A Monster Like Me- A Lams AU

Chapter 1

His eyes were cold and lifeless as he stared at the boy in front of him.

"You have no idea who I am, do you?"

Alexander took a step back, fear rising in him. He tried to speak, but no words came out. If this were a different situation with a different person, like Thomas, he wouldn't hesitate to speak his mind. But this wasn't Thomas, or even Samuel. This was John.

He didn't know what to do, or what to say. John had never acted like this before. He started acting strangely when he got back from his vacation by the Combahee River in South Carolina.

"Answer me." A dark voice came from where John was standing.

"I--John, what's going on?" Alexander finally managed to say. "Why are you acting like this?"

"Acting like what? This is how I always am. You just haven't cared enough to notice."

The urge to cry began to well up in Alexander. "No, John, you're... Different somehow."

John chuckled and shook his head. "Oh, Alexander. You're so naïve. You don't know anything about me."

That last sentence shocked Alexander. "What are you talking about? I know a lot about you."

"No, no, no. You know what little I have told you. I could've been lying. You're so gullible and easy to manipulate." John stepped closer to Alexander. "You don't know the things I've done--what I've seen. But you know what? I know a lot about you. And not just what you've told me."

Tears began to swell in Alexander's eyes. "What do you mean?"

"I can't tell you. What I can tell you is that maybe you're right. Maybe there is something different about me. But it's not wrong, just..different. You'll have to look closely and use that little brain of yours to find out." John poked Alexander's forehead. He turned on his heels and started to walk away.

"John, please." Alexander whispered in a broken voice to John's back.

The man walked away into the distance, and Alexander ran in the other direction to someone else that he knew he could trust.

Lafayette.