Stand A Little Too Tall, Say A Little Too Much

No-one had heard from Alex in a few hours. After Alex had stormed out the house, Jack had gone downstairs and had been lying on the sofa ever since. Jack thought Alex would have been home by now. It was 2am. What the fuck was he doing? Jack wasn’t sure whether to go out looking for him, just incase he returned. But if he didn’t go looking for him, what would happen to Alex? Would he even think about returning?

A creak in the floorboards disturbed Jack from his thoughts. Jack looked over at the doorway and saw Chloe standing there, eyes still red raw.
“Jack, are you okay? Where’s Alex?” she croaked.
“He’s gone. He walked out a few hours ago. I would have thought he’d have returned by now.”
Chloe’s eyes widened. “Jack! Are you not thinking straight? Anything could happen to him whilst he’s out alone with everything that’s just gone on recently!”
Reality slapped Jack in the face and he came out of his trace. “Shit. Fuck, you’re right.” Jack jumped up off the sofa, grabbed his coat and shoes and headed for the door. “If he returns whilst I’m out, call me alright?”
“Okay.” Chloe rubbed her eyes.
Jack ran out of the house and down the footpath to the main road.
“Alex?! Alex?”
Jack reached the main road and sprinted down to the alleyway.
“Alex?!” He shouted.
Jack continued to search alleyways and a few local parks but there was nothing. No sign of Alex at all.
“Fucking hell.” He exhaled deeply and pulled his phone out from his pocket. Jack dialed in Chloe’s number. The call connected after one ring.
“Chloe, there’s no sign of him nearby. I’ve checked alleyways and parks but I’ve found nothing.” Jack panicked.
“He can’t be that far away. He’s not returned back here yet. This isn’t good especially with what’s just happened with Justine and everythi-”
“Justine… why did I never think of that?!”
“What?”
“If he’s stormed out just wanting to think things through, most likely something to do with the whole Justine situation, maybe he went back to somewhere where they’d been together?”
“Maybe so. Check that lake we met at, I remember Justine saying something about it being something she’d remember for a while.”
“Keep an eye out, I’m heading there now.”
“Alright, see you soon.”
“Bye.”
Jack ran as fast as he could. If Alex was at the lake, he needed to get there fast. He didn’t want Alex to do anything stupid. Jack hadn’t known Alex for that long, but he seemed like a caring, dedicated person. Especially with the way he was when he was with Justine.

Jack finally arrived at the lake and saw nothing. He decided to check where they’d last been, right near the lake. As Jack approached the lakeside, he saw a figure lying on the bench nearby. He prayed this was Alex.

When Jack got close enough, he could make out the figures clothing. The figure was Alex. He walked over to the bench and placed himself next to Alex. Alex’s head was buried in his knees and it looked as if he was sleeping. Jack gently shook Alex.
“Alex?” he whispered. No response. Jack gently shook Alex again and this time he groaned.
“What?”
“You need to come home, Alex.”
“Uh.. Jack?”
“Yes it’s me. Are you okay?”
Alex lifted his head from his knees and looked over at Jack. Jack saw how red his eyes were and patted his lap.
“Come here.”
Alex stared a Jack for a few seconds and edged a bit closer.
“Why did you come after me Jack? Especially when I nearly kissed you?”
“After you left, I went downstairs, I couldn’t actually get to sleep Alex. Even though I’ve known you a short while, I’m not a heartless dick. I’d have come after you even if things were worse.”
“I’m sorry Jack.” Alex sniffled.
“What for?”
“Everything. Storming out. Nearly kissing you…” he trailed off.
“Hey,” Jack moved closer to Alex and put his arm around Alex’s shoulders. “Don’t worry about it Alex. Things will get better.”
“I-I don’t k-know if I can c-cope without her here, J-Jack.” Alex furiously wiped away the tears forming at his eyes.
“Just think of the good memories for now Alex, it’s all you can do.”
“I k-know, but I just w-want to hear from h-her, even if it’s f-for the last t-time, j-just so I know she’s o-okay.”
“Aw Alex,” Jack patted his lap once again. “Come here. You look so drained.”
Alex moved without hesitation this time and placed his body on Jack’s. Alex then pressed his head into Jack’s chest and started to sob.
“I f-feel so awful, in all honestly, J-Jack. I don’t know what to d-do anymore.”
Jack rested his chin on Alex’s head. “You can only hope Alex. We all can only hope.”
“Mhm.”
Jack paused for a few minutes before speaking up again. “It’s getting chilly, I think we should head back.”
“Okay.” Alex dragged himself off Jack and they started to walk back to the main road. As soon as they’d hit the main road, Jack’s phone started to vibrate. He pulled the phone out of his pocket and checked the caller ID. It was Chloe.
“Baby, what’s up?”
“Have you found Alex yet?”
“Yeah, we’re coming home now.”
“Thank fuck for that.”
“Agreed on that. What’s up anyway?”
“Nothing, just making sure you’re alright. I’ll unlock the door for you.”
“Cheers baby. We won’t be long, promise.”
“Alright, see you soon. Bye.”
“Bye.”
Jack hung up and placed the phone back in his pocket. After a few minutes of walking up the main street, Jack turned a corner.
“We’re here now.”
Jack guided Alex towards the front door and twisted the door handle. He opened the door and let Alex walk in first. Chloe was hanging by the living room door-frame. Jack closed the front door behind him and signaled for Chloe to leave them alone for a few minutes. She made her way back into the living room and shut the door. Alex took off his shoes and placed them on the rack. He stood up straight and looked at Jack.
“I’m gonna go to bed.” Alex said, weakly.
“Okay. If you need me, I’ll either be down here or in my room. Alright? I don’t want you to run out again.”
“I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.”
Jack smiled. “Night Alex.” Jack pulled Alex into a hug and kissed his head.
“Night Jack. Thankyou for everything.” Alex attempted to smile and then headed upstairs.

Jack took off his own shoes and placed them next to Alex’s in the shoe rack. He then proceeded to walk into the living room and look over at Chloe.
“Baby, I’m going bed now. You coming?”
“Yeah, will do soon, just gonna finish reading this chapter and I’ll head up.” Chloe picked herself up off the sofa and made her way towards Jack. She put her arms around his neck and kissed his soft lips.
“Night sweetheart.”
“Night baby.” Jack replied.

Jack headed upstairs and didn’t bother getting changed. As soon as his head hit the pillow, he was gone.

--

“Megan?”
“Yeah?”
Justine and Megan had been talking for a while. They were now side-by-side, backs against the wall, trying to make something out of the silence.
“Did you ever try to… getaway?”
“I…uh…tried…once.”
“What happened?”
“I forget most of it, but I got out somehow and I was walking down the street to get something from the shops for Josh or someone but I carried on walking past the shops in an attempt to getaway, but Josh had followed me.”
“What did he do?”
“I tried to run but he caught up and dragged me back to here. I’ve not been able to get away since.”
“Ah right.”
“I’m going to bed now anyway. I’m shattered. Night.”
“Night.”
Megan made her way back to the bed in the corner and it wasn’t long before snores were heard.
Justine pulled her phone out of her pocket. She checked the home screen. No signal. Justine walked around the room in an attempt to get signal. She wanted to text Alex, tell him that she was okay and that Josh hadn’t done anything major to her. Would she even be able to send it though? After everything Alex was going through, was it best to leave it? Would it be better if Alex didn’t hear from Justine? She didn’t know. She wanted to text Alex so bad.

Eventually, Justine got 1 bar of signal and immediately started to write out a text message.

“Alex, it’s me Justine. I don’t know when you’ll hear from me next after this but I love you. Keep strong for me baby. I’m so scared. This place creeps me out. Josh has this guy working for him. Goes by the name of Scott. Also, I’ve found out that I’m not the only victim. There’s a girl called Megan here too. She’s been here a long time and has been trying to getaway for a while. She tried once but Josh followed her. She gave me an idea. As soon as I can, I’m gonna try and get out of here. I love you. xxx”

I hesitated over the send button but after a few moments, I inhaled deeply and pressed it without a second thought. Within seconds, the delivery message came back.

Message sent.