Different After All

Chapter One

This is gonna be a really depressing story, will contain mature content and might be triggering for some of you. If you read anyway don't tell me I haven't warned you!

It drives him crazy. His family. His friends. His past. He himself drives him crazy. "Just be happy! Others have it worse" they tell him. They could have said "You can't be happy because others have it better than you" as well. He's wearing hoodies, sometimes two sizes bigger than his actual size, to hide his scars on his wrist. The one and only time he was shirtless was when he met sensei Wu. He asked him about his scars, then why he climbed up that mountain. He told him. He told this stranger everything. He was sick of staying strong. Sick of hiding his emotions.

As he finished the old man stood up and placed a hand onto his shoulder, holding with light pressure. He said: "Everything will get better as time goes on." He was a wise old man with a long white beard. He trusted him. He never regretted following that weird stranger. He regretted that he knew about his scars. Him telling the old man about his past. He told him he'll get better. It did. He never met his 'friends' again, being a ninja and fighting for the good helped him to forget for a while. He loved his brothers. They became his new family. He hadn't told anyone about his scars nor his past. He felt like they would abandon him, if he did so. He knew it would never happen but his insecurety, his thoughts are louder.

They hate you. You don't deserve them. "Shut up." They hate you...

No matter how hard he tried to ignore these whispering voices, they win. They always did. He stopped counting the times he tried to kill himself but never did. He was too afraid. Too afraid of dissapointing anyone even when he's dead.

Walking down the street with his earbuds in, hands in pockets and his hood up, Cole enjoyed the cold evening. Fall was his favorite season. Neither cold nor hot, the days get shorter and the nights longer.

It's been a while since the ninja had to fight against evil. Only training distracted Cole from his thoughts. But in three days it's Lloyds birthday and he haven't bought him anything yet. He'll get him a carve knife. His old one was cheap and will break soon. Carving figurines out of wood is one of Lloyds beloved hobbies along with painting and many other things. He was a weird punk going though puberty.

After the overlord was defeated by the golden ninja everyone seemed to grow a certain way of passion. None of them are recognized as this weird 'mainstream' stuff.

For example Jay. He started wearing quite tight clothing with strange features soon after the final battle. These features lead anyone to stare at him because nobody saw that shirt ever before. He called it 'rock style'. Seems legit since he mostly listens to this kind of music unlike Kai or Zane.

Kai always was a metalhead but never showed it in any way. Most people thought he was actually the punk of the group. Funny thing that it became Lloyd. Everytime he tries to listen to music that's not metal he cringes lightly, not wanting to listen anymore.

Zane was more into hip-hop and surprisenly he even got himself a snakebite and rook piercing. He was a humanlike robot after all and with those features he developed a non-android personality.

Cole got the knife, the cashier even wrapped it up so Lloyd wouldn't recognize it too early. Hiding the present in his pocket he walked out of the store, sinked into his thoughts. He wondered if he wouldn't get sad when he stopped listening to sad music. But then he was like nah and continued listening. Walking. Thinking. Cutting.

His thoughts drifted away and his sight became blurry, his eyes didn't focus anmore. With his lips trembling he began to cry. Cole never wiped his tears up since nobody noticed anyway. He got used to it. He hated himself so much that he didn't care anymore if anyone sees him crying. They were all strangers he'll never meet again. He was alone in the big wide world even when he isn't.