Rocket To The Moon.

Rocket came crashing back into the bedroom, fuming with anger. Forcefully, he smashed the contents of his desk onto the ground and punched the wall. I flinched away from him timidly.
“Rocket? What did she say?” I squeaked.
“I TOLD you something bad would happen!” he shouted, grabbing the chair and throwing it, allowing it to join the rest of his belongings in a scattered mess on the floor.
“What is it?” I whispered. I found myself sub-consciously cowering from him. Although I should have been certain that he wouldn’t do anything to me, I still had my doubts after all the other times.
“I don’t wanna fucking talk about it!” he growled.
“Rocket, this seems really bad…” I murmured nervously. Rather than breaking anything else, he sat down on his bed and dropped his head into his hands.
“They’re sending me to England.” he muttered quickly.
I froze in terror, and looked at him as though he’d just committed a murder right before my eyes.
“What?”
“I’m going to live with my Aunt now.” he said “In England.”
“Why?! No you’re not! You can’t go to England!” I protested, feeling tears burn my eyes.
“I have no fucking choice!” he snapped. Though I knew that his anger was not directed towards me.
“No! Rocket, no! You can’t leave me!” I cried. I rushed over to him and hugged him tightly, refusing to let go, as if hugging him would somehow prevent him from having to leave.
“Madison said that they’re losing the custody battle for me because my stupid Aunt is my blood relative.” he muttered.
“But you’re happy here! And Madison and Trevor take great care of you! This place is perfect…surely you should get a say in this somewhere!?” I asked desperately.
“I’ll talk to them…but I don’t know what good it will do.” he said. I broke down in tears and buried my face in his chest. Just as things had started to go so well between us…so perfectly…something had to come along suddenly and rip every good thing to shreds. Rocket was right. He knew all along that this would happen, but to be honest…even if he had proven that to me before all this, I still would not have done anything differently. I didn’t regret anything, even when I was sitting there crying my eyes out knowing that there was a high possibility that he would be taken away from me soon, I had no regrets.
He stroked my hair, and pleaded with me to calm down. His words did sooth me slightly, but not enough for me to remain entirely composed. He placed his hand lightly up to my chin and lifted my head so that I was facing him, before kissing me softly on the lips.
“I will put up one hell of a fight before I’m separated from you.” he promised. I gave a shaky nod, and stared despondently into his sad blue eyes. Despite how hopeless the situation seemed, I found that I could bring myself to believe him.

_____________________________________________________________________

*Rocket’s POV*
“What do you mean you lost!?”
“We’re so sorry.” Trevor said sincerely “We tried our hardest but…you’re going to live with your Aunt.”
“Don’t I get a say in this at all!?” I questioned impatiently.
“We’re really sorry, Rocket.” Madison said. She looked as though she was about to cry yet again.
“What the fuck!?” I snapped “This isn’t fair! It’s MY life, so I should be able to dictate it! Couldn’t you legally emancipate me or something? ANYTHING so that I don’t have to move to fucking England!?”
“We’ve tried everything, sweetie. There’s nothing we can do.” Madison muttered.
“I don’t get it! I’m turning eighteen next year, so I’ll just be able to move out anyway! And when I do, I’ll be coming straight back here. I really don’t understand the point of this!” I explained, whilst clenching my fists and trying to keep my anger to a minimum. If things didn’t get any better, I planned on going totally crazy and throwing the biggest tantrum known to mankind. It’s a childish way of doing things, I know, but I thought that it was appropriate for the situation.
“Listen, son…” Trevor began.
I wanted to retort, and remind him that I wasn’t his son, like I always did, and tell him that he shouldn’t call me that. But I didn’t, because I realized that he was the closest thing I was going to get to a half-decent fatherly figure.
“…your Aunt is incapable of having children. She tried for years with her husband, and failed. He died recently, and she is desperate for company…and when she found out that she did have another family member, it was like another glimmer of hope for her.” he explained.
“Oh, boo hoo.” I replied sarcastically, “You’re not going to be able to guilt trip me into feeling sorry for her, everyone’s got fucking problems, I watched my own damn parents die for Christ’s sake. But couldn’t she just have adopted!? There are plenty of kids wanting a new home who would have been more than happy to live with her. I, on the other hand, do NOT want a new home!” I was becoming noticeably angrier by the second.
“Rocket, at least show some sympathy! She’s your relative!” Trevor demanded.
“Look, if you want ME to show HER sympathy, you’ve got another thing coming!”
“This is completely out of our hands, Rocket. We really don’t want to let you go!” Madison insisted, loudly blowing her nose on a handkerchief. This ordeal seemed to have genuinely affected her, so at least I knew that they weren’t just trying to get rid of me. I was about to start shouting again - as if that would do any good - but I refrained immediately when Hero entered the room. Her eyes were wide and terrified, like a lost child. All the sympathy that was supposed to be for my stupid Aunt went to her.
“What’s going on?” she asked, quietly and nervously.
Trevor sighed and looked down, “Rocket, you had better start packing. You’re leaving in two days.”
“Two days!?” Hero gasped. Her lip trembled, and her eyes started to fill with tears. Right then, all I wanted was to grab her and run away with her. Away from this family bullshit, to somewhere that allows us to just be together, without problems, without malevolent and evil bitches that some people dare to call Aunts.
“Why two days?” Hero asked “That’s too soon!”
“That’s when he’s being picked up. Again, there’s nothing we can do about it.” Trevor muttered. Hero looked at me expectantly, hopefully. A single tear slipped down her cheek, and I found myself lost for words. I promised her that I would fight back, and that I wouldn’t give up. But I realized that fighting back would be totally pointless. I realized that I had lost. I just couldn’t make eye contact with her, it was too shameful. I felt like she could see right through me.
“Rocket, go!” Trevor repeated. So, with my head hanging low, I rushed upstairs and locked myself away in the confines of the bathroom, where I sat for over half an hour hitting my head repeatedly against the wall.

A few moments before I’d hit my head enough to give the wall a concussion, I heard a soft knocking at the door, and then Tom’s voice:
“Rocket, dude, either you’re very rhythmically building a table in there or something is wrong.” he said.
“Leave me alone.” I whined.
“Can I talk to you?” he asked.
“I said leave me alone.” I repeated.
“If you don’t say yes I will climb in through the window.” he warned.
“The window is closed.” I pointed out.
“Then I’ll break the door down with my face.”
“You’ll just end up breaking your face instead.” I said.
“Just let me in!” he moaned like a small child and kicked the door. I sighed, and went over to unlock it.
“What do you want?” I demanded.
“I overheard what was going on downstairs.” he said sadly “Are you really going?”
I shrugged “Looks like it.”
“But what about Hero!?” he demanded.
“What about her…?” I muttered, trying my hardest to look like I didn’t care. But he could tell that I did.
“I know you don’t want to leave her.” he stated.
“I don’t.” I admitted.
“So, what are you gonna do about it?” he asked.
“Huh?”
“Oh come on! Don’t tell me you don’t have a plan? Don’t tell me you’re just going to sit back and let this happen? That’s not you!” he exclaimed.
“There’s nothing I can do…” I said softly, averting my gaze to my shoes.
“Don’t think like that!” Tom retorted “There’s always something.”
“Well not this time.” I said.
“What happened to the boy who would try every single crazy and outlandish scheme, no matter how dangerous or stupid, just to get what he wanted?” Tom asked.
“He died along with his parents.” I replied. I could almost physically see my words cutting into Tom like daggers, and I instantly felt bad.
“That’s not true…” Tom insisted “He just…got lost! And, it’s up to Hero and I to find him again.”
“Just leave me alone, okay? There’s nothing we can do. We’ll just have to face the fact that I’m leaving for England in two days.” I muttered.
“You’re pathetic.” he stated. He then walked away leaving me feeling even worse than before, if that was actually possible. I wanted to cry, and destroy everything in my sight…no, I wanted to throw myself into the ocean and drown. But what I did instead, was start packing my belongings.

*Hero’s POV*
I hardly talked to Rocket during his last two days at our home. He reverted back to silent mode, just like before, as if nothing had ever changed. It was the most heartbreaking experience of my life. Tom tried all he could to do something about it, but he failed miserably. I didn’t even bother trying. I knew it was hopeless.
Finally, the day came when he had to leave. I had woken up feeling like I’d just taken a giant hole puncher to the heart, and the room looked a lot emptier without Rocket’s belongings in it. At exactly 10am, I heard the car pulling up into the driveway, and knew immediately what it was. Despite my parents calling me, I couldn’t bring myself to go downstairs, or to say goodbye, because I knew it would be far too painful. Over the past few weeks, I had, without a doubt, fallen in love with Rocket. He changed so much for the better, and I was certain that he also loved me back just as much. But, exactly as he had warned me, something had happened to take that away from us literally just as it had started. I can accept that life is unfair sometimes, but this seemed like unfair to the extreme. The image of Rocket’s breathtaking blue eyes staring at me with an affectionate intent played on a projector image in my brain. To be able to see those eyes one last time would settle me slightly, I was sure of it. But I had convinced myself that a goodbye would be intolerably agonising. So I forced myself to remain in my bedroom. I heard the front door being unlocked, and then a low hum of adult conversation, most likely amongst Madison, Trevor and Rocket’s Aunt discussing something or other. I collapsed onto my pillow and buried my head in the soft fabric longing for Rocket’s arms around me. I snatched up the pillow and wrapped my arms around that instead, knowing that it would have to make do, and froze when I saw something placed underneath it. A folded piece of paper. With trembling hands I unfolded it to reveal an amazingly realistic and beautiful pencil sketch of a rose, accompanied by writing. It read:

“Hero,

Don’t take this too hard. You’ll be okay, I know it. Just forget me and move on, and before you know it your life will be back to normal. Just like before I even turned up. I promise. You’ll even have a bedroom to yourself now, isn’t that a plus? I’m sorry that I couldn’t be here longer, but at the risk of sounding like a pizza (with extra cheese), I will miss you more than anything, and I will still love you after I’m gone. Forever. Oh yeah, and take care of Tom for me.

I love you,

Voldemort”

The paper was now decorated with splashes of water from my eyes. I had to see him again, I just had to. I dropped the note an sprinted down the stairs as fast as I could possibly go, almost falling on the way, but regaining my balance quickly. I stopped abruptly at the doorway. Rocket was just about to leave. We stared at each other for a few seconds. I found myself paralysed - unable to move, as if I had been glued to the floor. The entirety of my body felt numb and my heart was pounding violently in my chest. This was the last time I would ever see him.
When he moved, I was almost sure than he was going to walk out of the door. He appeared to be heading in that direction to start out, but then he turned swiftly and ran towards me, swallowing me up in a warm, tight embrace. I found that I could now move just enough to envelop my arms around him. I took in his scent, and tried to leave am imprint in my mind of exactly how the hug felt, and how warm and comforting his arms were.
“Don’t go.” I whispered shakily. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Trevor approaching us with another man who I didn’t recognise.
“Come on, you have to go now. You’ll miss your flight.” Trevor muttered sadly. Rocket didn’t move.
“We must leave. Now!” the other man ordered. His tone of voice was strict and impatient, and he had a prominent English accent. I assumed he was related in someway to Rocket’s Aunt. Rocket still did not move. He kept his arms around me as tight as possible.
Then, something horrible happened. Both Trevor and the other man grabbed Rocket and forcefully pulled him away from me. Rocket struggled, but the strength of the two men overpowered him and we were unwillingly separated. I tried to reach out for him, but my Dad appeared out of nowhere behind me and held me back.
“Rocket! No!” I screamed. He kicked and thrashed and tried with all his strength to break free of their grasp, but before I knew it he was being thrown into the back seat of a car, which was then locked securely. The last thing I saw through my blurred vision was the car driving away, and Rocket banging frantically against the window, calling my name repeatedly. Then, he was gone.