Chapter 1

The sound of tires on cement sounded through the barren landscape as a 2007 Dodge Dakota drove down the road heading towards Austin Texas. The driver was a young twenty-two year old male. He had shoulder length black hair, with green eyes. Some would say he was a handsome guy, if it weren't for the horrible burn scars that adorned his left side. Just below his left eye his burn began, it didn't mare his lips just his cheek and a very small portion of his nose, his ear and some of his neck, it reached underneath his shirt, it marred to top half of his arm and the left side of his chest before it coiled down and marred his right thigh. All in all, he was something people would stare and whisper about. His whole life he grew up with the teasing, and the name calling, he never wanted to hear the word Scar Face again. He sighed as his left arm hung out the trucks window; the hot Texan sun beat down on him.

His name was Jovian Peak, he didn't know what his mother was on when he was called that, but it had to be something crazy to call him after the gas giants in space. He really didn't mind though, he loved the universe and its wonders, maybe that's why he was driving out here to the small almost deserted down near Austin Texas. He read an ad in the local paper there was a room for rent, it was practically in the middle of know where, with large flat fields, it was perfect for gazing at the stars, there was no city lights out here to hide them from him. A soft smile played on his lips. He had a good feeling about this, it just, he didn't know, maybe it was right, like this one place was calling to him.

He glanced at the map lying beside him; he had to take a turn at the next road. He glanced back up, the scenery wasn't much, just dead yellow grass, and maybe once in a while a corn field but other then that nothing. He reached for the radio, the silence was deafening, he never liked it, you think he would after all the yelling he had to grow up with coming from his parents. They weren't a close nit family like the ones on the television; they were more like the ones on horror movies. Soon the silence was filled with the latest song by Lonestar; Mountains.

Lucinda Jones workin' at the IHOP:
Ten years worth of bacon, eggs an' tears
She's waited on every creed an' color,
While waitin' on this day to get here
Graveyard shifts, two big tips,
Makin' every quarter count,
Was worth it all to see her son,
In that cap an' gown

He sighed as the music began to drift through the truck, he was relaxed. The words from the song flowed from his mouth mixing with the words from the radio.

"There are times in life when you gotta crawl, Lose your grip, trip an' fall, When you can't lean on no-one else: that's when you find yourself I've been around an' I noticed that, Walkin's easier when the road is flat, Them danged ol' hills'll get you every time, Yeah, the good Lord gave us mountains, so we could learn to crawl…" he stopped singing as he took a sharp turn up a deep road, he almost missed it, maybe he shouldn't sing. Dust drifted in through the window. His eyes watered, and he coughed he slammed the breaks and got out of the truck. He bent over one hand on his knee the other covering his mouth. He should've closed the window. He stood up straight when the violent coughs stopped; a sigh fell from his lips. The rocks of the road crunched under his shoes.

Bobby, Bobby Dunn came back from the war,
Lost his leg but they couldn't take his will
Hell bent to run in that local marathon,
He trained through the endless pain an' pills
It hurt so bad that sometimes,
He just had to cry,
He didn't stop until he crossed,
That finish line

He listened as the music drifted through the open window; he tilted his head and looked towards the sun, with his hand shielding his face. He looked away quickly, he didn't want to look at it for too long, he didn't want his retinas to be damaged, causing him to go blind. His ears twitched as they picked up the sound of a car coming up behind him. He turned and saw the vehicle get closer to him; he saw that it was a police car. It pulled up right beside him. He could see through the window, and he saw a man, a really tall burly kinda guy, he had a piece of leather strapped around his jaw, and hit covered his nose as well, he was wearing what looked like a butcher's apron. He must have noticed his stare because he soon found himself staring into dark brown eyes. He gave a small smile.

"Hey you! Yer not from around 'ere are yha?" came the gruff male voice beside him, he jumped slightly startled, he tore his gaze away from the man in the passengers seat, to look at the man beside him, it was the sheriff if the badge over his left breast counted for anything, he looked to be entering his mid fifties.

"No I'm not sheriff; actually I'm from Palm Springs California" he said. The Sheriff gave him a hard stare, he didn't like it, it sent an uncomfortable shiver up his spine.

"What's a city boy like you, doing in these parts?" said the Sheriff, he was very rude. He could feel his eyebrow begin to twitch, hasn't this guy ever hear of a person's privacy. Probably not.

"The silence, and the stars" he said, and it was true, the silence of the country would be a good change from the sound of cars running 24/7, even if the silence was a little unwelcome, it was still a good thing, it meant less headaches. He could see that the sheriff was going to open his mouth again, but he beat him too it. "Um...if you don't mind me asking, could you tell me how far it is to the Hewitt residence?" he could see the sheriff's eyebrow raise.

"Now why would you want to go there?" the sheriff asked, he was getting annoyed with the questions. But he answered none the less.

"I called there this morning, about the room they were renting out" he shrugged as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

TBC……….

A/N: Meh, I would continue on with this but I have to get my homework done, exams next week and all. Yha I can tell I'm gonna love this story! Even Thomas Hewitt needs a little love. Tommy totally rocks!! Go leather face!! Hehehe….I will make him change his ways, all of them!!! Please leave a review. See yha

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