Dead But Breathing

“So, how do you like it here in Baltimore” Jack asked, him. They were both leant against a wall listening to Jacks ipod and chatting about life in general. Alex shrugged.

“Its definitely more interesting than anywhere I lived in England, but I haven’t really seen much of it yet” Alex replied playing with the rocks on the ground next to him as he spoke.

“I’m surprised Matt hasn’t shown you around” Jack shrugged, skipping through the songs on his ipod.

“Jack?” Alex started, looking up at Jack. Jack met his gaze and nodded, titling his head sidewise slightly.

“Yeah?”

“What do you think of Matt?” Alex asked, and Jack shrugged.

“Matt’s a cool guy, he took me to my first Blink concert which was aswome, he throws great parties and he’s funny, always getting us in trouble at school” Jack laughed, “Why you ask?”

“I was just wondering, I haven’t seen him out much with friends” Alex shrugged, returning to play with the ground. The way Jack described Matt didn’t sound anything like how Matt was to Alex. Matt treated Alex like a small child, and got angry with him easily. Alex had never heard him crack a joke or laugh properly apart from when he was drunk at his party, he just seemed so serious all the time. He couldn’t imagine him acting like a Jack had described.

“When are you starting school?” Jack asked. Alex widened his eyes; him and Matt hadn’t discussed school, and Alex had a feeling Matt wouldn’t let him go even if he wanted to, and really, Alex didn’t particularly want to attend school. Even though he was fine around Jack, he knew he probably wouldn’t be in a crowded school, surrounded by people with fresh blood pumping through them. Nope. There was no way Alex was attending school.

“Um… me and Matt haven’t really spoken about it yet” Alex said quietly looking down. He could feel Jacks eyes boring into the side of his skull.

“Well, you should probably bring it up, the new semester starts soon” Jack shrugged

“Yeah” Alex agreed, nodding his head slightly, even though he had no intention of bringing up school with Matt.

“You should come to my school, Dulaney, its shit but me, Zack, Rian, Matt and the others all go there so you’ll have friends, and it’ll be so awesome having you at school, like, it’s so boring right now” Jack rambled, the excitement growing in his eyes, “You should pick the same subjects as me as well, and I can introduce you to my other friends!”

“Um.. yeah.. sure” Alex mumbled, flicking his fringe out of his eyes while still looking at the ground. Alex could feel a presence behind him and he snapped his head around, looking up to see Matt standing over them, looking irritated. Alex gulped, things never went well when Matt was pissed off.
“Alex, we should go now” Matt said quietly, and Alex could tell he was trying to stay calm. Why was he even angry in the first place?

“Yeah, sure” Alex said, slightly glad Matt had interrupted their talk about school. He pulled himself to his feet and Jack got up as well, smiling at them both.

“I’ll see you soon then Alex” Jack grinned, and Alex nodded, giving him a small smile in response.

“Yeah.. soon” Alex replied, before giving Jack one last smile and turning to follow Matt, who had got impatient and started to walk to the exit of the park. Alex quickly caught up though, but he said nothing, too scared that anything he said would anger Matt even more. They walked in complete silence all the way home, with Matt slightly ahead of Alex. They rode the lift up to the level of their apartment, and Tay was on their floor, cleaning like she had been the last time Alex saw her. She smiled widely at him, and Alex smiled back, before following Matt into the apartment and shutting the door gently behind him.

Matt was stood facing away from Alex, looking out of the window. Alex coughed slightly to get his attention, and Matt whipped round, glaring at Alex. It was the kind of glare that made him feel about 2 feet tall, and however much he tried not to let it intimidate him, it did.

“Whats up” Alex asked, trying to sound causal to mask the fear in his voice. Matt scoffed before walking a few steps closer to Alex, who instinctively took a step back.

“I hope you had fun there Alex, prancing around with Jack like a fucking 5 year old” Matt snarled, “Its just wonderful how you have a friend, a friend who wants you to attend school with him”

Matt’s words were laced with sarcasm, and he almost spat them at Alex. His eyes were dark, like they always were when he was angry. Normally, Alex would have been thrown against a wall by this point.

“I…. I didn’t mean for that to come up in conversation” Alex stuttered, looking away from Matt as he
spoke.

“Well it did, didn’t it Alex” The way Matt used his name made him wince and shut his eyes, “and its really great, because now I’m going to have to enroll you in school, where there is an extremely high possibility that you will try to kill everyone there, including your new ‘best friend’’

Alex stepped forwards, letting a snarl rip through his body and out of his mouth, it was an inhuman sound, one that Alex didn’t know he was capable of making, but the noise satisfied him, as he saw the look on Matt’s face turn from angry to just slightly intimidated.

“I won’t fucking hurt jack” Alex snarled, “or… anyone else” He added, not so confidently. Why was he so protective over Jack all of a sudden?

“I don’t believe you.” Matt said, fear still evident in his eyes. Alex didn’t change his position.

“I’ll prove it to you. Enroll me in school and I’ll prove I wont hurt anyone, I have this under control” Alex spat, and Matt nodded.

“Sure Alex, ill enrol you in school, and watch you rip out everyones throat on your first day.”

A loud growl erupted from Alex as he lept forwards, throwing himself at Matt, teeth bared.

“That won’t fucking happen” Alex half yelled half snarled at Matt, who was now pinned down beneath him. “I was fine at the park, I’ll be fine at school.”

Matt used all his strength to push Alex off of him, rolling him over and onto the floor before standing up.

“Fine Alex, but this is your call. If anything happens, I won’t be there to clean up after you.” Matt said calmly before leaving the room, slamming his bedroom door shut behind him. Alex lent up on his elbows before standing up. He had never gotten angry with Matt like that before, and it frightened him. It frightened him how much power he had, and how easy it would be for him to hurt someone. He regretted telling Matt to enrol him into school, because he knew he would end up hurting someone, but he had just won the argument and he wasn’t about to back down. Anyway, he would have Jack at school, and somehow, Jack managed to keep Alex sane.