That Summer in Nevis (Lams)

Chapter 21

"I'll get him," he interrupted.

"Alex, it's dangerous!" Eliza warned.

"It's fine, I'll be fine," he assured.

There was silence.

"Fine. I'm texting you the address of the hotel we're going to. I better see you there, young man," Martha said.

Alex nodded.

"Do you even know where he is?" Peggy asked.

Alex shook his head. "I was hoping you could tell me..."

"Okay, fine. He would probably be with Francis," she mumbled. She took out her phone, trying to find out where Francis was staying. "Yo! Get off the WiFi! It's going down and I need it to find John!"

They all immediately obeyed. Alex needed to find John, and he needed to do it fast.

"Ok, I got it! Sending now."

-

The rain poured harder and harder. It was like blades of glass cutting through his clothes. The water level was rising slowly by the minute.

John had stopped crying by now, but he was still sitting paralyzed on the concrete.

There was something wrong. He could feel it. The wind was picking up too fast. There was too much rain. It hurt to open his eyes. But he didn't care. He didn't care if he just stayed there and nobody found him.

He didn't want to die. No, more like evaporate and float above everything. Just watching and listening and learning.

-

So maybe Alex didn't have a driver's license, maybe he did, but he had a permit, he knew how to drive. Mostly. Just because you know how to do something doesn't mean you have to be good!

(A/N: me: *trying to remember how to drive*)

After fifteen minutes, Alex finally got the car started. He put the address into the GPS and started driving.

-

Some people were running out of the building, but John didn't think anything of it. People can do whatever they want as long as they weren't hurting others for no reason. They weren't hurting him. They had no reason to hurt him. He did find it annoying when they would accidentally splash mud on his face and jacket though. God, that would be a pain to wash out.

Actually, good. Let's fucking burn the jacket later. Hey! You behind the wall! Yes, you! Let's burn all of his shit. Mother fucker deserves it! No one hurts the gaé turtle.

They didn't warn him about the upcoming events. They didn't apologize when they splashed the dirty water on him or stepped on his foot. But why would they? Obviously, they just wanted to get out. They didn't pay attention to the little details. He was invisible.

-

So maybe it took him longer than the estimated ten minutes. Maybe it took him almost an hour, but it was because of traffic. Yep, lots and lots of traffic on the road going directly the opposite way of where sane people were going.

Okay, fine. He got lost.

What? The cell towers were down, and although some adrenaline was keeping him from going into a breakdown, he was so close to breaking. He couldn't call anyone.

-

"The cell towers are down..." George muttered, looking down at his phone, the only source of light.

He needed Alex to call him. He needed to know if he was okay.

Maria paced around the small hotel room. "It's been over an hour! He should be back by now!"

Eliza chewed her bottom lip. "Maybe it's just traffic?"

Martha held a crying Lafayette in her arms. "Better be."

-

Alex hopped out of the car as fast as he could, running for the front doors. When he tried to open them, something caught his eye. Golden, curly hair? John?

"John?"

The boy's head shot up from his arms. He looked at Alex and immediately started sobbing. He had hurt him. He hurt the one person he swore would be the last person he would hurt, and he did it first.

Each part of his brain was yelling, and all he could hear was the screaming and ringing noises.

"Shut up!" He snapped.

Alex stepped back.

"Why am I such a snowflake!" John cried.

Not only did he hurt Alex and all of his friends, but he (unofficially) left Francis! Francis was going to tell his father. He was going to get disowned. All because Francis messed up once and John didn't give him a second chance because his feelings were hurt.

Nope! Scratch what he thought before. He definitely wanted to die.

"John," Alex whispered.

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry," John mumbled. "I didn't want to hurt you. I swear I never ever want to hurt you or anyone else. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I love you." He whispered that last part, but Alex heard it.

"What?"

John shook his head. "I- nothing."

"No, you-you said that you loved me."

John hesitantly nodded and stared at all the water next to him.

"I want to marry you," John confessed.

"I love you too-"

John's head shot up again. Did-did I hear that right? I was an asshole to everyone.

"-But I'm afraid that's not of importance right now, my dearest, Laurens." He threw John the car keys and his phone. "The password's five-two-six-seven-

"Lams," John interrupted.

Alex gave him a small nod. "-go to messages. There should be an address in Peggy's contact. Put that in the GPS and drive. They're expecting u- you."

"Where are you going?"

"I'll be right behind you; I promise." Alex hid his uneasy smile.

-

Alex saw how many people were still in the lobby when he tried to open the doors. There were too many. Did they know what was happening or did they just not care?

Turns out, they just didn't believe it was true.

Alex, being head of the student council and captain of the debate team, managed to convince them to leave. Not without any screaming matches, of course.

It was only after they left that Alex's brain caught up to him. He was reminded of his brother, the way he saved him during the hurricane, the way he made sure he was always okay. He always made sure he had the same school resources as all the other kids.

Yes, his brother would probably be proud of him for just making it to 17, but he wanted to do something more. He needed to.

He looked up to see his feet had taken him to his old home. It had been demolished by now and was just another empty patch of land, but it meant a lot.

Then, he heard screams.

A/N: How the hell did I manage to finish this chapter today-