My unnamed piece of work

[jaosals42]

Chapter 1

 

 

 

The door slammed closed, squeaking on its aging hinges. Alex immediately slumped back onto the shut door and sighed deeply. Today, June 5, 2009 had been his last day of school for this semester. There was no denying that he was glad of this according to the sound of his sigh.

He turned to his mountain bike over in the corner of the foyer and smiled. The weather outside was sunny and pleasant for a change, and maybe head over to Morganstown or so. There, he and some friends would probably ride their mountain bikes for the evening or so. However, he would have to wait until they picked him up – he was only fifteen, and not old enough, let alone unlicensed, for driving. Thankfully, there was plenty of time for waiting, as it wouldn’t be dark until around 10 pm that night.

 

Good thing for now was, at least he was alone. His aunt Julia wouldn’t be returning for several hours for an educational seminar in Bristol, while cousins Colin and Andrew were busy doing voluntary service with their neighbor. It looked like this mid-term break was starting off to a good start…

He had plans too on bugging his cousins too. Especially after hearing Colin singing in his room without him noticing. Especially after Andrew had dirtied his sandals while wetting the ground in the backyard with their hose. He, Alex, wanted revenge for all the times they had picked on him. Shoot – maybe he could do so well as to get them on each other.

 

He took off his brown sneakers with black soles and set them down right in front of the door. He walked into the half-bathroom right across from him and looked at himself in the mirror. While his hair was mainly brown, a small streak of white hair rain above and along his right ear. At first, he couldn’t stand this streak of white hair, thinking maybe he had a gene mutation or something, (which now he thought it probably was) but he now liked the fact that it was there. Maybe it was because he had been complimented again and again for having it…

He opened the cabinet and pulled out a tube of toothpaste and a green brush from the wooden interior and turned on the water. He brushed his teeth and rinsed four times before leaving the bathroom. He didn’t know why, but every time the school bus passed through central Cardiff, something in the air left a bad taste in his mouth.

 

He immediately went back into the foyer and walked up the staircase flanking the left wall of the hallway. At the top, he turned right and entered his room, closing the door behind him.

 

The walls would’ve been white, but they were dotted with all the posters of various music bands he liked. Many were just posters of the band and its respective members. Others, however, were advertisement replicas of tours the bands were doing through town and beyond. His bed lay in the far right corner from the door, topped with a couple of scattered pillows, an unorganized bed-sheet, a rolled-up poster, and his biking helmet. To the left of the bed was a large window that would overlook the Cardiff Bay, and beyond to the Bristol Channel, had the shades not been pulled down. Opposite the window was a set of white drawers filled with a mix of clothing, CDs, and their respective cases. To the right of the window was a computer desk. A computer sat on the far corner of the desk opposite a wooden chair. On the corner nearest the door was a stereo with even more CD’s cluttering the area around it.

 

He didn’t really care about the mess. Of course not! That was part of being fifteen. He changed from his school uniform and into casual clothing, placing knee and shoulder-pads where they were needed. Now, all he wanted to do was turn on the computer and the stereo, and play some games on the computer while listening to music. Top it off with some pizza, and there was paradise!

Which, as he had remembered, there was still some of in the refrigerator. However, slouched on his chair, listening to music and starting up a strategy game, he didn’t feel like getting any right now. He wasn’t hungry enough to justify leaving the seat. – It wasn’t long, though, until he lost track of time, and soon realized it was six that evening.

 

He recognized the yelling downstairs soon enough. Colin and Andrew had been returned by their neighbor to the household. Taking his biking helmet with him, Alex turned off the stereo and computer speakers and walked to his door, creaked it open, snuck out, and stooped over the stair-rail to listen to both of them.

 

“Shut up, you turkey!” Colin screamed, Alex picturing just how much arm waving his cousin must’ve been doing in his rage.

“No, you shut up!” Andrew, Colin’s brother shouted back. “I wasn’t the one who took a fancy to jumping into piles of plastic bottles!”

“You dare me to do it! You even said no one was watching!”

 

“Did you have to listen to me, dumbass?! Of course you didn’t have to! You’re the one who made us lose that volunteer job, so now we have to find another one to complete our fifty hours of stupid volunteer work!”

“I don’t give a poo!” Colin retorted. “I wasn’t the one who made up the stupid law of 50 hours of volunteer work!”

“That’s what makes you such a stupidass!”

“You hate it too!”

 

“So what? At least I want to get it over with!” Andrew replied.

“So you can sit on your lazy arse all day watching TV and getting fat?”

“You know what, Colin? Just shut the hell up.”

“How about you both shut up?”

Both of the brothers looked down the foyer hallway to see Alex descending the staircase.

“Who invited you, Morry?” demanded Colin.

“Myself,” Alex replied.

 

“Oh really? Do you fancy us?”

Alex froze for a second then replied. “Well, if I do, at least I don’t fancy dresses.”

Andrew roared with laughter.

“You look like a total douche with that helmet on, Morry,” Colin said. “Is it to try and hide that stupid streak of old man on your ear? What about those shoulder and knee-pads? Are they…?”

 

“No,” Alex replied, interrupting Colin. “It’s to make sure I have something strong to head-butt you with if you lose yourself.”

Andrew continued laughing, all the way left to the living area and exited the scene.

Colin and Alex looked at each other coldly. Alex had been through this before. Last time he turned his back on Colin, he had stamped a “Dumbass” tag on his back. The time before that, he had nearly been tripped from behind. And even before that, scared half out of his life with a shrill roar Colin had made. The best thing to do was to not turn his back on Colin. At all…

 

Immediately, Colin dashed out of Alex’s sight and into the living room to the left. Instinctively, Alex immediately went after him, expecting for him to do something mischievous, like rearrange Aunt Julia’s china set and blame it on him, Alex – or worse.

Dammit! Alex thought.

He had disappeared.

“Where did Colin go, Andrew?” Alex ordered, an angry expression on his face, while Andrew stared half-emptily into the flashing lights of the television monitor.

 

“Uh, Colin?” Andrew didn’t bother looking away from the television monitor. “I haven’t seen him since you two started fighting with each other.”

Alex shook his head. “You’re a real help, you know that?”

“Do you fancy people stepping in your room while you listen to that crap you like?” Andrew was beginning to get annoyed, even though his face never left the direction of the television.

 

Alex sighed and continued the search. Colin was bound to be either in hiding, or doing something, which could be either naughty, to possibly unspeakable. He had to find Colin before Aunt Julia returned.

 

He walked into the nearby bathroom. Colin was quite small for a thirteen-year-old, and could fit into any of the cabinets with little effort. Maybe he was laying flat in the bathtub, as it was deep. However, curtains were halfway open, so maybe not there.

He looked anyway. Nothing was in the bathtub as he had expected. He then opened the cabinets under the sink. Nothing there either except for a stack of toilet paper, shampoo, soap and other bathroom necessities. He wasn’t in this room.

Alex immediately turned around, remembering that keeping his back to Colin was a bad idea. Nothing behind him either it seemed. He looked beyond to see that his aunt’s china collection was intact. Andrew was still staring at the television, being completely unaware by this point Alex was still looking for Colin.

 

Alex walked left to the door leading to their backyard. It was locked in place, so Colin wouldn’t be out there. He wasn’t stupid enough to lock himself out, and plus, it had rained a lot recently, and it was bright and sunny now. Alex would see Colin’s footprints in the muddy ground, if he had been out.

 

Suddenly, Alex knew where he was. How could he have not realized it before then? Colin was in his very own room by now. Just waiting for Alex to be distracted by something and then running to his room. What he was doing there and why he went there, Alex didn’t know. He didn’t hear Colin go upstairs, but small and light as he was, Colin could probably sneak up there anyway making no sound without much trouble.

Alex headed up there immediately. All this moving around with his helmet on was hurting his neck, but Alex really didn’t care right now. In seconds, he was at and pounding on Colin’s door, right across from his own room.

“Open up!” he ordered, not caring at the fact the wall itself was shaking with the force he put in.

No response.

 

He turned the door knob and let the door fly open with a creaking sound to follow its movement. He looked under the messy bed, in the tiny clothes closet, and even under Colin’s personal desk. He wasn’t anywhere to be found in here. Alex pretty much gave up at this point.

Suddenly the front door opened and shut closed downstairs. Aunt Julia was home! Alex didn’t know what to do nor what would happen at this point. Colin must’ve planned it this way all along!

 

“I’m home, lads!” she announced, producing heavy walking sounds under her boots.

“Mum!” Colin’s voice echoed out of nowhere. “Mum! Alex has been threatening to kill me if I don’t ‘get out of his sight’!”

Aunt Julia sighed. “Alexander Morrison,” she called, looking up the staircase with the innate impression he was upstairs.

Lying turkey! Alex’s mind screamed, with the fire of anger building up inside of him. All he could hope on now was his aunt’s justness. Nevertheless, while Aunt Julia was a generally fair and just person, willing to listen to both sides, Colin still won his case quite a few times before. Smart mouth. Maybe he wouldn’t this time though. Just maybe…

 

Alex walked down reluctantly, hoping for the best. If he weren’t to try and at least defend his case, he knew Colin would win for sure. Soon, he and Colin were face to face with Julia. Andrew reluctantly pulled away from his television after he too had been summoned by his mother.

Alex always felt uneasy in some sort of way whenever all four of them got together. While in this instance it was mainly because they were being “tried” (as one might say), most of the time it was because he looked nothing like his aunt and cousins. He, Alex, was Irish, brown-haired and blue-eyed with green borders along his pupils. His aunt and cousins on the other hand, were English, golden-haired, and green-eyed – all three of them. He always felt different in some sort of way. Living in Wales certainly didn’t help his case either.

 

“You first, Colin,” Aunt Julia instructed, turning expressionlessly toward Colin. “You were the one who first presented the case.”

“Yes mum,” Colin began. “Well it started off with Alex saying that I fancy dresses really. I told him that I don’t and he kept insisting that I do. I was protecting myself! He kept going on with it though. Eventually he must’ve gotten tired or something with me defending myself. Then, he started chasing me around the house, threatening to kill me if he found me! Honestly, Mum! I don’t know what’s wrong with him!”

Alex was on the verge of exploding, until he saw the look of distrust on his aunt’s face. She doubted something for sure.

“Andrew, what did you see?” Aunt Julia asked. “How true is this?”

 

“I didn’t see nothing, Mum,” Andrew replied. “All I heard was a lot of running around, but I can’t say it was Alex or Colin.”

“You’re a great help, you know that Andrew, you turkey?!” Colin shouted, staring angrily at his brother.

“What? I’m not lying! I saw none of the stuff you guys were going on about! I was just watching my stuff, while you and Alex were playing tag with one another or whatever.”

“Liar! You know exactly what happened, turkey!”

“You’re the turkey!”

 

“Boys, please,” Aunt Julia announced just barely over her sons’ yells.

Alex could barely keep himself from laughing at this point. Colin had done himself in with his rage of anger this time. Fate had treated him well this time. He was home-free. Or so he thought.

 

Shortly, Aunt Julia got her sons to calm down. That was when she turned to Alex himself. He suddenly felt his spine shake and the smile hiding his laughter vanished from his face.

 

“What’s your part of the story, Alex?” she asked him, seemingly staring straight through his mind and into his soul. That serious stare of hers could seemingly penetrate through metal walls, according to Alex.

 

“Um…” Alex was unable to think for a bit. “Um… Actually, I have nothing to add. Colin’s right.” He turned to Colin. “I’m sorry for threatening you with your life, Colin. I will never do it again.”

 

Colin smiled. Seemingly innocent, but Alex knew the meanness behind it. He wondered if Aunt Julia noticed it too. “I just hope those aren’t empty words.”

“They aren’t,” Alex assured him. “I won’t ever do that again.”

 

Aunt Julia gestured her kids back to their activities. “Alex, could I speak with you in the kitchen?”

Alex sighed. “Yes, Aunt Julia,” he replied, following her to the kitchen. They settled down in a bar table, sitting on two black bar stools directly across from one another. Her gaze was no longer intimidating. Rather, it was more of a milder, pleasant look. She didn’t believe Colin. Alex knew it.

“I don’t believe you were threatening my son, Alex,” she immediately stated, staring directly at Alex. “I noticed that there was some sort story of sorts on Colin’s story. His voice wasn’t very honest – I could hear it.

“Alex? Is there anything you’d like to tell me?”

 

Alex sat there, half unaware of what was going on now. He returned to reality once Aunt Julia patted him lightly on the shoulder, lightly urging him to return.

 

“Uh, no,” he replied. “Nothing.”

“Why are you wearing your biking helmet, Alex?”

Alex tapped the top of his head and felt the heavy mass of solid plastic still resting there, half-ignored on his head. He didn’t even realize that it was still on.

 

“I was going out on my bike. Maybe meet with my friends.”

“It’s a bit late, Alex,” Julia responded. “Six-thirty. I know the sun won’t set for another three hours, but I know that… your mum would’ve worried for you.”

 

“Mum’s dead,” Alex replied. “Both of my parents are. We all know that. Both killed by an turkey knife-wielding maniac who’s still on the run.”

“Your mother was a good person, and good sister. Loved you with all her soul. Gave you and your brother everything you wanted and needed. And your father… He always strived to make things better for you, your mother, and your older brother. Never stopped working to keep the family together and the bills paid. Great people, your family. . I’m sorry you’ve had to go through this. I know sometimes you stay up at night wishing you could just find and kill that male without a father, but don’t. Don’t think like that, Alex. He’ll get what he deserves eventually.”

“I know,” Alex sighed, looking back toward the window unconsciously, and then looking back toward his aunt. “Could I get going on my bike ride now, Aunt Julia?”

 

“Once you clean up your room,” she replied.

“I can’t be arsed,” he replied back.

They both laughed lightly for a few seconds. Soon, Aunt Julia patted him on the shoulder. “Feel free to take your time out. I trust you’ll care for yourself. Though do take a few coins just in case you need to call back and you’re near a phone booth. Can you do that for me?”

“Okay, I will.”

 

Aunt Julia pecked him on the forehead and left for the living room after pushing the bar chair back in place. Alex left the room and too pushed his chair in. He headed to the front door and picked up his bike and his filled canteen of water. He opened the door, dragging the bike out with him and place it on the ground on the sidewalk in front of the house. He looked up the sky toward the west opposite the house. The weather was still perfect. Hopefully, this would be a great ride. He got right onto the bike and pedaled forward down the asphalt streets lined with houses like his own. Onward to Morganstown. But first, there was the distance issue…

[jaosals42]

(Split into two posts for better readability)

 

 

Chapter 2

 

 

 

 

From southern Grangetown in the south of Cardiff County to Morganstown would take around an hour to get to by bicycle. He knew of a bus station in nearby Riverside that would allow him to bring his bicycle along. It ran from Adamsdown, through central Cardiff and Castle, to Riverside, northwest to Victoria Park, north from there to Radyr, and finally arriving at Morganstown and back.

 

It took him about fifteen minutes to arrive at the bus-stop in Riverside. Another fifteen for it to arrive. When it finally did, it was a few minutes past seven. While the sun was still shining brightly, time was passing rapidly. He sat in the back of the bus right next to the spot where he rested his bike. Little traffic throughout town was a bit of a relief though. It took around fifteen minutes for the bus to arrive, when normally it took over half-an-hour.

 

He paid the bus ride fee and stepped out, securely carrying his black and blue bike with both hands. Now he was at Morganstown. All he had to do was ride another five minutes north through town and he would be on the walking and biking path. It ran across the hills and through the forests that topped them off.

 

On this path, first he would get a glimpse of a few tunnels which led to iron mines that had been used many years before and were now exhausted of resources and sealed to the public. Sometime after that, he’d get a pleasant view from these hills of Castell Coch, or the “Red Castle”. This part was his favorite. He didn’t know why, but something about it was intriguing.

 

An overhead view of the town “Taff’s Well” would follow a few minutes later, and the Taff River running through its center. This marked the beginning of the second half of the trip. After passing over the town, he’d pass the quarry in the middle of the hills and several farms on the rolling hills off to the side. The trip ended with a great view of the entire county and allowed him to spot the center of the city of Cardiff in the distance. Once done, he’d head straight home.

 

And then he’d watch television until sunrise. Since he was on break and this was Friday evening, he didn’t have anything to wake up to or care about. That’s just what teenagers do.

 

He immediately began to ride up the pathway and up toward the top of the hills. It was seven-thirty – the sun still bright in the sky, but the evening hours got cool pretty fast. He didn’t mind the coolness. It was when it got colder in the winter when he felt a jacket was necessary. The cool air, followed by a breeze helped lessen the effects of the heat that built up on his back as the sun continued blazing on the earth and him. This bike ride was the first serious one he had since his birthday in early April, having been on break then as well. It was a relief to be biking again for more than 30 minutes.

 

When he reached the top of the hill, he reached an intersection. One led east toward Castell Coch, and the other led west to a series of the block-off mine tunnels. He decided to head down the western path for now, just to see some of the tunnels.

 

A canopy of thick treetops covered the pathway from most of the sunlight. Nevertheless, there was still enough light in the day to see exactly where he was headed to. Some of the tunnels off down pathways were caved in entirely, and this was evident from their exterior. Others were merely sealed off with caution signs stamped all over the entrances. Quite unnecessary, Alex thought. They were already locked with huge steel locks. The keys were probably even missing themselves. There’d be nothing of interest anyway, so why would anyone try and go in period? They were long exhausted.

 

Besides this, Alex enjoyed this part of the trip second to that of viewing the Red Castle. There was something relaxing about passing through here on a cool clear evening and thinking about how this may have been decades or even just years before – A busy workplace crowded with workers working as hard as bees do. What conditions might they have been working in? Whatever the case, Alex was glad to himself that he wasn’t involved in the mining that went on here.

 

He continued forward, toward the end of the path. The canopy of trees let up in places and allowed a bit more of the golden light in to the forest pathway. Soon he reached the end of the path. It was another one of the blocked-off tunnels that prevented him from going any further. Here, he got off his bike and rested it along the side of the cliff to ensure it didn’t tip over and potentially get damaged. He then approached this sealed tunnel at the end of the path.

 

This particular tunnel intrigued him. It was probably the only tunnel left that still had a light on inside of it. Maybe some people still were using the tunnels for whatever reason. Maybe there was a dig going on or something. Whatever the case, it was interesting in some mysterious way. Looking in, he could see a faintly-lit passageway lead down further into the hillside. It seemed to go on forever and ever inside the earth. He wondered what might be down there still if anything after the mining operations had finished.

 

In a few minutes, he was tired of looking down the tunnel and returned to his bike. He headed back down the path and toward Castell Coch. He wanted to enjoy himself originally, but now it was a race against time. 7:45 in the evening and the sun was teasing its way down toward the horizon.

 

In about 7 minutes, he had reached the overlooking point above the Taff River and the valley below. On the other end of the valley situated in the opposite hills was the Castell Coch itself.

 

The view was great. He wished he had his camera at this point. The castle-top shined brightly in the sun’s orange light this evening, even though its turrets were faded blue and the rest of the castle was a rusty-red color. It rose just barely over the canopy of trees and looked down over the towns of outer Cardiff.

 

However, this beauty was the last thing on his mind when he remembered that he had forgotten! Forgotten about calling his friends to let them know he was going. Dammit!

 

No turning back now to call them. It was already eight that evening and in an hour, the sun would be resting on the horizon. He just decided to finish the trip by himself, wondering how on earth he had forgotten to call them.

It was hard to enjoy the biking ride as much now that the thought of his friends and having not called them dominated his mind right now. The view of the town of Taff’s Well from the top of the hill around 100 meters from above was impressive yes, but he didn’t really look at it. He just looked at it for a few seconds and then went on to riding. He was now reaching the portion of the ride where the quarry would be on his left and the farms and forests to his right.

 

This part was where he’d enjoy an overhead view of the quarry and see what remained of the mining operations here, and then see rows of wheat and corn dominate the farms. Industrial mining meets agricultural. The thought in itself was intriguing to him, but like with the panorama of Taff’s Well, his mind was too distracted to truly enjoy them.

 

Eight-twenty: He was halfway through passing the remnants of the quarry mining center and the rows of farms. The sunlight was no longer bright yellow – It was turning golden as the sun approached the horizon. A dusty wind seemingly originating from the quarry itself brushed past Alex, chilling the air. A wave of clouds was moving in from the southwest and began clogging up large portions of the sky.

 

Eight-forty: Alex was descending the gradual slope of the hill and re-approaching the small suburban town of Morganstown. He was quite tired of continuous riding at this point, and streams of sweat ran along his temples and down his neck. Feeling quite dehydrated at this point, he temporarily stopped his bike on a flatter portion of the slope and pulled out his canteen.

 

Eight-forty-five: After feeling relieved enough to move on, and having drank enough water, Alex continued down the slope. It was pretty cool by this point – in the afternoon it had been around 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit). However, now it must’ve been around 15 degrees Celsius (59 degrees Fahrenheit). To him, this was a pretty sudden drop in temperature, which in response led to him shivering. That, combined with the fact that he was sweating at the same time, made this a rather uncomfortable dilemma.

 

Eight-fifty: The sun was near the horizon’s edge – about thirty minutes till sunset. His sweating and shivering was getting to be a little more than enough, as he began reaching the end of this slope. That was also when the thought of having to call his friends returning. The three of them combined put overwhelming stress on his thought-process, and he did not notice the approaching plastic bottle someone had carelessly dropped.

 

By the time he knew what had happened, Alex lay on the floor, half-conscious of anything. Everything seemed to fade in and out, fuzzy sometimes and not fuzzy the rest of the time. The only two things he could hear at this rate were his pounding, rushing heartbeat and his sharp, sudden breathing. His whole body seemed numb, although he knew that he must’ve at least scraped his arms or something, having worn short sleeves. He did nothing but rest there in partial shock and partial lack of completely consciousness for around ten minutes. Still lying on the ground, he looked off to the right to see his canteen shattered completely, with a black stain on the pavement where the water had splattered.

 

He looked then left to his bike. At least there was one thing to be thankful for. It remained completely intact, at least from what it seemed. Hopefully there wasn’t much if anything in need of fixing. He certainly hoped not – he had just replaced the spokes on them a mere month ago.

Unwillingly, but knowing it was necessary, Alex managed to get the strength to get up. Every part of his body ached in doing this, but he had to get home. Staying here for the night in the middle of what was turning into countryside wasn’t an option. His aunt would hound him when he returned if so. A few bones snapped in their joints, but nothing was more painful than the burning sensation he got from having scraped his arms against the pavement during the fall.

 

He didn’t bother looking at the scrapes – common sense told him there would be a lot of blood. He also knew that the back of his clothes would be covered in a mix of dust and dirt. The most he could hope for when he returned to the bus was that it was mainly, if not completely empty. He began to examine his bike.

 

Everything seemed truly was alright with it – except for one loose screw that supported the seat. It happened to be on the side of the bike that hit the ground. He hoped that was all there was. Using his blood-stained left hand, he screwed it back in most of the way.

 

He wished there was a creek nearby at least where he could’ve at least rinsed his hands. Best not to pity himself though, and just get the necessary attention later at his aunt’s. He had been through a similar incident like this a year earlier, so it really wasn’t that big of a deal. He continued and finished reaching the end of the slope and rode painfully to the bus stop again, unable to wait for his return home, even if he had to deal with Colin’s nonsense again. He just wanted to be fixed up now.

 

It was nine-fifteen when he got back on the bus again. The sun was disappearing slowly behind the horizon, glowing a vibrant orange-red color in the indigo sky. It stained the clouds various shades of red, orange, pink, indigo and yellow. The fact it wasn’t dark yet gave Alex enough relief that he had finished before sunset’s end.

 

The bus driver gave him a quick star, but knew better than to continue looking at the evidence of Alex’s accident. The bus driver merely took the money Alex gave him for the trip and began to head back to Cardiff. He’d be back home by around ten that night, planning to do nothing tonight except shower and sleep.

 

Thankfully, there was no one else on the bus at this hour except for he and the bus driver. The last thing he wanted was people to look at him in his current condition. As he approached Cardiff, the sun moved lower and lower down the horizon. By the time he arrived at Riverside and was dropped off, it was nine-forty. The dying light and the streetlights were all that remained to guide his way back home.

 

Painfully, he got on his bike one last time and rode the rest of the way back home. Each cycle made by the wheels pained his scarred legs and arms. It seemed like hours till Alex finally arrived home, but it was merely ten that night. By this point, the sun had set, and only a few rays of the dusk period remained.

 

Using his keys, he opened the door silently to his house and entered inside. Thankfully, no one was around to see him this way. He quietly climbed up the stairs and headed straight to his room. After getting a change of clothes ready for after showering, he took those clean clothes with him and headed to the upstairs bathroom. Right before he entered though, he heard a familiar voice.

 

“What the hell happened to you, Morry? You look as if a truck hit you. Or as if you fell off your bike? Did you fight with one of your mates?”

Alex turned around to directly face Colin. He smirked to Alex, and Alex smirked back.

“No,” Alex replied. “It’s just your mind.”

 

He slammed the bathroom door in Colin’s face, who walked away a short time later.

Later that evening in a fresh set of clothing, Alex went to the kitchen where the medical supplies were held. Aunt Julia had went to sleep about thirty minutes before he had arrived from his biking trip, so to avoid a waking a grumbling aunt, he decided to patch himself up alone.

 

The shower had washed away all of the blood he had on him so now all he really needed to do was bandage himself up. A long gash ran up his right arm right below his elbow to his wrist. Two smaller gashes ran on his left arm. A final gash ran on his left calf from the initial collision.

By the time he was done, he had used a whole box of bandages and half a tube of antibodies. He knew his aunt would notice by tomorrow, but right now he was too tired and weak to care. He completely even ignored the food his aunt had prepared that evening and just moved on from the room.

 

He walked into the living room briefly. Andrew had seemingly not moved an inch from being in front of the television monitor. Colin was in the nearby recliner with headphones on, apparently listening to music or something. Out of curiosity, Alex approached the living room more closely.

That’s when he realized both of them had fallen asleep in their activities. Apparently, everyone just wanted to rest tonight. Alex thought it best to merely join them and headed upstairs to his room. Carelessly knocking off a few pillows and the poster and lay down, slowly falling asleep to the sound of the ocean breeze outside.