Somewhere In Neverland

Alex paced back and fourth in the living room, his palms sweating and his hands shaking as he gripped onto his chest. His breathing growing heavy and fast as he felt the room spin around him. Alex steadily walked over to the couch and slumped onto it, lying on his side as he continue to hold onto his chest for dear life. He shut his eyes tight as he felt his head beginning to throb, his heartbeat going faster. He shot his eyes opened and glanced over at the clock, 3:43 a.m. There was still at least four more hours before Jack would wake up for work.

Ever since high school, Alex had been suffering from anxiety attacks. He tried everything to prevent them. Medication, therapy, he even considered shock therapy, but nothing worked. He met Jack on his junior year of high school. He was suffering yet another attack in the men's room...

Alex quickly walked through the corridor and into the men's room and turned on the faucet and splashed the running water on his face. His vision was slightly blurring as he looked in the mirror and he felt sick to his stomach. Thankfully no one was in the restroom. He leant against the sink supporting himself on his palms as he kept his head down and his eyes shut. He took slow deep breaths to try to compose himself again. The school bell rang and Alex groaned as his hands began to shake, his hands almost slipping off the sink.

The room was so quiet and small and it frightened Alex. He felt as if the walls were caving in on him. He slumped on the floor and pulled his knees to his chest as his breathing quickened. His heart was beating faster and he could hear it echoing in his head. Tears began streaming down his face and mixing with sweat.

"Hey, are you alright?" After what had seem to be an eternity Alex looked up at the sound of the voice and saw a figure through his tears. He quickly wiped his eyes with a shaky hand before looking at the person again. Alex wasn't exactly sure who it was, but he'd recognize that skunk hair. Alex shook his head and pulled his knees closer to himself as he tried to even his breathing. He heard slow footsteps walking closer to him and a hand on his knee.

"What's wrong? Your shaking a lot. Should I get the nurse?" The boy asked. Alex slowly peered through his arms to look at the boy in front of him, brown eyes staring back at him filled with concern. Alex shook his head again.
"N-Nothing can help." He whispered with a quivering voice. The boy gave him a confusing look.
"What do you mean? What's wrong?" He asked again.
"I'm h-having an anx-anxiety attack." Alex choked out, "It happens all th-the time." He answered before burying his face back into his knees.
"An anxiety attack...?" The boy repeated and thought for a moment. "I'm going to get the nurse. Just stay here, okay?" The boy said before standing and running out the room.

The room began spinning again as a chill ran down Alex's spine. He felt cold, despite the warm weather. Minutes later the boy walked back in with a black sweater.
"The nurse said to try to calm you down while she gets here." The boy explained as he placed the thin sweater on Alex's shoulders. He knelt next to Alex and he hesitantly began to wrap his arms around Alex. Alex was startled by this, but his noticed his body slowly stopped to shake. The nausea had disappeared and his heart beat was returning to a normal speed, as did his breathing. Before he knew it Alex fell asleep in the boy's arms.



Alex's eye fluttered opened slowly but were shut once again when the bright lights beamed on him. He rubbed his eyes a bit before his vision went back to normal. Alex sat up slightly on his elbows as he looked around the room. The last thing he remembered was having another anxiety attack and...that boy. Was his head playing tricks on him? Alex thought before his eyes landed on the boy himself. The boy looked worried and a bit scared.

"Hi.." The boy said shyly.
"H-Hey..What happened?" Alex asked looking around again in the all too familiar room, the school infirmary. Alex was here more than his own classes.
"You had an anxiety attack and you kinda passed out. The nurse and I brought you here. She says you're fine though." The boy responded rubbing his arm slightly.
"Oh, uh, thanks I guess." Alex responded swinging his arms across the bed as he stood. Once he did the dizziness returned once again and Alex slumped back down on the infirmary bed, the boy stood quickly.
"You should get more rest." The boy said placing his hands on Alex's shoulders and lying him back down. "I'm Jack by the way." He said giving Alex a shy smile.
"Alex.." He responded just as the nurse, Ms. Jensen walked in.
"Afternoon, Alex. I see you've regained consciousness. How are you feeling?" Ms. Jensen asked.
"Fine. A bit dizzy, but fine." Alex responded.
"I see. I'll bring you some water, you need some fluids. Jack may I speak to you for a moment?" She said. Jack glanced at Alex before facing Ms. Jensen.
"Uh, yeah I guess." Jack answered following Ms. Jensen into her office.

Ms. Jensen sat at her desk as she took out a manilla folder from the desk drawer. The folder was stuffed with so much paper work that a few papers had slipped out. Jack quickly bent down and retrieved them before returning them to Ms. Jensen.
"Thank you, Jack." She said before stuffing the papers back in. "I'll need to ask you a few questions, Jack, if you don't mind?" She asked as she took out a pen from her coat pocket and began to write on a clean paper from the folder.
"Uh, no go ahead." Jack responded.
"Are you related to Alex?" Ms. Jensen asked.
"Um, no" Jack responded.
"Are you close friends with him?" She asked. Jack shook his head.
"No, miss. I just met him right now when I found him in the bathroom." Jack responded, rubbing his arm awkwardly.
"I see, strange." Ms. Jensen muttered as she continued to write.
"What do you mean 'strange'?" Jack asked. He slowly glanced at the folder and realized it was Alex's medical file and Ms. Jensen was making a new report on this 'incident'.
"Well Jack, you're the first person to ever calm down Alex from an anxiety attack without any medical treatment. And fairly quickly I might add." She said closing the folder and placing it back in the drawer.

"Oh.." Jack whispered. "Um, if it's alright to ask, why does Alex get anxiety attacks?" Jack asked shyly.
"Well you see Jack, the primary cause of anxiety attacks is over-sensitivity to carbon dioxide to the brain. This happens because the person is going through a lot of stress or they have constant fear over something. And Alex has been having these attacks for over a year now, but why he gets them, you'll have to ask him yourself." Ms. Jensen said grabbing a water bottle from her desk, walking back over to Alex in the patients' room with Jack following behind.

"Here, Alex. Try to drink as much as you can. And once the dizziness goes away you can go back to class." Ms. Jensen said turning to leave. "Oh and Jack could stay too if he'd like to." Jack glanced over at Alex.
"Can I stay? I'm not bothering you am I?" Jack asked. Alex shook his head.
"No it's fine. I feel better having somewhere here instead of being alone." Alex said smiling...

From then on Alex and Jack had become inseparable. At first it was a bit strange for Alex, no one had the same affect on him like Jack did. He felt like he was being consumed by fear and darkness whenever he had an anxiety attack, but when Jack was around he felt...safe. Like nothing could hurt him as long as Jack was there.

They began dating in their senior year, and that's when Jack found out about Alex's deceased brother. Alex explained to him that his death made a big impact on him and he fell into depression, and soon enough he began to have these anxiety attacks that he wasn't able to control despite all the medication he had taken. But with Jack, he felt he didn't need all that.

After high school, Jack began working and rented a new apartment for him and Alex. Jack knew that with Alex's anxiety attacks he couldn't work. So while Jack worked as a customer service representative at minimum wage, Alex stayed at home trying to keep himself occupied while Jack came back home.

Now here he was at twenty years old, having another anxiety attack in the living room trying not to wake Jack. Alex was out of luck when he heard footsteps walking into the living room. As much as Jack helped control Alex's attacks, Alex hated bothering Jack. He felt like a burden to Jack, holding him back from everything he wanted to accomplish.

"Alex, babe, what's wrong?" Jack asked when he saw Alex in a fetal position on the couch. He ran over to the couch and sat in front of Alex as he moved his hair out of his eyes. Alex's bangs felt damp under Jack's fingertips from all the sweating.
"Just take some deep breaths and try to calm down. I'm right here." Jack whispered as he pulled Alex into a sitting position and into a hug. Alex did as he was told and began to take slow breaths as Jack whispered comforting words into his ear. Alex leant against his touch. After a few minutes Alex had finally calmed down. Jack pulled back a bit.
"You okay?" Jack asked. Alex nodded as a few tears escaped his eyes. Jack frowned a bit as he ran his thumb under Alex's eyes, wiping away the tears. "What's wrong, love?" Jack asked. Alex sighed a bit.

"What did I do to deserve you Jack?" Alex whispered looking down at his lap. "I'm such a pathetic excuse for a human being a-and I'm just hold you back." Alex choked through tears.
"Alex look at me." Jack said lifting Alex's chin so he was facing him, their foreheads touching. "Don't ever say that. You're the most amazing person I've ever met. And I don't mind working, I didn't want to go to college anyways. I don't know where I'd be if I hadn't met you, Alex. I can't live without you Alex. I need you just as much as you need me." Jack said as he cupped Alex's cheeks and pecked his lips softly, smiling at him.
"Y-You really mean that?" Alex asked. Jack nodded.
"I really do, Alex. I love you." Jack whispered.
"I love you too." Alex whispered back kissing him once again.