Derek's eyes looked lower and saw that the emo boy had slash marks on his arm. He grabbed the boy's arm and looked closer. "Mom, have you been cutting yourself?" Sometimes Derek felt like doing that himself, but as bad as things were, he never thought they were bad enough.
"I tried to kill myself, but I failed," the emo boy who was Derek's mother said distantly. "I suddenly realized how much my life fucking sucks. And now since I can't go back to work, not like this, I have no life. I might as well be dead." The boy hung his head low, causing his emo hair to fully hide his face.
"All you need is someone to love," Tom suddenly said, walking towards Derek and taking his hand and clutching it. "I'm sure there's someone out there that's just perfect for you."
The boy's head lifted and looked at the emo boy holding hands with Derek. "Who are you?" He had never seen him before. Was he one of Derek's friends?
"I'm Derek's boyfriend," he said. "Tom Welles."
"Tom Welles? Why does that sound so familiar?" the boy wondered. Then, his eyes went wide as he recalled where he heard the name. "I heard the name Tom Welles on the news. There's a missing boy. He has your name. But ... you don't match the picture they showed."
Tom moved his hair out of the way, so the boy could see his face, then he let go of it and it fell back across his face, hiding it once more.
"You are that Tom Welles kid," the boy said, no longer sounding sad and distant. "But that means that ... you became emo, just like I did."
"That's right."
"Tom," Derek said. "Your parents must be really worried if you're on the news. Maybe you should call them or something."
