(Jalex) The First Step Towards Repair

Thanks to you, all thanks to you.

Chapter 8

Thanks to you, I'm not myself.

I'm all strung out, that much is clear.

And I'll spend my whole lifetime with

Your lifeline wrapped around my throat.

Alex

I wandered along the corridors, searching for the gym class when I bumped into someone. I looked up and saw the very same person I had bumped into twice yesterday. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. He glared at me before kicking me in the stomach, causing me to let out a yelp of pain and falling onto the ground. "Fucker! You asked for this!" he yelled and kicked me harder in the stomach and I curled up in pain, clutching the area where he hit me. I heard footsteps approaching, heading towards me and I shifted my head slightly to see who was coming. It was Rick and his gang, with the other boy standing beside them with a smirk. I watched as they all looked at one another before grinning evilly at me, throwing punches and kicks at my frail and helpless body. I flinched and used my hands to shield myself from these blows. "Pl-please..." I begged, "leave me alone..."

I cried out in pain as Rick gave me one final kick and burst out into laughter, causing the rest to join along before leaving me bloody and bruised. I squeezed my eyes tightly shut before opening them again, finding tears flowing down my face. I heard footsteps approaching again. Are they coming back? To see me suffer more? I glanced up weakly and saw Luke, smiling from ear to ear as he looked at my pathetic state.

"I never liked you in the first place, Gaskarth," he said, twirling a knife that he held in his hand. "Thanks. You were of great use to me," he said with a smile and pointed to himself.

"Look at me!" Luke said, a smug grin plastered on his face. "Bruiseless, woundless and I'm good pals with them," he jerked a thumb behind him, referring to Rick and his group (who had left in that direction). I rolled my eyes but said nothing and I simply watched.

"I should thank you, though," he murmured. "You were of some use..." Luke said and snickered. "Now, however, you're just a worthless piece of trash," he spat before he passed me the knife. "Go on. Cut yourself like the freak you are," he spat before kicking me again and I didn't let out a single sound. What's the point? I found silent tears streaming down my face. The horrible feeling of betrayal was back again. And it hurt. It hurt so bad. Maybe I should end all this. I'm tired. I'm really tired...

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I jolted awake and found actual tears flowing down my cheeks. I wept into my pillow. Why did all of this happen to me? It wasn't exactly reality, but it wasn't exactly a nightmare either. It was part of a memory, connected with a different memory to form this horrible fucking nightmare that played repeatedly in my mind. I glanced around my room, looking for something - anything - to cut myself, to let the physical pain block out my mental one... but there wasn't any. I wept harder, though the sounds were muffled by the pillow being pressed against my face and I hugged it tightly.

I looked around again and spotted my phone that lay beside me before grabbing it with one hand. Trembling, I went to call Jack. I don't know why I did it, but I did. After a few rings, I heard a tired voice answer from the other side. "Hey Alex... What's up?"

I wanted to tell him about my nightmare, but I just sobbed and choked out, "Jack, could you please come over?" he hung up and a couple of minutes later my bedroom door slowly creaked open and someone switched on the lights. My eyes squinted at the sudden brightness but it soon adjusted. I saw Jack standing their in his pyjamas, his hair was messed up and his eyes were filled with worry. He went to sit down on my bed and he rubbed my back comfortingly. "Hey..." he whispered, "what happened?"

"Rick. Luke. All of them," I said between sobs and he gently swiped his finger across my eyes, wiping away the tears.

"Hey hey, it's just a dream, okay? A really bad dream. Go to sleep," Jack mumbled tiredly.

I saw the bags under his eyes and felt a pang of guilt. "I'm sorry," I murmured and he smiled.

"It's fine okay? Don't think about it. Just go to sleep. Call me if you need me," he said before getting up. I bit down on my lip and grabbed his arm, pulling him towards me as he was about to leave.

"Stay with me. Please," I begged and he nodded, sitting down in front of my bed. I frowned when he did that and tossed my blanket over him, ensuring that it covers both him and myself. I also passed him one of my pillows, the one that wasn't stained with my tears. Jack smiled appreciatively.

"Good night, Alex," he whispered as he placed the pillow under his head. I smiled. "Good night, Jack."

Even though I had said good night to him, I couldn't fall asleep. I glanced at Jack, who seemed to be sleeping soundly. His skunk-like hair covered part of his face and I watched as his chest rose and fell rhythmatically as he slept. I realised how odd this was. I only just met him, but now he's here, sleeping in my room...

I thought of ways I could fall asleep and decided that singing could work. Jack was asleep anyways, it's not like he'd hear me. I hummed a random tune under my breath before I slowly drifted off into sleep.

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A/N: Yay! A chapter that is less than a thousand words... but 920++ is close enough!

I hope you guys enjoyed it. :) I've been trying to make the fanfic have more sense?? I wanted Jack and Alex to have more time together for their friendship to grow stronger and shit like that... but all of this in the span of one day is a bit weird. I'll try to make things slower in the future chapters.

By the way, I know this is a biiiiiiit weird that Jack managed to get in even though the front door is most probably LOCKED. It'll be explained in the next chapter : )

But honestly, I'm getting lazier and lazier by the day ahahah so updates iwll probably be super late