Don't Forget About Me.

One Week Later

Things were going well between the pair. Really well, actually. Jack was becoming more and more comfortable in Alex's presence and they had spent at least a few hours each day with each other since they had been reunited.

Alex had received a phone call the day after he had given Jack his sleeping bag, from a man claiming to be his boss, enquiring as to why he hadn't shown up to work that day. Alex proceeded to explain to the man that he had had an accident which caused him to have some memory loss (of course Alex hadn't had an accident, but he couldn't just tell the man that he had woken up to find his whole life had changed.)The man seemed to accept the explanation and offered his apologies before filling him on what exactly his job was (which turned out to be an assistant at a high end recording company in the middle of the city) and when he was required to work (Monday to Friday, and the occasional Sunday with ranging hours).

Before hanging up Alex had thanked his boss for the understanding, and promised to be at work early the following morning to make up for lost time, the man had tried to tell him that wasn't necessary, but Alex had insisted, so he had no choice but to agree and leave him with his best wishes.

Alex had been upset at first that he wouldn't be able to tell Jack exactly when he would next see him, but he had promised him every day since receiving the phone call that now he was beginning to get him back, he would never, ever leave or lose him again, to which everyday Jack replied "I know ‘Lex." followed by a ghost of his signature grin Alex had used to love so much.

It was now the third week of October, Saturday the 15th to be exact, and it was Alex's first day off since being informed of his job, so as soon as he had woken up this morning, he set about his daily routine of changing into a fresh pair of boxers before selecting his outfit for the day, which today turned out to be a pair of dark blue skinny jeans with a black v-neck tee and a white hoodie with black horizontal pinstripes, before padding his way to his bathroom to style his hair. Today he decided to straighten it all before using mousse to add volume, only for it to be hidden by the grey black beanie he had just placed on his head.

When satisfied with his appearance he raced to his kitchen where he hurriedly made himself a piece of toast, buttered it and ran out of his apartment, locking the door behind him with said piece still in his mouth. He'd lost count of the times he had made this journey in the past week, often seeing Jack several times in one day inbetween errands he needed to do. He'd offered his friend a spare key to his apartment on several occasions, but each time Jack would decline with a frown and explain that he wasn't ready yet, to which Alex just responded with an understanding nod and a sad smile.

The pair often didn’t do much during Alex’s visits, they almost always remained to the confines of Jacks small room either deep in conversation about something that means a lot to them, or laughing and joking about meaningless things. On the rare occasion that they decided to venture outside, it was usually only to eat at the diner that Alex had taken Jack to on his second day in his new life, it had unofficially become ‘their place’, as well as the small room of course.

Today was just like any other day; Alex had arrived at the small room half an hour after leaving his apartment, although he owned a car and felt it necessary to drive even to the corner shop at the end of his road, he always chose to walk the distance to see the younger boy, it reminded him of when he used to walk the route as a child. He still didn’t like to think about the reasons why he used to love this path so much, but he allowed himself to accept the beauty of his surroundings as he travelled along it.

The walk flew by just as it always did, and before he knew it Alex was stood mere meters away from the doorway. Instantly he had a bad feeling in his chest. He knew that Jack wasn’t the loudest of people anymore, but still...Alex could usually hear him by the time he was this close, even if it was just the rustling of the younger’s’ sleeping bag, there was always some sort of noise. So when after a few more minutes of standing there he still hadn’t heard anything from the small room, Alex began to feel uneasy.

“He’s probably just in too deep a sleep to move.” He reassured himself. After taking a few steps closer to the door, moving as quietly as he could, Alex felt the knot in his chest tighten as he saw that the small room was seemingly empty. Upon this observation he quickly closed the gap between himself and the doorway as his eyes scanned across the room, and he was pretty sure his heart had stopped at the sight of the small room being completely empty. He ran further into the room, as if looking at it from a different angle would make everything reappear, but when he continued to look around he found no assurance as he noted that every piece of furniture had been removed – including Jacks bench. Alex was on the verge of break down, at least until he saw something that gave him the tiniest glimpse of hope that they younger would be back. The lamp. The small silver gas lamp that had been the reason Alex had found Jack again in the first place, was currently stood in the far corner of the room, hidden in the shadows.

In an instant Alex had crossed the room and lifted the lamp from where it stood, carefully examining it before coming to the conclusion that this was definitely Jacks lamp – there was the brand new dent in the side that had occurred when the boys had accidently knocked it off the table during one of their animated conversations just the other day.

Alex knew Jack would be back if he had left this behind. The boy still didn’t understand it’s significance to his friend, but he had been told on several occasions how important the item was to the younger boy, which gave Alex hope that if he waited long enough Jack would be back.

So that’s what he did. He waited...and waited...and waited. Until just as he felt himself about to doze off, a small almost inaudible noise from outside jumped him awake, causing him to take a sharp intake of breath at the shock. Alex’s eyes widened as the situation sank in. What was that noise? Was it a person? What if it’s a murderer? Oh God, no-one will be around at this time of night to save him! Thoughts span around Alex’s head at lightning speed, and by the time he had reached the conclusion he was going to die a slow and lonely death in the middle of the woods, he noticed that a figure had appeared in the doorway and –just as Alex’s luck permits- was staring right at him.

“Who’s there?” the figure called into the room, although Alex wanted to believe he recognised the voice calling out to him, he couldn’t risk being wrong and revealing his identity to the stranger, so he remained silent.

“Alex? Is that you?” The voice was softer now, and Alex let out a sigh of relief as he got to his feet, made his way across the room and placed the lamp at his feet

Alex rubbed his eyes with the base of his palms “Jack what’s going on? Where’s your stuff?” he questioned, voice still groggy from lack of use.

Jack let out a shaky sigh, almost as if he was about to cry, as he walked closer to the older boy before wrapping his arms around him and burying his face in the crook of Alex’s neck. “They took it Alex, they took everything.” the vibrations of his friends’ voice sent a shiver down Alex’s spine.

Alex placed his hands on Jacks shoulders so he could gently push him away in order to get a better look at his face, “What do you mean they took it all? Who took it where?”

“I don’t know exactly who they are, but they said I couldn’t be here anymore. Someone- someone saw you ‘Lex...coming here I mean, they said someone had reported seeing a man heading for the woods on his own with camping gear, they came looking for you when no-one saw you come out, and instead they found me. I managed to save the stuff you bought me, I had to move it somewhere else so it’s safe, but I-I lost my lamp ‘Lex, I thought I’d picked it up but I couldn’t find it.” Jack broke down crying and was instantly pulled into a bone crushing hug from the older boy.

“Fuck,” Alex cursed under his breath, “I’m so sorry Jack, this is all my fault... I’ve ruined everything for you again.” He couldn’t believe he’d done this to his friend again, he had ruined everything for him and he didn’t know what to do about it, so for now he decided to stay put and comfort his friend by just standing there and letting him cry whilst rubbing soothing circles into his back.

“S’n-not your fault ‘L-Lex, I sh-shouldn’t b-be here anyway, I-I only s-stayed here because i-it just reminded me of y-you.” Jack sobbed into his shoulder. Alex’s head snapped up and his hands were once again placed on Jacks shoulders, pushing him away so he could examine his face. “What do you mean it reminded you of me?” he questioned. Jack didn’t reply, he just continued to look at his feet as his sobs quietened.

Alex wanted to comfort his friend more than anything, but his curiosity always managed to beat his wants “Jack, answer me, what do you mean it reminded you of me?” he pressed again.

“I-I-“ Jack attempted to respond to the older boy, but instantly found that the lump in his throat had other plans for his voice box as a lone sob broke through. Alex jumped slightly forward, prepared to reinitiate their previously broken hug in an instant, but when he realised that Jack was not about to continue with his break down, he simply took to staring intently at him, hands holding loosely to the sleeves of his jacket.

Jack closed his eyes and took a deep breath before attempting speech again, “I’ve always known about this place ‘Lex, before you did actually, before I knew you all together. But then we met, and became the best of friends,” they both smiled at the thought of their childhood friendship – were their memories the same? Alex couldn’t help but wonder to himself. “but even then, I couldn’t tell you everything. Do you remember when there used to be days I’d tell you I was too busy to play out with you, even though we both knew there was no-one else I could possibly be with?” Alex simply nodded his head in response, a small smile present on his face as he realised their childhood memories were common ground. “Well this is where I used to come, it was my own little world, it could be anything I wanted it to be and no-one could take it away from me. The furniture was relatively new then, so they were just more things to play on, this was my escape from the real world.”

Alex wanted to understand, he really did, but something in his brain couldn’t comprehend what the point of Jacks story was, how did this explain why the room reminded him of Alex? He let himself run away with his thoughts until he was brought back to the present time by Jack looking at him with questioning eyes.

“Alex? Are you listening to me?” Tears were still glistening in Jacks eyes, but he had calmed down significantly and Alex was relieved at this observation. Alex suddenly felt guilty for his lack of attention as he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

“I-uh-Sorry Jack, I got lost in thought, I was with you up to this was your escape from the real world.” Alex focused his gaze on the musky floor of the small room, as Jack let out a small sigh and nodded with understanding.

“I said, it was like that for about 2 years after I met you, I purposely avoided everyone at least once a week so I could come here and be whoever the fuck I wanted to be, because I was just like every other kid, I had big dreams that I never thought would come true, so I came here,” Jack gestured around the room, “and I pretended.” He paused, daring a glance at the face in front of him, he found Alex’s face full of confusion and interest, so he decided to continue, “but then, I remember the day perfectly, there was one occasion when I was just about to leave my house at around noon, so I could get a good few hours playing before it got too dark to stay out, and just as I was walking out of the door my mum reminded me that I had to be home a little earlier because she was driving me to your house for tea, it was such an insignificant thing to say but in that instant I turned on my heel, closed the door and told my mum I wasn’t going anymore, because I suddenly realised I had no use for this place anymore, because for the first time in my life, real life was better than my world here, and that was all because of you.”

Alex felt his eyes instantly sting at his friends speech, he never realised how much of an impact he had made on the others life and all of a sudden the guilt he had previously been feeling became a thousand times more intensified as he realised yeah, he’d been the one to improve Jacks life significantly, but he had also seemingly been the reason it had all been horribly ruined for him. And at that moment Alex made a silent vow to himself that he would never forgive himself for what he had put his friend through, and that he would never, ever stop attempting to make it up to him.

And with that, Alex pulled Jack into another bone-crushing hug, and buried his face in the crook of his neck avoiding all possibility that he would witness the silent tears that had started to escape from Alex’s eyes.

They stood in that exact spot for a little while longer, until Alex spoke up again.

“Wait-” The words seemed unreasonably loud for the silence of their surroundings, but it definitely got Jacks attention, causing him to take a slow step backwards as both boys cleared their eyes of the last remaining dry tears. The confused look in Jacks eyes encouraging Alex continue.

“Well for starters, I never realised I meant so much to you Jack, thank you for sharing that with me. And for the record, you were...are the best friend I’ve ever had. But I just remembered something you said at the beginning, you said you knew about this place before I did...how did you know I knew about it? I never once mentioned it to you-”

Alex let his question trail off as he noticed the slight rosy colour slowly making its way up Jacks cheeks, barely visible in the darkness they were now standing in. He tilted his head in confusion as he stared intently at the younger, which he just responded to by lowering his gaze to his feet- a slight smile evident on his face.

“I-um-” he let out a slight sigh-laugh before continuing “-I may have followed you here a couple of times, I wasn’t quite as accepting as you were at being refused to play out. So after a couple of times of it happening, my curiosity got the best of me, and I got to your house even before I knew you’d be awake and I waited for you to leave the house before following you. And let me tell you, shocked didn’t even come close to how I felt when I found about you knew about this place too, I always thought it was just me that knew, and at first I was upset that it wasn’t special anymore, it wasn’t mine, but then I realised, there was no-one I’d rather share it with than you, whether you knew it or not.”

“How old where we when you found out?” Alex wasn’t angry that his best friend had kept this a secret from him, and he was overjoyed that the younger had willingly shared his special place with him, but the sudden intake of information interested the curious side of him.

“Erm, about 13 maybe 14...I’m not too sure. I stopped coming about six months later, I know that much.” Instantly both boys frowned at the mention of aforementioned age, those years having great significance to each of them. For Alex that was just over a year before he had stopped making his weekly visits to the small room, and for Jack it was the year before things started to change. Before he started to change. And the year that would signify the start of the rest of their lives.