I Can't Remember the Good Old Days

He walked around until he found a pay phone and dialed Zack's phone number first. "Hello?" Zack answered, and his voice made Alex feel a little calmer. "Zack! Zack… it's Ale-" but he couldn't even finish his sentence before Zack hung up. He didn't want to believe he hung up, he mentally pleaded that it was a mistake, that Zack didn't mean it. So, he tried again, and again, and again, until Zack finally answered, but it wasn't exactly a very pleasant conversation. "Stop calling me" he hissed and hung up. That's when he broke down. The phone slipped from his hand and he fell on his knees, sobbing into his hands. He didn't want to call Matt or Lisa, they had done enough already and he didn't actually know them, they only took him to the hospital when he entered the comma and spent time with him during the week that he was awake.

Now that he actually thought about it, he realized that only Matt and Lisa visited him at the hospital. He was gone for three weeks and no one even reported him to missing persons.

Once he calmed down a little and he slowly stood up. Trembling, he took the phone once again and this time dialed Rian's number. He was still sniffling and shaking, and was barely able to hold the phone to his ear. "Hello?" Rian answered and it was hard for Alex to even start talking. "Hello? Anyone there?" Rian repeated, and Alex barely cought who he supposed was Cass asking who it was. "Ri-an..." He hiccupped, sniffling. "Who is this?" Rian asked, sounding concerned. "I-It's A-lex... P-please do-on't hang up..." He pleaded, starting to cry once again. "Alex? I don't..." there was a small silence before he continued, "Are you crying?" Alex sniffled and nodded, forgetting that Rian couldn't see him. The other seemed to understand anyway, because he sighted and asked, "what happened? Are you in trouble?" sounding annoyed. Alex was already way too hurt to actually care, he was extremely grateful that he hadn't hung up yet. "I-I do-on't know!" He exclaimed and breathed a little, trying to calm down, "Jack hates me and Zack does as well, and I bet you do too and I don't know what's happening!" he cried into the phone. "Alex... You know what you did, I have no idea why you are acting like you were the one who got hurt" he huffed. "I... What?" He did something, something bad. Everything that was happening was his fault. "I hurt Jack?" He said under his breath. It was silent for at least five minutes, until Rian started taking once again, startling him, "Alex... Where are you?". He glanced around until he saw the small label on the edge of the road "Lawnside Road". "Okay, Alex, stay there I'm coming to get you" Rain said and hung up.



"So you really can't remember?" Rian questioned, re-reading the hospital papers once again. He hadn't believed him at first, but he couldn't actually keep saying it after reading exactly what the doctor had to say. Alex shook his head, no and shrugged. He was in Rian's living room, gripping on a pillow that was already wet from crying on it. Rian refused to tell him what he had done, and Alex wasn't going to beg. He felt a little curious, sure, but if it was so bad that got Jack to hate him then he really didn't want to know. "Anything at all of the past 11 months… one of the last things I remember was leaving Jack's house a few days after his birthday."

Mentioning Jack was what hurt him most. They had been friends for, like, fifteen years, and somehow he had ruined it all in a few months. Was he really that stupid? He never would have imagined finding something that was worth enough to lose their friendship. Some people say that maybe either of them could fall in love, but he thought that he couldn't love a girl that didn't like Jack in the first place.

"So… why did you help me?" Alex asked, sounding genuinely curious. "A lot of shit may have happened in the last few months Alex… but I have known you for more than ten years, and you just sounded so lost and helpless, I couldn't just… leave you there" Rian explained, giving Alex a small smile. That smile that always made him feel better. "Thanks Rian… I don't know what I would have done without you." Rian hugged him briefly, "How's your head?" he asked while pulling away. "It's fine, the place where the stitches were hurts a little, but the doctor said its normal" Rian nodded , reading one last time Alex's papers. "It doesn't say here how you fell down, though" Alex shrugged, looking down, "I asked Lisa and Matt, but they said I was already unconscious when they found me… can I stay here tonight? I would like to stay somewhere familiar" he pleaded, looking at Rian with sad eyes. "But what about your hous- oh, yeah, nevermind, sure you can stay here, I'll bring you a blanket and some sweatpants" Alex thanked him and laid down on the couch, trying his best to remember, but it was useless.