Her Knight in White Shirt and Blue Jeans

0.2 - Xander Knight

       As soon as he got to his room, he collapsed on his bed, sleep overtaking him. The peace lasted upto a few minutes until his brother came waking him up.

"What?" Xander groaned.

"Mom and dad want to talk to you." Liam said, "About school?"

He laid on the bed for a solid minute, trying to blink the sleep out of his eyes. "Fine."

He followed Liam out, grabbing a notebook and a pencil from his desk. They found their parents talking in the living room. The conversation ceased the moment Xander stepped in.

Trying to ignore his parents' looks of concern, Xander sat on the couch, leaning back on the armrest while he propped up his legs on the couch. He began scribbling down in his notebook without a word.

"Xander." His mom called tentatively, strands of her long caramel coloured hair escaping from behind her ear. Xander always thought his mom was the most beautiful woman in the world, especially with the warmth she used to have in her eyes. Her beautiful eyes, which Xander had inherited, used to be full of love and adoration for him. Her warm voice would sooth his nightmares when he was a kid.

But now, those eyes were just filled with concern, like any wrong word or thing would hurt him. And her voice... it's the one haunting his dreams.

He slightly inclined his head, to show them that he was listening.

"Are you sure you don't want to go back to-"

"No."

"But son-"

Xander looked up from his book, his eyes never moving towards the woman who called herself his mother, his grip on the pencil hard as if he was trying to channel out his feelings through it so that he wouldn't end up saying something bad. "Anywhere is fine as long as it's not that particular institution."

"You can go to London." Liam suggested, ignoring the warning looks their parents cast at him. "I'm sure Uncle will be thrilled to have you there. Away from us?" Liam joked, hoping to lighten up the mood.

Xander briefly glanced at him, his eyes showing his bemusement. "As much I would love to go there, believe me I really do," He cast a side glance at his mom to find her stiffening. "I can't take care of all of my responsibilities from there." He looked away quickly, as if staring anymore would burn his eyes.

"Is that the only reason?" His mom asked, hope flickering in her eyes. Xander looked at her, his eyes a cold wall of an emotionless mask. "What other reason do I have?"

He could see the hurt flash across her face, the way her eyes lowered in an attempt to hide it and the small sigh that left her lips. "Are we not a reason for you?"

"No." I want to get away from you people as far as possible. I don't even want to look at your faces. I can't. I don't have the strength.

"Xander." His dad's voice was a little stiff. Xander always admired the love his parents had. One couldn't see each other hurt. Funny how they often said the same thing about Xander and Liam but ended up hurting Xander the most.

He remained silent, resuming his writing.

Liam gave their parents a pleading look. "It's just one year." He mouthed, "He won't stay here even if you beg him to after that."

Xander pretended to ignore the concerned glances shared by his parents. Finally his mom nodded.

"Well if you insist." Ethan Knight sighed, "I do know a good institution-"

"That settles it then." Xander stood up, placing the book on the coffee table. "This has a rough list of the people who died yesterday and the ones who probably survived. I'm going to finish up my work so please don't bother me."