Roller Skate || Alex Gaskarth a.u.

Chapter 30: I'll See You Soon

Alex

The end of the month came much too fast. So fast, that Alex could't quite remember the chain of events that had happened in the month of January. He had stopped going to school after he had signed up for the army, his science lessons being replaced with shooting drills, his Physical Education being replaced being with a hundred push ups a day (an extra five for every one you couldn't do).

It was as if his life was being controlled by someone else, someone he didn't know. There was no more Underground, no more working at the Rink, no more listening to punk rock records. It was drills, drills, drills. Relentless Colonels and Lieutenants who screamed in your face for every mistake you made. He was losing sleep, his dreams being snatched away from him by mean men in a moustache.

The soldiers were nice to him though, which was a change--people his own age being nice to him. Perhaps it was because on the first day of training, Alex had stood up for one of the younger boys who had done nothing wrong, and had taken the punishment of fifty sit ups, or it was because of his normal looking appearance. Eyeliner and piercings were strictly against the 'uniform code.'

But ever since he had stepped out of the line, the Colonels had kept a watchful eye on him, punishing him whenever they got the chance, no matter how bizarre the reasons were.

Kit was there though. Kit was there every moment that she could be. When he came home, shivering and miserable, every muscle in his body aching, she was there, helping his mom around the kitchen, ushering him into a seat and ruffling his hair, asking him how his day went.

If it wasn't for her, Alex was sure his soul would have been lost forever.

The bright side of all this misery though, was that the bills were being paid. The money that he was getting for being in the army was more than enough for them, and one by one, things started to shape up in the house.

Bittersweet. The whole scenario was bittersweet.

But January came to an end, and on the last night, there was a party in the local bar for the soldiers who were leaving--a party that Alex didn't go to. To him, it was his last night of freedom, and he didn't want to spend it with a bunch of underage kids and middle-aged men, chugging down more beers than his stomach could handle.

Instead he played scrabble with Kit, his mom and Mr.Tibbs around his tiny kitchen table. Not exactly a wild goodbye party--but Alex didn't feel like leaving his hometown to fight in a war that he didn't quite understand a thing that you would celebrate.

After about five rounds of scrabble, it was already twelve o'clock in the morning, and his mom announced it was bed time. She hugged him tightly before she went to bed, and Alex knew she wouldn't sleep that night. The walls were paper thin. He had heard her crying enough to know how much it pained her to see him leave with the chance of him never returning.

But his mom leaving meant that left him and Kit alone, which he didn't mind at all. Ever since the had made amends, he had been dying to talk to her, just so he could hear her voice and somehow capture it in his mind so that he wouldn't forget about it when he left.

Kit seemed to read her mind, because she got up from the table and took his hand, dragging him upstairs into his room. There was no kissing, no seductive words. Perhaps they were both too upset to try anything because it would make them miss each other even more. She just crept under his duvet with him, resting her head against his chest, and tracing his tattoos on his arms.

They listened to each other's breathing, not saying a word. There was nothing left to say. He was afraid to say anything in case he burst into tears. This wasn't exactly what he had been expecting to do when he had dreamed of being nineteen.