We All Fall Down

Let It Roll

The bright light seeping in through the crack in the curtains pulled Alex out of his coma-like state. He almost forgot where he was for a second before the memories from the previous night came flooding back.

Shit.

There was a faint knock at the door and before Alex could tell whoever it was to go the fuck away, the psychiatrist from the night before came bounding into the room, shaking the bottom of the bed and yelling,

"Come on, Mr Gaskarth! I need to show you to where you'll be staying for the next few weeks so get a move on and get up!"

This is going to be a long day...

When Alex finally found the energy to drag himself out of bed, he got changed into the first thing he could find in the ruck sack his mom had packed; a pair or black skinny jeans and a blink-182 t-shirt. He arranged the bracelets onto his wrist as he did every morning and then pulled on a jacket to hide the remainder of his arms. He didn't care if it was just crazy people in this place, he still didn't feel comfortable showing them his cuts.

The psychiatrist was waiting outside the room which was situated next to the office his parents had been in last night. "Finally, Alexander!" he said with enthusiastic exasperation. He held out his hand and said in an attempted friendly voice, "My name's Mr Roberts but you can call me Nick,"

Alex looked at the out stretched hand but didn't shake it or speak to 'Nick'. He didn't want to give this guy the satisfaction of thinking Alex was going to be another kid that was easy to break. "Fine, have it your way!" Nick said and led Alex outside where rows upon rows of log cabins could be seen, all circled around a pleasant looking lake. No traces of the rain from last night remained, only the bright sun glistening through the leaves on the trees was left.

This place was just a camp where parents dumped their kids if they were ashamed or embarrassed, saying that they would learn 'important social skills' while here through the team building and shared cabins.

Nick stopped outside a cabin that looked identical to all the others, but this one had the number 32 in a faded gold colour imprinted on the door. Nick knocked loudly on the door three times and shouted in, "You all better be decent because I'm coming in now. And yes, I mean you, Mr Barakat!"

After a few seconds, the door swung open and Alex and Nick peered in to see a skinny raven haired boy with a blonde streak stood in the middle of the room in just his underwear.

Oh great... Alex thought to himself, A lunatic, just my luck...

"Nick!" the boy shrieked with fake surprise, "You can't just walk in on me naked!"

Another boy sat giggling on one of the beds; he had light brown hair and amazingly huge muscles.

Ten bucks says he's in here for anger management...

"You had fair warning, Barakat." Nick said in a stern voice, picking up and throwing a pair of jeans in the boy's direction. "This fine young fellow here is Alex," he said, motioning towards Alex while the skinny boy slipped some clothes on. "And this asshole is Jack." Nick had said it so bluntly and matter-of-factly that Alex nearly burst out laughing.

"Hey!" Jack shouted, pouting and pretending to be offended. "Don't worry about this dick," Jack said, holding out a hand for Alex to shake, "It's nice to meet ya, Lexy!" Alex shook Jack's hand without hesitation and was surprised to find that he felt comfortable with this strange boy, considering he could be some kind of homicidal maniac...

Jack pulled his hand away and walked over to where the other boy was sat, "This here's Zack, he's quiet but don't be fooled, he's just as much of an asshole as me!"

This did coax a giggle out of Alex and he shook Zack's hand vigorously, once again surprised of how at ease he felt with these boys.

"I think I'm done here," Nick said, turning towards the door, "I want you two to make sure Alex is comfortable here. If not, it'll be your asses!" and with that, he was gone.

"Fuck, I hate that guy!" Jack said, pushing himself off the bed and stretching his arms.

"Yeah, he seemed like a bit of a douche!" Alex added, making the black haired boy grin.

"Hey, you like blink?" Jack asked, pointing at Alex's t-shirt.

"No, I'm wearing this because I think the colours match my eyes." Alex replied sarcastically.

Zack exploded into a fit of giggles on the bed,

"I like you!" He said, giving Alex a friendly pat on the back.

"That was actually pretty good," Jack said as he connected his iPod to a speaker system next to his bed. "Let's get some music going before Rian gets here, you know he'll yell at us for 'having it too loud'!"

Zack laughed again as All The Small Things by blink-182 began to blare out into the cabin.

Alex had initially thought that staying here would be hell, but maybe it was going to be alright after all...