The Narrator

5 - Alex Suffers My Suffering

Journal Entry

December 6th, 3:07 PM

I wonder if Alex is mad I punched him in the face...

I don't know what happened. One second I'm on the bed, hearing Alex's voice in my head, the next, he's on the ground and there's a trickle of blood coming from his nose.

He's currently in the bathroom fixing himself up.

Of course I apologized, who do you think I am?

Maybe my craziness is rubbing off on Alex because he seems to think I can read his mind. Is craziness contagious? Maybe I got some sort of poisoning from the asbestos in our school.

You know what? That actually sounds plausible. I should look into that. And into getting a new part-time job. I refuse to be iPod-less forever.

That is... if Alex stops trying to convince me I'm some sort of mind reader.

Good old Alex. Maybe he's the crazy one.

"This is incredible!" Alex shouted from the bathroom. "You can read my mind!"

"I can't read your mind, you idiot!" I yelled back.

"But you did." Alex said, reappearing in my doorway. He pranced into my room and sat next to me on the corner of the bed.

How about now? Can you hear me now?

Tears threatened to slide down my face. I was terrified, but I held them back. "There's something wrong with me, Alex," I said softly. "Like, seriously wrong. I think I need, like, a hospital. Or a therapist." I squared my shoulders. "Yeah. That's it. I'll go to the hospital. I'm going to the hospital." I stood to grab my mom's keys... then I realized my mom had the car. I sat down on the bed, dejected. "I'll go later."

Travis, you're not crazy. I heard Alex's voice but his mouth didn't move.

"Stop that!" I begged. I was starting to freak out. The fire escape was starting to look like a promising idea... "You're scaring me, Man."

"Holy crap," Alex exclaimed, putting his hands over his mouth to cover his giant, awed smile. "Holy crap!"

Travis can read my mind! This is great!

"No, I can't!" I exclaimed. "And no it isn't! I'm just crazy! It must be the asbestos in our school. It's messing with our brains!"

Alex stared at me for a moment. I suddenly realized I had just heard something he didn't want me to hear. "I didn't mean that, Travis." He said. "Do you think it works on other people too?"

We could get the answers to tests, outsmart people-

"I'm not your pet, Alex! Besides, I can't do any of that stuff! And I don't know why you would want me to! You're my friend, you're supposed to help me, tell me I'm crazy and call an ambulance. Not use whatever powers you think I have for your personal gain!" I jumped up on my bed and faced away from Alex, crossing my legs and placing my head in my hands.

"Oh Dude, I didn't mean whatever you heard it was just... I was just..."

Thinking it. He thought.

I took a long, deep breath. "I'm scared, Alex. Like, really scared. Oh, to hell with the tough guy stuff. I'm terrified! I don't know what's real anymore! First I hear voices, now I hear thoughts, what's next?! Are they gonna call me back to the mothership where I came from?!"

Crazy.

"Maybe you are crazy." Alex muttered.

"I heard you the first time." I spat. "And you're not helping!"

Alex sighed. If you want to go to the hospital I'll go with you but it's pretty far - a few miles. Probably take a few hours. Wait for Ms. Bailiff...

"Look, Travis, if you really want to go to the hospital-"

I cut him off. "I heard you. The first time." I glared at him.

Alex raised his hands. "Now you're starting to scare me."

I buried my head in my hands. "I don't know what's going on anymore." I complained.

Alex squared his shoulders. Go out and practice. "Let's find out." He smiled when I looked at him. "This is obviously killing you at school." I nodded. "Probably because there are so many people. I think you should go out and practice. You can try to control it."

"Alex, I don't know what's happening but it's got to be some weird reaction to the asbestos at school. I am not reading minds!"

He grinned in a mischievous way.

Then what do you call this?