It should be a bright, sunny day, warm bricks baking the back of Daniel Faith, as he fiddled with the stumpy cigar he carried for affectation. Instead, panic laced his vision, bringing isolated glimpses of the two guys in front of him-one a crumpled heap in a scraggly bush of Holly, and the other of his childhood friend, Oscar Malone.

"Guess who put this bitch on the ground?"

The anger Daniel held in check every time he witnessed this psychopath tested his ability to not become a murderer nearly daily. The asshole picked a fight with anyone he could lay his hands on. The urge to just end this dude was a craving that itched his gums, tensed his neck, sucked the breath from his lungs, focused every thought to a singular heartbeat that chanted, "Death!" with each pulse.

In short, he risked being Oscar.

"Who would need guesses?" Daniel managed to sound calm after his vision started to clear. "Jamie is going to be so disappointed in you."

"Nah, man..." Oscar's face went vacant, save for the panic in his eyes.

Tendrils of flesh wrapped forward around his face as the thing that stood behind him sucked Oscar's head into it's maw one strip at a time until it pushed the body of this frenemy over. The strands slowly fused into that unnatural gaping mouth, then into the face of a badly beaten and unrecognizable boy.

The body was no longer in the bush, and it smirked at Daniel, the one opened eye declaring a victory, daring what it beheld to pretend it's still a bad-ass.

As his world finally faded to black, a woman's voice purred, "Welcome, Inquisitor 3..."

Daniel abruptly sat up in his own bed, the neutral tones of his home not real for the first few minutes as he sorted reality from fantasy. There was no sun or rage in the rising twilight, though his chest was thrumming as the edges of a panic attack dared him to freak out.

Perhaps if it had been the first time he had the dream, he would have had a meltdown, but it had been this very thing that had soured his friendship with Oscar over the years. It started the first time his friend had flipped and beat some random kid for nothing.

That had been three years ago, at the start of highschool. The therapist his mom made him go to before she forced him to quit had said the stupid thing was rich with symbolism. Of course, he also said that Daniel's conscience wanted Oscar out of his life-which was true-but his mom wouldn't let him get rid of Jamie's son.

Calm finally descended. Daniel stood and stretched, then started his day with a shower, where he thought about killing Oscar, to be free of being branded the bad boy if he was willing to wear a straitjacket.

-----

"Wouldn't it be nice..." Clair Faith sang and danced while making breakfast for her two children and husband. "If I could touch your body. I know not everybody..."

"Has a body like you." Ennes sat in the breakfast nook, glasses half dripping off his nose as he stared at his plate. He only stopped long enough to genuflect the lyrics at his mother because she had a habit of stealing his food until the lines were sung. There was no pretense to this being entertaining for anyone other than Claire.

Daniel hurdled down the stairs in his gym shorts, almost black hair still too damp from his shower. The goal was getting his seat before Mom decided she needed a dancing partner. Not that they weren't used to half dressed dancing for no damned reason, but it cut into breakfast time.

"No dice!" Hissed Clair playfully, while trying to twirl the son who towered over her, before continuing. "But I gotta think twice before I give my heart away."

Daniel gave in, singing harmony. "And I know all the games you play because I played them, too."

It earned him a full plate shoved at his sternum and a big grin from mom. Daniel was just grateful he could sit down after nearly hurting himself to hit the notes.

It was annoying, yet endearing, watching his mother dance around to a song from her childhood. You had to be a part of the embarrassment, make a few memories to outlast their lives. Besides, it was only a few more bars before...

"BECAUSE YOU GOTTA HAVE FAAAAAAAITH!"

There it was, the bellowing screech of their boy-toy of a stepfather.

"Limp Bizkit does NOT exist in this house, Terry!" Claire yelled at the ceiling, frying pan back in her hand, but more like she was going to throw it at the ceiling than cook.

Ennes laughed as he shoved his last strip of bacon in his mouth. "Ma, the remake predates your kids, let the man ruin George Michael's song".

That got his plate snatched, but he was already halfway to the door before a mock-threat could follow. "Get good grades, Ennes!"

"I student teach, Ma."

A single sentence that showed the world of difference between her sons. The Intellectual was bearing under the end of college and the Bad Boy couldn't even tell if school was for him: a found man and a lost child.

The thought made Daniel's lip curl, but didn't stop him from taking too-large a bite before poking Mama Bear, too. "It's a predatory song, anyway."

"Don't make Faith into Father Figure! Faith is innocent! " Mama's hand was on the edge of his plate, which he had latched onto to keep her from taking it away.

" *FAAAAAAAITH!*" Terry's entrance to the kitchen was sliding through with his tie around his forehead, dress shirt half unbuttoned, boxers and socks a hair too tight for comfort. He practically leaped on his wife of three years, kissing her cheek repeatedly while muttering their favorite morning word.

At least Daniel's plate was his to enjoy in peace as the newlyweds got lost in their own crazy world. As much as a 17 year old wouldn't want to see so much...exuberance, well, this man made his mama happy. So he ate his meal in relative peace before getting up to rinse his dishes in the sink.

Then it was time to escape and finish getting ready for school...but Claire had a sixth sense about them stairs. "Oh, Danny-Boy, Oliver called to say he would be running 10 minutes late."

That brought much of the weight of Daniel's personal nightmares back. The crazy breakfast was a reprieve from the rage his dreams brought, all too often.

And he suspected that his whole family knew it.