Fight to survive

Chapter 3: Visitor From The Past

It's been a week since Marty left for Iraq and Everley has kept her promise. She passes by the house twice a day to check up on Alex. He definitely doesn't like it at all, and that's why he tries to avoid the girl at all costs. When he hears the doorbell ring he hurries up the stairs and hides in his bedroom. It's his private place, she can't enter without his permission. At least he thinks that if he is capable of respecting somebody's personal space she can as well.

The thing is that as stubborn as he may be, Everley seems to be the same. She refuses to leave the house if she doesn't see him and that has led Alex to be late twice at school, plus has led him to escape from his window. Of course, that made Everley late to her school too, and boy was she furious.

Well, it's Friday morning and Everley is nowhere to be seen. Alex finds it weird but mostly suspicious. He tries to think of what she may be up to but Sebastian keeps distracting him with questions.

"You're writing an exam today, right?"

"Yes, Sebastian I am writing an exam which is in Chemistry. Now, can you please stop bombarding me with so many questions? I'm trying to figure out something and you distract me!", Alex finally explodes.

"Okay, okay. God kids in puberty are annoying! What are you trying to figure out? Also, don't forget you have to go to NYPD today.", Sebastian keeps on talking.

"I told you to stop asking me things!! You just agreed to stop disturbing me, don't you remember? You should see a doctor if you don't!", Alex shouts and leaves the house.

"Puberty has stricken him so badly.", Sebastian mutters to himself as he puts the roast he was marinating in the oven. He can't even believe that Marty and Alex are adolescents now. Years pass by fast and here they are.

Sebastian's thoughts are all over the place. He thinks of last Thursday when he smiled to himself about the regular morning he spent with the kids. It had been so long since things were quite normal. But he couldn't help but wonder how did they turn out this way.

Also, Everley's absence didn't go unnoticed by him but decided against discussing it. Sebastian was a 100% sure that Alex was thinking about her this morning too. He may not like her but he has understood that she is stubborn and there's no way that she'll give up on her mission assigned by her partner.

He just hopes that the girl could understand what's going on with Alex. Marty hasn't told him the real reason Everley visits Alex every day but he's not stupid. He knows that Marty is trying to get the old Alex back. Though, Sebastian doesn't agree with his method. Alex doesn't trust people, using someone to get to know his past will make things even worse. He sometimes thinks how it would be better if Marty just accepted Alex as he is. Of course he changed, he was away for so long and he grew up with different people around him. He's learnt to be serious most of the time and when he's not he's faking it.

There are times that Alex laughs wholeheartedly but then he suddenly stops. It's like he remembers something and he goes all serious again. It seems like the boy doesn't want to be happy; like he thinks he doesn't deserve joy and that's one of the worst things a person can feel. It's just sad to see him torture himself like that and to see him keep secrets from them.

Sebastian wants to know about his life in the UK but he wants to know when Alex is ready to share it. What's the point of forcing it out of him? He'll only succeed in making Alex hate him and never trust him, when he wants the opposite.

In the meantime Alex has reached his school's gates and is walking past them. He goes straight to his locker in order to get his books for his first period. Once he has everything he closes it, but when he turns to leave he sees Everley entering the school.