace said.

"Oh, cool, let me go make popcorn before you start," I said eagerly.

"You're gross," Jace said, shooting me a glare.

I chuckled. "Jace, do you honestly think I want to watch you bang it out with my best friend? I'd rather cut my nipples off with a plastic spoon."

"Weirdo." Jace turned back to Mitch and laid his head on Mitch's chest. Mitch put an arm around him and glanced at me.

"We're being lazy today," he said.

"I'm fine with that," I said, sitting on the end of his bed.

"Video games?" Mitch offered and I nodded along with Jace.

Mitch shifted, sitting up. Jace copied him and we all sat on the floor in front of Mitch's TV as he set up some video games for us. We played for a few hours, until his mom called us out for dinner.

We went out to the dining room where Mitch's older brother, Shane, was sitting with Jasper. We sat down, me across from Shane.

Jace had this weird obsession with the idea of Shane dating me. I had no interest in Shane, but I played along just for the fun of it.

Mitch's mom, Carol, came out and set food down. We loaded our plates and began to eat hungrily.

"Have you been playing video games all day Mitch?" Carol asked.

"For the past several hours, yes. I think my eyes are going to fall out of my head," Mitch said.

"My vision can't get much worse, so I can stare at a TV screen in a dark room all I want," I said.

"Shut up Rio. Don't be a bad influence on my child. His eyesight is fine and I like it that way," Carol said, flicking a bit of mashed potato at me.

"If I was as blind as Rio, I'd probably just kill myself," Mitch said.

"I'd kill you!" Shane offered helpfully.

"No, no, and no. We do not fight at the dinner table, or else I kill you all," Carol said.

"Can't argue with that," Shane said, returning to eating.

"Are you sleeping over?" Mitch asked me.

"Nah, I'm going to head home," I said. "I don't feel like third wheeling tonight."

"Good riddance," Jace said.

"I know you want me to stay the night," I said, winking seductively at him.

"Mitch, couldn't you have been best friends with someone else?" Jace groaned.

"Shhh," Mitch said, slapping his hand over Jace's mouth. "I'm eating, not reflecting on my poor life decisions."

"I can feel the love," I said before beginning to eat again.

I finished eating and waited for them to be done. We returned to Mitch's bedroom, playing video games until it got to be late.

"I'm going to head home," I said, standing up and stretching.

"Finally," Jace said in relief.

"See you later Jace," I said, blowing him a kiss before leaving Mitch's bedroom.

I left the house, getting into my car and driving myself home. I went into my house and dad looked over at me and smiled.

"Hey Rio. Are you going to bed?" he asked.

"Yea," I lied. I'd probably stay up and read or something.

"Alright. Goodnight," he said.

"Night, dad," I said, hurrying away to my bedroom. I shut the door and turned off the lights, turning on the lamp next to my bed. I laid down and picked up a book, beginning to read.

After about a half hour of reading, I could hear voices. I shut my book and crawled out of my bed, quietly sneaking out of my bedroom and down the hallway.

I peered around the corner at the end of the hallway. My parents were standing in the living room, arguing.

"Jill, please, I can't stay home tomorrow. I have a business meeting," dad was saying.

"Well, so do I! Andy, we can't leave Hank alone," mom said angrily.

"Lower your voice. The boys are asleep," dad said, trying to keep his patience. "We can ask Rio to keep an eye on him."

"Andy, that's not fair to Rio and you know it! He's 18; he shouldn't be responsible for Hank!" mom said. She raked a hand through her hair. Looking frustrated, she gave a reluctant nod. "But there's nothing else we can do. I'll wake him up before I leave for my meeting and tell him to watch Hank."

I clenched my fists tightly and crept back down the hallway into my bedroom. I shut my door and locked it, going over t my window and pushing it up.

I swung myself over the side, carefully climbing down and dropping to the ground. I shoved my hands in my pockets and started walking down the street.

My friend Trevor had invited me to start hanging out with him at night. He hung out with Mitch and our friend Patrick, drinking, smoking, talking, doing whatever to kill time at night. Mitch had stopped going out, but Trevor, Patrick, and I still hung out almost every night.

I knew that Trevor and Patrick wouldn't be out tonight. We had managed to make a lot of enemies, and a couple of guys had jumped us not long ago, injuring Patrick pretty badly. So we had all agreed to stay inside until Patrick was healed.

But I couldn't stay in my house any longer tonight. I hated it when my parents made me keep an eye on my brother. I hated the constant reminders that he cared about drugs more than his family. I hated the way that he couldn't be trusted to be alone because he would steal money or sneak out to find a way to get a fix. I hated it so much.

I felt rage rising in me and clenched my fists again, trying to fight it down. If I got in a fight while I was on my own, I was going to be screwed. I wasn't out for a fight right now. I was just walking to clear my head.

I glared at the ground as I walked, sticking my hands back in my pockets. Hank was just going to be an ass to me all day tomorrow. Maybe I could drag him to Mitch's house so that I didn't have to deal with him by myself. Maybe I could-

"Well what do we have here?"

I jumped in surprise, spinning around, my body tensed for a fight. My eyes landed on a boy who was crouched on the edge of a brick wall surrounding a church.

"Whoa, calm down," he said. "I'm not looking for a fight." He squinted at me. "Oh, I know you. Your friend did this to me." He pointed at his eyebrow, where there was a scar. It ran from his temple down through his eyebrow, stopping just near his eye.

"Who are you?" I asked, staying tensed.

He cocked his head to the side curiously. "You don't remember me?"

"Obviously not," I said. Adrenaline was starting to crawl through my body.

"Huh, I guess you wouldn't. I'm Ezra. Your friend Mitch Marion did that to me," he said, pointing at his eyebrow again. "But that was a couple of months ago. I just remember you because my friend knocked your glasses off and the only reason Mitch got off of me was to go help you."

"I'm glad my vision impairment was helpful," I said, wishing he would attack me already so we could get this over with.

"You still think I'm going to attack you, huh?" he said in amusement. "I'm not. I was drunk the night Mitch scarred me. I'm not even friends with most of those guys anymore. I'm not out for revenge, or whatever."

"Why are you sitting on a wall?" I asked, slowly relaxing. Something in his eyes said he was honestly not interested in a fight.

"Because it's a nice night out," he said, as if it was obvious. "You might want to head back home though. It's dangerous out here at night."

"You're alone," I pointed out.

He smiled. "Are you going to attack me?"

"No. You're on a wall," I reminded him. "I can't jump up walls. I don't even know how you got up there."

"Pixie dust," he said. The way he was crouched on it reminded me of a cat.

"This is a strange night and even stranger conversation," I said, shaking my head and rubbing my temples. "I'm leaving."

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Rio," I said.

"Rio Snyder," he said, nodding. "I remember now."

"I don't care. Goodbye Ezra with the scar," I said.

He laughed. "You remembered my name!"

"You just told me it. Goodbye," I said again, turning and walking away.

"See you later Rio!" he called.

I shook my head. What a freaking weirdo. He was probably high or something. And why was he crouching on the wall outside of a damn church by himself in the middle of the night?

But, taking his advice, I made my way back home and snuck back in through my window. Ezra was right that it was dangerous out at night, and if I got hurt it would just be one more thing for my parents to worry about.

I crawled into my bed, tugging my shirt off and throwing it on the ground. I buried my face against my pillow, wondering if it would be possible to suffocate myself this way so that I wouldn't have to babysit a 22 year old man tomorrow.

Still, I couldn't push the image of Ezra crouching on the wall out of my mind. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying not to think about it anymore. I had enough on my plate between my parents and Hank. I probably wasn't going to see Ezra again, so I would stop thinking about that and just focus on my family instead of some weird high kid. Great. Babysitting my brother tomorrow would be so much damn fun.

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A.N.- So this is Rio's spin-off story! I'm trying to make it so that people who didn't read Kill The Lights/Swan Song (the story Rio is from) can understand this, along with people who didn't read Changing Will because those characters will show up.

For the Shio fangirls and fanboys: Shi would've felt far too forced. Shane is a 20 year old man who is very secure in his sexuality, and has never had any interest in boys before. Also, understand that it would be weird for Rio because of how similar Mitch and Shane are in appearance. But there's at least one Shio fanfic that I know about to keep your fantasies settled, or you can write your own and send it to me and I'll advertise it for the other fallen Shio fans!

So, Shio aside, let me know what you think of the first chapter of Rio's story!