The Strange and Unusual Case of Lake Barton

6: Alex's Problem

Alex walked out of school feeling good about himself. Yes, the morning hadn't been the best. He'd discovered that who he thought was his best friend actually didn't care about him. He'd narrowly avoided getting humiliated by Reggie and losing a new friend. But hey, he had made a new friend. Somebody who seemed to see past the bully that everyone saw. Alex had been able to keep the bully at bay for hours in a row, the longest in a while.

With a smile on his face, Alex looked around the yard for Iris. She didn't have track on Wednesdays, so maybe they could walk home together.

Alex spotted her across the yard, coming out of a side door. He was about to call her name, but then he spotted somebody else waiting for her.

It was Reggie. His briefcase slung over his shoulder, he stood beside the door. Iris looked at him carefully. Alex held his breath.

Iris said something, and Reggie grimaced. He nodded slowly, then said something, and gestured for Iris to follow. With only the slightest bit of hesitation, Iris followed Reggie as they started walking home.

Keeping a good distance behind the pair, Alex followed the pair across the street and into Arawn Woods. As they stomped through leaves and mud, he watched them talking. He couldn't hear what they were saying.

Reggie walked with his head down. Alex couldn't hear or see whether or not he was speaking, but Iris was nodding and making sympathetic faces in response to whatever he was saying.

She gave him a pat on the back and asked him something. Reggie stopped in his tracks and looked around, as if making sure nobody was listening. Alex jumped behind a tree before Reggie could look behind himself and spot him.

Alex peeked out from behind the tree. Reggie and Iris had resumed walking. Making sure his footsteps were quiet enough so that they wouldn't hear them, Alex sprinted to get closer to the two.

Reggie quickened his pace, as if agitated. His head was still down, but turned a little to face Iris. He was chattering away. Iris was listening intently.

Reggie hesitated a little, then continued talking, slower than before. Iris put her hand on her mouth.

Oh no... Were they talking about his... his condition?

Since he was little, Alex had had a problem. It had gotten worse as he got older. It meant that he was calm and peaceful one moment and throwing a fit the next. Sometimes it overwhelmed him, controlling everything he did for days on end. He couldn't stop it. Dr. Diaz, his pediatrician, had been left dumbfounded. Dr. Martin, a professor from Burrows University, had given up trying to figure it out. Dr. Greyla, a psychologist whom Alex's father had called in desperation, had no ideas. They had even tried consulting Father Jacobs, the priest of Lake Barton Church of the Blessed Sacrament, but he had been able to do nothing.

Alex knew that Reggie knew about his condition. Alex had been stumbling around, out of sorts from it, when he had come across Reggie at the lake, with that boy. Alex took one look at the boy, thrashing with his head above the water, with Reggie telling him in a soothing voice to calm down, that he had the same condition. The boy couldn't have been older than six or seven, but Alex could tell that the boy's case was much worse than his own. At least Alex had been able to learn to control it at times.

Suddenly, a white-tailed doe burst out of the brush right in front of Alex, interrupting his thoughts. Ten meters ahead, Iris and Reggie wheeled around at the noise. The deer ran off, but the damage had been done.

Reggie went crazy, yelling furiously something incoherent at Alex. Humiliated, Alex ran past them and turned left into Campfire Circle. If he hadn't already, Reggie was sure to tell Iris about his condition now.