Where Will I Go

4||Car Radio

Sometimes quiet is violent
I find it hard to hide it
My pride is no longer inside
It's on my sleeve
My skin will scream
Reminding me of
Who I killed inside my dream
I hate this car that I'm driving
There's no hiding for me
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I just don't understand why you're doing this to your own family!" Alex's mother screamed in petty despair.

"Family?! Did you just call this a family?! This is no family!" Alex yelled back. "Family is supposed to make you feel good, and is supposed to support you through every decision! You do none of those things!"

Alex's family life was truly in shambles, and there was no hiding it. Screaming matches between him and his mother were a regular occurrence in their household. Often times it left with Alex's younger brother Lester in tears, his mother furious and angry, and with Alex absent for sometimes more than a week. Their fights and altercations were started for trivial and insignificant reasons. They would often get off topic and only start yelling nonsense to each other. It was pitiful and painful to watch.

The frivolous woman looked at her son, crocodile tears building up in her eyes, as she said "fine!" And left the room.

Alex screamed and punched the wall, leaving a harsh dent in the drywall and paint. He frantically grabbed his suitcase from under the bed and started packing a week's worth of clothes, along with a toothbrush, deodorant, and toothpaste.

Once he swung the bag on his shoulders, he ran down the stairs from his bedroom and bursted out the front door. He needed to leave and to get away. The tension within the household was too strong for him. He knew that if he stayed for much longer, then he would only end up hurting somebody. No matter how furious he'd get, it was never his intention to physically harm a person. No, even his mother didn't deserve that.

He grabbed his skateboard that was already outside and started to skate away from his house, and down the road. He was leaving to go stay with Jesse for as long as he would let himself feel welcome. He didn't want to over-stay his welcome but at the same time it was always hard for him to leave. Jesse made him feel cherished and cared for, like real family members should. He appreciated that out of everything that Jesse did for him.

When Alex reached the apartment complex, he entered the large building and dialled his brother's apartment number on the intercom. He heard it ring, and ring, and ring, until Jesse finally answered.

"Hello?" He said.

"Jess, open up! Mom's being a bitch!"

With no other words spoken, Alex heard the click of the door being opened, meaning that the owner of the apartment was aware that Alex was indeed not a terrorist and just his wayward brother.

Alex walked over to the apartment that was just down the hall, and on the first floor, where Jesse already had the door open.

"You staying over again?" He asked, nodding his head towards the bag on Alex's shoulder.

"Yeah, wanna let me in?"

Jesse stepped aside and let his younger half brother in the room before closing it.

"What happened this time?" He said, a hint of sarcasm and playfulness in his voice to try to lighten the mood, but upon seeing Alex's facial expression, he could tell it didn't work.

Jesse was a kind-hearted, free-spirited and careless person. He was always there for people, and cared greatly for those who cared to even acknowledge him. It's quite the opposite of what you would expect from looking at him at first glance. He was a relatively built guy, with tattoos covering him from his neck to his waistline, and all the down his arms. He even had the Chinese characters for 'Rebellion' tattooed on his right cheek. He might've looked scary at first, but in reality he was just a huge teddy bear.

"You wanna know something, Jess?" Alex said, putting his bag down on the couch.

"What is it?" He prompted, preparing himself for his unstable brother's lecture about emotions.

"I used to think that I could do this. That I got this. Every single day I wake up and I just tell myself that it'll be over soon, but as it turns out, I really don't got this, Jess! And I'm pretty sick lying to myself everyday!" Alex ranted loudly, raising his voice and roughly tugging at his hair as he sat down on the couch.

"Alex, just settle down for a moment," Jesse said, sitting beside Alex and trying to calm him down by rubbing his back. "Just breathe, it'll be ok."

Alex shook his head 'no', denying any comforting white-lies from his brother.

"Wanna go in the car and sesh while listening to Twenty-One Pilots?"

Alex laughed a little, his back shaking from the movements as he nodded. "Sure."

"Cool man. I'll get the joints."

When Jesse found two already made joints and a lighter, the two made it out to Jesse's green 1974 Ford XB Falcon, and they sat in the backseat after Jesse put in the tape for Blurryface by Twenty-One Pilots.

Both of the boy's music taste fluctuated. Especially when they were high. It could go from 21 pilots (a rap/alternative/punk band) to The Misfits to disney's Frozen soundtracks. It really didn't natter, as long as it entertained their easily amused, THC dosed minds.

They seshed in the car so many times together before, that then it just naturally smelled like weed, pop cans, and old leather. But the two of them didn't really care. In fact, they thought it was kind of funny.

Alex felt his phone vibrating in his pocket, and he tried to enter his password as best as he could without messing up 50 times as he was already high.

"Hello?" He asked, pressing the phone to his ear without seeing who it was.

"Alex? Where are you?" It was his mother.

"In a dungy parking lot with Jess," he giggled.

"Come home right now, Alex,"

"No."

"Excuse me?" She said, sounding irritated and impatient.

"I said, no-SHIT MAN LOOK THERE'S A BEE!" Alex exclaimed, slapping Jesse's arm to get his attention and pointing at the bee, completely forgetting about his mother.

Jesse started to burst out laughing, something about how the bumble bee looked too fluffy or something. Or maybe he was saying it looked fat? Alex honestly couldn't have been bothered to pay attention at that point.

"Alex?! Young man are you high?!" Alex's mother exclaimed, fuming with anger at this point.

"Nooooooo" he said, sounding guilty on purpose.

He hung up the phone in the middle of her lecture, and started to pay more attention to Jesse.

"What if bumble bees are like the panda versions of bees?" The tattooed man asked. "'Cause like, they're both fluffy, cute, an endangered species, and eat plants. So like...?"

"Yeah but pandas don't fly."

"But bees do! That's why I said panda version of bees!"

The two eventually ended up calling it a night and headed back inside. At night, while the teen was getting comfortable on the couch, he felt his phone vibrate. Assuming it was his mother again, he groaned annoyingly and looked at his screen, seeing it was a text from Ran.

Impala dude: Meet me at this address tomorrow at 8:30pm!

The coordinates were attached to the message, and Alex put it in his reminders before he drifted off to sleep.

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This chapter is even shorter than the lazy one :C sorry. They do start to get longer though, don't worry. The song at the beginning is called Car Radio by 21 pilots.