Derek's backstory

                If you look back on your past and the choices you were faced with and the decision you made in those moments, would you be proud of yourself, or disappointed? Some would be both, while others choose the latter. Then there are those who just think that they’ve made all the right decisions in life, and they are the better because of it. Who’s right in this situation? Well, that’s not for us to know. All we can do is do our best with the time that is given to us. This is exactly what Derek has tried to do ever since he was a kid, although his life didn’t make it easy.
                Derek didn’t have many friends growing up. He was the shy kid who kept to himself in the cafeteria and in the classroom. He only really talked to others when he was put in a group situation outside of his control. He kept quiet because he really didn’t have much to say and didn’t feel like sharing about his homelife. His mother was loving and caring, but his father came home night after night, drunk off his ass and then would get into screaming matches with his mom. Sometimes those screaming matches came at Derek personally and he never understood what he’d done wrong.
                There would be nights that Derek was going to bed with a black eye because his father shoved him and he’d hit against the doorknob on the way down, or hit the dresser, or the bed post. Derek always made excuses when it came to school though, when teachers would ask what happened and he’d just tell them he fell or got knocked off his bike while riding. They seemed to buy his stories, but his heart hurt knowing the truth. It seemed to go on like this for years until Derek was in his mid-teens, that’s when something switched within him.
                His father came home one night, once again drunk off his ass. Tonight, however, would be the night that things changed for Derek’s life. Derek lay awake in bed as he heard the voices starting to escalate in the kitchen once again about some nonsense that his father made up and accused his mother of doing. He could hear her sorrow in her quivering voice as she tried and tried to calm her husband down, but to no avail. Derek started to try and roll over, but the fire within him was burning ever brighter. He was sick of this, sick of his father’s treatment. He’d sat back and taken it up until now thinking that he was at fault, but not tonight.
                He sat up in bed and placed his feet on the ground, his hands gripping the bed sheets firmly as he tried to focus his breathing, but he couldn’t hold it back. It was time to stand up to his father and put him in his place. He stood up and took a deep breath and made his way to the door. He opened the door and crept slowly towards the kitchen, the voices getting ever louder with each step he took. He could hear his mother crying now and that just fueled the fire within Derek’s heart. He was just reaching the kitchen when he saw his father raise his fist and before Derek could even react, the fist fell and then so did his mother to the floor. A cry of pain was let out by his mother and Derek enraged. His eyes focused on his father as he lunged and before he knew what was happening, Derek’s hand bawled into a tight fist and struck his father across the jaw sending him into the wall and down onto his ass.
                In half of a second, Derek was on him, one hand gripped his shirt collar and the other still in a tight fist that continued to beat his father until he fell unconscious. Derek stopped and looked at his dad lying slumped against the wall, blood trickling from his nose and cheek from where Derek’s strike broke the skin. Derek’s heart was racing, and tears started to stream down his cheeks. He fought to catch his breath and regain his composure and his mind immediately turned to his mother. He turned around and saw her lying motionless on the ground and fear overtook him. He rushed to her side and knelt next to her and that’s when he saw the pool of blood that was slowly growing next to her head. He looked up and saw the edge of the countertop with a bit of red on it and he knew instantly what had happened.
                “Mom! Mom!” Derek cried out as he tried to help her regain consciousness. Her eyes slowly opened but just barely as she looked up at him and even with tear-stained cheeks, she was able to smile as she gazed upon her son’s face. She tried to reach up and console him, to protect him as best as she could, but she was too weak to do so. “Please, Mom, stay with me.” Derek uttered through tears. He grabbed the phone from the base in the kitchen and called the police. He told them what happened, and he was told that paramedics were on the way as well as the police. Derek stayed next to his mom until the paramedics arrived. He was forced back from her so they could tend to her. They tried everything that their training told them to do. They got her secured on a stretcher and took her to the ambulance. The police officer had his father in handcuffs as he was slowly coming to once again in a haze of bewilderment and anger.
                Derek wanted to go with his mother, but he had to give a statement to the police and was told he could visit her later that night. Once his business was concluded with the police, Derek rushed to the hospital to see his mom, needing her to be okay, hoping beyond hope that she was going to be okay. He made it to the Nurses station and asked about his mom. The Nurse told him to stay there, and she’d go and get the Doctor on call that night. Derek paced anxiously back and forth and finally the Doctor came up to him, his face somber. He proceeded to tell Derek that his mother had died on the way to the hospital from blood loss and there was nothing that the paramedics nor hospital could do. Derek fell to his knees and wept in the hallway. There was nothing for him now. His family was torn, his mother gone, his father in prison where he rightfully belonged.
                Derek went home that night, his heart ripped from his chest, and he was completely in a haze, trying to understand and wrap his head around everything that had just happened that night. Why couldn’t he have reacted and stopped his father? Why didn’t he act sooner? It was his fault that his mother was gone and that’s what killed him the most inside.
                He mindlessly grabbed a duffle bag and started to pack up some clothing and other items he needed. He couldn’t stay in that house any longer. It was tainted with evil and sorrow. Once he was packed, he headed out and greeted his taxi which took him to the bus station. Derek had just enough money to get out of town and that’s precisely what he wanted to do. He knew his mother’s body would be taken care of by her sister, his aunt that he’d never gotten along with and wanted nothing to do with. He headed inside the bus station after paying the taxi driver and purchased a ticket to go across the country and once he was there, he’d figure out his life.
                Years later, Derek had done okay for himself. He’d found some odd jobs to keep the money coming in and keep him afloat. He figured out the investment game early on from his time in New York and made some smart investments which were really doing nicely in the market. He was no longer poor, but that didn’t mean he stayed in one place. He couldn’t. He didn’t know where he would end up, he continued moving from city to city, exploring all it had to offer, working jobs here and there, and gradually the hotel rooms he stayed in got a lot nicer. Going from rooms that you were worried about sleeping on the bed, to rooms that had a full jacuzzi in the bathroom with large screen tv’s and luxurious decorations within. He didn’t have a home, he both loved and hated that thought. He was worried that if he found a home, would it turn into the same thing again but with different people? Would he turn into his father? He vowed to himself that he never would. Derek walked to the large window that looked out over the city skyline of downtown and he took a deep breath and wondered where his life would lead him next.