There's nothing good that can come from starting your life with the blood of your sibling and mother on your hand, but that was the hand (pun intended) that James was given and it took him many years to learn how to deal with it. Even though in reality, there's not a day that goes by where James still doesn't blame himself for all the wrong that's happened to him and his family.
His childhood was spent on the couches of his friend's families and under the wings of his sister, as his father continuously belittled and blamed him for his mother's death. He knew that deep down inside, it wasn't really his fault, that nature had just taken its course, but his father believed his son to be something evil and that was hard to shake off at such a young age.
Up until his legal status of 18, James often spent his nights with his sister once she moved out. It was far enough from their father that he didn't have to deal with his belligerent rantings and abuse, but close enough to family that he didn't feel as if he was completely alone in the world. He was sure that he was a burden to his sister at times, but he couldn't bring himself to go anywhere else.
Eventually, James moved out on his own, in with a bandmate & best friend, Chase. They were 18 and a downright mess, but they made it work. Now out from underneath the burden that his father laid upon him, James was beginning to live his life the way he felt he had a right to. He was more a creature of the nighttime than ever before and with the pubs he crawled out of almost each and every night, it was becoming a habit for him to stay out all night and sleep all day. His band as even beginning to make a name for themselves in the London Punk scene.
So why in God's name did James decide to pack it all up and call it a day on his lawless lifestyle? The moment he witnessed his best friend give up the good sense of knowing when he was going to far and slipped a needle in his arm. He knew that the more time went on, the more likely he'd succumb to drugs and though he didn't know his mum, and truly never would, he knew she'd at least not want that for her son. So the very next day when he was sober enough to function, James applied to university.
Two years in and James realized uni wasn't all it was cracked up to be. He was still running with the same crowd he did before, but the teasing was relentless. After approaching one of his professors, he was given the opportunity to study abroad. First stop, Boston, Mass. And before he knew it,he was packing up and rearing to go.
James didn't realize that he'd eventually be calling Boston his home, but until he did, he was becoming well adjusted to the fast-paced lifestyle of the American city dwellers. In fact, it wasn't all that different from London; drivers willing to run your ass over if you're not paying attention, passerbys rude as ever, and the streets and pubs were busy at most anytime. He was slowly getting used to it.
Years later, when James is back in London and finally has gotten some sembelance of his life together, he stumbles out of a pub with his arm around a beautiful dark haired lass affectionately called Piffy. The two are scooped up in a whirlwind romance and six months down the road, they're married in a small ceremony outside a church.
Their marriage was tested for several years, as James wasn't so accustomed to sharing his feelings and personal space with someone, and Piffy being barely 18, truly didn't know any better. They went back and forth, riding the waves of the highest of highs and burning the bridges when it came to the lowest of lows. They were both such strongly passionate people that loved and cared so deeply for one another, that they didn't realize the hell they were really putting each other through. At least not for several more years.
When the discussion of having children was brought up so closely following a heated argument, James once more flew off the handle. After literally living through killing his mother during childbirth, he couldn't bear seeing that happen to her. Just the thought of it sent him close to the edge. But he knew what she wanted, he just wasn't sure he could be the one to give it to her. And when they tried to talk reasonably about it, James would shut down and eventually, Piffy couldn't take it anymore. The two never divorced, but they separated and no better a time could it be that James was offered a job at a college in Boston.
Now at 42, James is fulfilling his life by molding the young minds at Boston College whilst trying to acquire more knowledge in studies that he finds alluring, particularly in the occult. And much to everyone's dismay, James remains the right ass he's always been, just with better clothes and hair.
