 It was the ninth of April in the year of 1987. It'd been a fairly sunny and beautiful day, and Rachel Victory was in the middle of planting a beautiful set of tulips in her garden. For her, gardening was the most comforting and relaxing thing she could do while she was home from work for her late months in pregnancy; until she noticed she was standing in something mushy, which happened to be mud, which happened to not be there before, which happened to mean that her water broke. Immediately, she panicked, screaming for her husband, Stephen, who was inside the house. She waddled her way back inside their home like a penguin, until she found her husband calmly sitting in their living room, watching a baseball game on tv. Many hours later at Brooklyn's Maimonides hospital, Julian Isaac Victory was finally born, taking in his first breath, screaming like a fucking maniac out of the insane asylum.
As a child in elementary school, Julian had a large passion for two things: singing along to his mother's Blondie albums, and snapping pictures of anything he could. He had a good childhood; his father brought home a nice paycheck, and his mother was the sweetest thing on the planet. He proudly presented good grades to his parents, he had friends, and he had toys, along with the good qualities of outgoing and social. Julian began taking piano lessons in the second grade and excelled at the instrument by the time he was in the fifth. As a boy who loved being the center of attention, he especially loved playing the piano in his school's talent shows, and usually won prizes for doing so. As for singing? He never really had the confidence to get up on stage and sing to a crowd, whether or not an elementary school talent show was serious. He'd tell himself every year, “This year, I'll sing.” and then he'd end up gliding his fingers over the black and white keys to a Chopin or Beethoven song on the night of the show.
On the last day of school in the fifth grade, he'd come home to his mother wrapping her glass goods in newspaper and gently placing them into a brown, cardboard box. “I'm sorry we didn't tell you sooner, honey. We're going to have to leave New York and move to Chicago before the weekend lets out. Your father was notified of a sudden business move last month, and we just finished purchasing a house over in Illinois.” She stared at him with a clear vase in her hand with concern in her eyes, and he just shrugged it off and began walking upstairs to his room. He'd have to start a new school either way, whether he stayed in New York or moved to Illinois. And hey, he never had any trouble making friends, did he? What did he have to worry about?
These thoughts of what he had to be concerned about were of course selfish. Anything could happen, right? The first few months in Chicago were fine, they went well. He had his summer vacation, began school and made several friends the very first day, in which he also met his best friend, Deryk (![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) slabcity.) His father would leave for work at 6:30 a.m. and come home at 6:30 in the p.m. to a nicely cooked meal that Rachel had prepared for the seven person family. Yeah, everything was definitely fine until Mr. Stephen Victory, a man married to a woman for years, decided to have an affair with his secretary. Typical businessman's story, huh? Well, don't think it took long for Rachel to start getting suspicious, she was never a dense girl. As soon as she realized that her husband was constantly calling the house and saying, “Honey, I'm working late tonight.” she locked right onto the idea that hey, he might be cheating on her. No doubt about it, Stephen began giving her reasons to be suspicious. “So,” Rachel would ask. “who'd you see at work?” And Stephen would reply with a concerned, “Who? No one. Why would you ask that? Who do I have to see at work? Why would you ask?”
Then, the constant bickering started. It was definitely something Julian wasn't used to. Not that his parents were ever the lovey-dovey type, because they weren't, but they were the type of couple who hardly spoke to each other, therefore they never argued. However, one thing lead to another, and soon, his parents were fighting about every single thing they could. By the time Julian was in the seventh grade, the stress had become too much for his father to handle, and he turned to drinking to dull the edges. It wasn't long before his little vice got out of hand, and he began making regular visits to Micheal's Pub. He even started going to work late and drunk, and lost his job for this exact reason after his boss had warned him one too many times. After getting layed off, when he wasn't at the saloon, he was home, verbally abusing his wife and his own daughters for no real reason, all except for Julian. The verbal abuse eventually would turn into physical abuse, and while it was never directed towards Julian for whatever reason, he would always get involved to keep his mother and sisters from getting harmed, which would result in him receiving the worser beating. Fights like this would usually end up with his father asking him why he betrayed him, and would then pass out. Stephen would soon admit to his son, drunk and all, that the reason why he'd never tried to hurt his son was because he was a male, and all women were whores. Of course, Julian, who was very respectable towards women, ended this conversation with a blow to his own father's face.
High school was okay for him. On top of suffering from a severe and deep depression, he had a blunt, emotionless type of mood to him that was even there when he was happy, and this also caused him to seem cruel. He was constantly being asked about his bruises, often asked to stay after a class by a concerned teacher or his friends would confront him with, “Dude, what's that burn from?” and “What's up with all the bruises?”. And for someone who had bruises all over his body, Julian hid everything up pretty well. He'd either have his sister cover some up with her makeup, or tell his friends that they came from fist fights. There were very, very little people who knew the actual truth. For comfort, he'd turn to music, friends, or partying, and eventually, Deryk, Julian, and couple of other friends started a band called Between Us... in sophomore year. He would provide vocals for the band, getting over his fear of singing in public. Music was something he could get lost to, just sing his heart out, and when he wasn't home protecting his family, he was usually at a gig. Eventually, he didn't have to hide anything anymore, when he found his father's limp body on the sofa, soaked in vomit and vodka, with the sound of a baseball game gently playing in the background. Everything seemed to feel like one of those indie films, the melancholy scene where everything moves in slow motion, with the dramatic music playing. He would check his pulse, call an ambulance, watch the paramedics zip Stephen Victory's body bag up and take him away. The Victorys would soon find that Stephen had left a testament containing a lot of valuables and money to the family, and would live mainly off of that.
Julian finished his senior year in high school at the top of his class. He was planning on attending college solely for photography, but immediately called it off when he was told about some guy who wanted to sign Between Us to a record label. That was three years ago. Today, Between Us has released an EP and two albums, sold a countless amount of copies, and are currently on a major and popular tour. Rachel has remarried to a man named Edward Winch, whom she has a three year old daughter with. His sisters are still in high school, and although their father isn't around to hurt them anymore, they're safe and secure with Julian constantly making sure they do everything right and don't get into any trouble at all. As for Julian Victory? Well, he couldn't be any more happier being somewhere else in life than where he is now, and he's not gonna take of this for granted.. much.
(Fast/Fun Facts!)
(Interview!)
(Storylines!)
|
