Status: Work In Progress
Life's a Bitch, but I'm Friends with Her Sister
Chapter 8
Halfway through my walk home I realised I was making the wrong decision. Yes, Alex is mad with me, yes, I probably deserve it, but I can't let him go home in a state like that to a family like his. I took off spiriting in the other direction, having a rough idea of the fastest route I could get to Alex's neighbourhood and more importantly, Alex's house in, from what Jordan had told me from what information he'd gathered directly from Alex's mouth.
After a good ten minutes of sprinting (I never thought I'd say that, coach would be so proud of me), I reached the start of Alex's street. I stood there panting for a minute, while racking my brain to remember which number house it was Jordan had said Alex's lives at. Twenty three. Twenty three was the number my brain started screaming at me, and as stupid of an idea it is, I'm going to take that number as it's the best I can do at the moment.
A short while and several awkward walks up to the front of houses to read the numbers, I reached number twenty three. I didn't want to knock, the embarrassment would be never ending if it was the wrong house, and if it was Alex's, what would his parents say to me, do to me, or do to Alex? No, knocking was definitely out of the options, no way was I going to open up any reasons for Alex to be hurt even more.
From the corner of my eye I spotted a large oak tree just over the fence to the back garden. The tree appeared to be right next to an upper storey window, with a pair of baby blue curtains just peeking out from the sides of it. The curtains were what helped me decided that yes, that was Alex's room, as he'd mentioned something about the whole house having a red and gold theme to it, bar his room which was blue and green. I stopped to question myself why I knew so much useless knowledge about Alex and his life, but scolded myself as I had bigger problems at hand right now.
Slowly I crept over to the back gate, letting out a silent cry of happiness when I realised it was unlocked, no hassle of loosening the lock or climbing over the fence thankfully, that would just waste more time that could be used ensuring Alex's safety. As quiet as a mouse I made my way through the back gate and over to the tree, ducking as I passed what appeared to be a kitchen window when I heard voices from inside. No, getting caught by my friend's abusing parents, in their back garden, uninvited, in the middle of a neighbourhood I was unfamiliar with, it didn't sound appealing at all.
After what felt like hours, but in reality was only a few seconds, I was stood with the oak tree towering high over me. I was relieved for the second time that night when I realised there were branches poking out at every height and all around the tree. That's probably why the gate's unlocked, they could never use it to get more than fifteen feet anyway because of this tree.
Cautiously, I placed my foot onto a low hanging, sturdy looking branch. I put my whole weight onto it, testing the waters, to confirm that yes, this tree would not leave me with a serious injury or in hospital if I'm careful enough. I tested the first few branches then made my way up towards the top of the tree, I say top but this thing was bloody huge so really around halfway up the tree.
It took a little while to get up there. Admittedly, I'm not the best climber ever, but at least I managed it. I steadied myself on a branch hanging just beneath Alex's window, high enough to see anything but low enough to duck to avoid being caught. Just as I'd got settled I heard a door open that wasn't the door from his room into the hallway. Not knowing which direction somebody was coming from, I opted for just peeking my head slightly above the bottom know pane.
What I saw shocked me to say the least.
Alex was sat on his bed with a rather large looking gash down his left cheek, but that's not what caught my attention. Alex had a razor in his hand and was slowly rolling his sleeve up. I felt myself pale slightly, Jordan hadn't mentioned any self harming when he was explaining Alex's situation to me. Maybe Alex had managed to avoid any questioning on that subject when him and Jordan were talking, or maybe Jordan was just too stupid to remember to ask.
Either way, I saw what was happening and I felt rather sick. Not because of the blood, but because that was one of my friends that felt the need to do that to them self. Shakily I climbed back down the tree, having seen enough for one night and not wanting to cause a scene by having Alex notice me and probably scream at me. The screaming would reach his parents ears which meant Alex could get hurt even more. No, time to go.
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After a fifteen minute walk back to my house I sat down in my room and gave myself a few minutes to actually make sense of everything I'd learnt that night. The abuse from Alex's parents is worse than we though. Alex cuts. It was hard to comprehend but I had to race reality and say that yes, this was happening. I wanted to make a plan to help him, since our last one failed miserably, but I was rather exhausted from that little adventure and just wanted to get in my bed and never have to get out again.
After a good ten minutes of sprinting (I never thought I'd say that, coach would be so proud of me), I reached the start of Alex's street. I stood there panting for a minute, while racking my brain to remember which number house it was Jordan had said Alex's lives at. Twenty three. Twenty three was the number my brain started screaming at me, and as stupid of an idea it is, I'm going to take that number as it's the best I can do at the moment.
A short while and several awkward walks up to the front of houses to read the numbers, I reached number twenty three. I didn't want to knock, the embarrassment would be never ending if it was the wrong house, and if it was Alex's, what would his parents say to me, do to me, or do to Alex? No, knocking was definitely out of the options, no way was I going to open up any reasons for Alex to be hurt even more.
From the corner of my eye I spotted a large oak tree just over the fence to the back garden. The tree appeared to be right next to an upper storey window, with a pair of baby blue curtains just peeking out from the sides of it. The curtains were what helped me decided that yes, that was Alex's room, as he'd mentioned something about the whole house having a red and gold theme to it, bar his room which was blue and green. I stopped to question myself why I knew so much useless knowledge about Alex and his life, but scolded myself as I had bigger problems at hand right now.
Slowly I crept over to the back gate, letting out a silent cry of happiness when I realised it was unlocked, no hassle of loosening the lock or climbing over the fence thankfully, that would just waste more time that could be used ensuring Alex's safety. As quiet as a mouse I made my way through the back gate and over to the tree, ducking as I passed what appeared to be a kitchen window when I heard voices from inside. No, getting caught by my friend's abusing parents, in their back garden, uninvited, in the middle of a neighbourhood I was unfamiliar with, it didn't sound appealing at all.
After what felt like hours, but in reality was only a few seconds, I was stood with the oak tree towering high over me. I was relieved for the second time that night when I realised there were branches poking out at every height and all around the tree. That's probably why the gate's unlocked, they could never use it to get more than fifteen feet anyway because of this tree.
Cautiously, I placed my foot onto a low hanging, sturdy looking branch. I put my whole weight onto it, testing the waters, to confirm that yes, this tree would not leave me with a serious injury or in hospital if I'm careful enough. I tested the first few branches then made my way up towards the top of the tree, I say top but this thing was bloody huge so really around halfway up the tree.
It took a little while to get up there. Admittedly, I'm not the best climber ever, but at least I managed it. I steadied myself on a branch hanging just beneath Alex's window, high enough to see anything but low enough to duck to avoid being caught. Just as I'd got settled I heard a door open that wasn't the door from his room into the hallway. Not knowing which direction somebody was coming from, I opted for just peeking my head slightly above the bottom know pane.
What I saw shocked me to say the least.
Alex was sat on his bed with a rather large looking gash down his left cheek, but that's not what caught my attention. Alex had a razor in his hand and was slowly rolling his sleeve up. I felt myself pale slightly, Jordan hadn't mentioned any self harming when he was explaining Alex's situation to me. Maybe Alex had managed to avoid any questioning on that subject when him and Jordan were talking, or maybe Jordan was just too stupid to remember to ask.
Either way, I saw what was happening and I felt rather sick. Not because of the blood, but because that was one of my friends that felt the need to do that to them self. Shakily I climbed back down the tree, having seen enough for one night and not wanting to cause a scene by having Alex notice me and probably scream at me. The screaming would reach his parents ears which meant Alex could get hurt even more. No, time to go.
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After a fifteen minute walk back to my house I sat down in my room and gave myself a few minutes to actually make sense of everything I'd learnt that night. The abuse from Alex's parents is worse than we though. Alex cuts. It was hard to comprehend but I had to race reality and say that yes, this was happening. I wanted to make a plan to help him, since our last one failed miserably, but I was rather exhausted from that little adventure and just wanted to get in my bed and never have to get out again.
♠ ♠ ♠
Wow, I have some explaining to do... Hi guys. So yeah, I'm sorry this took so long, but hear me out okay? My laptop broke. Well, it didn't brake, it started going really slow and it took like twenty minutes to just open a word file so I was like 'screw this', and of course, I'd started the chapter on there before it decided not to play anymore. So yeah, I was going to post this last week too, just before I went to Leeds Festival (which was awesome by the way, I wrote an experience thing on my tumblr if any of you want to know more (yes I saw All Time Low and We Are The In Crowd for the third time each, yes they were both amazing)), but that got so preoccupied by buying last minute food and other things like that, so that obviously rules out until this time last week... Admittedly, the first few days of last week I was too tired to do anything, seriously anything. I think I stayed in bed and ate most of those days, after that I've been trying to help me dad sort the laptop out BUT HEY, I STAYED UP LAST NIGHT AND DECIDED IT WAS TIME I GOT THIS POSTED SO I REWROTE IT ON AN IPAD FOR YOU, SO EXCUSE ANY STUPID MISTAKES BECAUSE IF IT'S NOT AUTO CORRECTED I DON'T GET A RED LINE TELLING ME :)Thank you for reading that if you did, please comment, subscribe and recommend if you like this story! :)
- Alex