We Go Together ~ (Jalex)

Beauty and the beast, only the beauty is an employee working nine to five

It was cold, it was dark, and it was wet. That's all Alex could think. It was cold, dark, and wet. Yes. Nothing more, nothing less. Cold, dark, and wet. It was quite fitting really for Alex as a person, was cold, he was dark, and he was quite very wet from the holding cell they had placed him in. He thought that society had moved past the whole idea of having brick cells to hold your prisoners in. He had thought that a small amount of comfort was put in place for the criminals behind bars, and he wasn't that wrong. The inmates down the hall had modernised cells, clad with plastered walls and a bed that didn't stink of rot and mould. They got the shiny, new toilets without a crack in the porcelain and the sinks that ran actual water. What did Alex get? A beat up old sink that ran liquidised filth, a smashed toilet he rarely used if he could help it, a decomposing bed and a brick cell covered in water tracks from outside, and algae. And Alex should have hated it. He should have despised the living conditions. But some how he didn't. Some how, it seemed fitting that a man like him, was given a home like this.

He sat on the floor, back pressing against the cool, damp, metal frame of the bed, fingering the locket in his hands. Turning it over and over in his fingers, memorising every scratch on the surface, every little knick and dent. Alex had tried to throw it away many a time, and yet it always found its way back around his neck, but he didn't hate it either. In fact, as time went on, Alex grew to realise just how important that necklace was as a trophy. It was his way of showing the ultimate loner and he liked that title. A title fit for only the worthiest men. A title fit for Alex Gaskarth.

Men would cower at the hands of his devilish figure and yet, as they fell, all they could see was the single half locket hung around Alex's neck, waving the cool metal in front of the victims face before their life faded away. And in this society, sometimes the fact of not having a partner, was scarier than being murdered. The fact that you were so completely alone, was a worse road to take than death. But Alex didn't mind. Death was beautiful and so was loneliness. What more could anyone want when you put it like that?

Having someone to care about and someone to love made you weak and Alex hated that. He hated the things it did to you, corrupted your mind, drove you insane. In Alex's eyes, he was the most sane person alive, he was a sane being in a crazy world. That sounded about accurate.

So now, because of that 'sanity', Alex lay wasting away in the cell he was inevitably going to call home.

~*~

"Scuse me... coming through... oh god sorry... Scuse me... Sorry, do you mind?... Pardon me..." Jack kept muttering away as he tried to manoeuvre his way around all the people in the office block. A stack of papers sat comfortably in his arms as his messenger bag tapped against the back of his thigh regularly, in time with his steps. It was no surprise that he was late for the meeting on the third day in a row. His boss was slowly getting more and more fed up with him and he knew it was only days until he would finally get sacked off. He could see the board room just at the end of the hall and it was finally within reach, he was going to be on time today, only just, but he was going to be on time. Until the old lady with her cleaning trolly decided to step out in front of Jack and walk impossibly slow until Jack found himself waiting impatiently, watching the minutes tick past when he should have been in the office. "Shit." He grumbled.

"Expletives, young man, are strictly forbidden for your generation." The old woman gestured to Jack and wagged a finger at him.

"Right, I'm sorry Gertrude." Jack sighed, running a hand through his quiff.

"You're alright young man." She acknowledged before walking off down the other end of the corridor. Jack exhaled heavily in built up stress and tension but also from overall relief and hope of not getting fired. He walked briskly into the office and greeted the board he would now be presenting in front of.

He lay all of his forms and papers down on the table in front of him and displayed a few on the whiteboard behind him. "Good afternoon gentlemen." Jack started, rubbing his half locket with a great deal of anxiety. "Here is the future of the music industry." Jack pointed to a graph that had been forged and now rested on the whiteboard, featuring the data of the genres of music being demanded at a high to a low rate and what was making the most money. "Over here, we see a steady decline in punk and pop punk bands and yet a heavy increase in 'pop music' or the EDM crap nobody listens to." Jack muttered the last bit under his breath resentfully as he continued on with his presentation, hoping no one had heard his negative outburst. "You see, the amount of money we are profiting and pulling in from the music that people are listening to isnt enough to sustain this company. In other words, we need to bring back emo." The board fell silent.

"Why emo, exactly, Mr Barakat?" Someone asked eventually, leaning forwards in a chair and raising his hands in a stereotypical challenge, and thought.

"Because, emo, was the biggest musical explosion in the industry since indie and rock launched. If we could bring back emo, that would increase profit by a great deal and we could afford to keep this company afloat." Jack began to rub his locket again lovingly as he awaited a response. His foot tapped gently against the floor boards and created a hollow echoing sound throughout the room.

"We'll consider your proposal Mr Barakat." Jack nodded his head and began to gather his papers as the board left the room. Thankfully, no one had kept Jack behind this time and commented on his lack of other half to his locket, or his being late, or just Jack in general. Everyone had an issue with him, but he wasn't that bothered, a lot of people had it far worse than he did. So he put up with it. In a way though, he hoped that people wouldn't comment on the locket. The locket was his only tether. He was held back by that simple chain of metal, and yet he still loved it and wanted to find the other half. He knew it would be someone perfect, he knew that he would find the perfect person. He could feel it. If only he could find them.

~*~

A crash came from the vent in the brick wall behind where Alex was sat against his bed, fingering the necklace. He looked up slowly, not really caring about what could be after him, he knew that he could take it. Another crash appeared like someone was trying to break in. Alex only hoped the prison guard hadn't noticed. No more crashes to the metal grate appeared, leaving Alex a little on edge. Thats when a piece of paper found its way into the cell, a single slip that had come through the vent. Alex unfolded the paper and took one look at the messy handwriting, knowing exactly who it was. A single word lay sprawled on the dirty parchment. Kellin. Alex grinned wickedly as he figured out what was happening exactly. He was finally going to be rid of the filth stuck in his hair that he had accumulated for weeks. Alex Gaskarth was finally coming back to town.