Alex made sure to be the last one to exit the classroom as the end of the day bell rang. He wasn't in the mood to run into anyone that'd give him a hard time. Once the class was empty he grabbed his history book and made his way to his locker. Alex was thankful for the top locker he had been granted, six hundred and sixty six, the last one before the bottom rows began. Alex quickly threw in whatever he needed into his backpack and slammed his locker shut, heading to the exit to begin the walk home. He lived about half an hour away, which he was in a way thankful for because it gave him at least that much time to himself without the judgmental and interrupting presence of anyone else. Alex had no one to expect after school (Rian drove home) so he left the second he could.

“I never conquered, rarely came 16 just held such better days when I still felt alive.” Alex sang quietly to himself, looking at nothing in particular. His backpack was slung over tightly on his shoulder, his cell phone in his hand.

“I never thought I'd die alone. I laughed the loudest who'd have known?” Alex looked up startled at the lyrics. This time they hadn't come from his mouth nor his mind. He turned around quickly to be met with a deserted street.

“You’re losing it.” he whispered to himself continuing the walk. “I never thought I’d die alone.” Ok, Alex was positive someone was messing with him. The voice sounded happy and somewhat taunting...what the actual fuck was going on? Alex pushed it out of his mind, he wasn't in the mood to deal with voices right now. Rian’s outburst at lunch was still fresh in his mind and he wanted to forget about it.

“He’s not sorry y’know.” Alex groaned using his hands to cover up his ears in an attempt to block out all the whispers that were starting to fill up his mind. “Covering up your ears doesn't cover up your mind stupid.” a very familiar voice filled Alex’s head.

“Leave me alone.” Alex pleaded. “I get lonely.,” the voice repeated in a tone that matched Alex’s. Great, he was being teased by a voice now.

“Stop talking to me.” Alex swatted his hand, as if that would get rid of it.

“You're the one talking back.” The voice snickered. Alex rolled his eyes and shook his head. From a bystander’s perspective Alex must have looked like a madman, talking and waving things off when he was alone.

“Remind your mother that she is married,” a new voice laughed sending chills down Alex’s back.

“What?’ he asked confused after a moment. He felt slightly lightheaded and was starting to feel rather cold, a common effect after hearing the voices for so long. It went painfully silent and Alex had to hit his ears slightly to make sure he hadn't gone deaf. He couldn't even hear his own breathing. Panicked, he clapped his hands together...nothing. Stop it Alex...stop imagining things, he thought feverishly. He closed his eyes and shook his head and when he opened them all he could see was miles and miles of flames. He felt his body tense up.

“Stop it!” and everything suddenly came into focus. Alex was bent over his knees trying to catch his breath. When had he even gotten home? He pushed the thought out of his mind and threw the door open, running up to his room in an attempt to clear his mind. It was times like these that Alex hated this 'gift'; or at least that's what Alex called it. These voices he heard, he was convinced they were souls that had nowhere else to go, so they came to him. Why? Alex wasn't so sure.

"I need music." He whispered to himself, a habit Alex had picked up at a young age. He dropped his backpack on his bed and flicked on whatever CD was inside his stereo. He stood still for a moment, catching his breath while his mind flicked from thought to thought; which was another thing Alex had always done. He could never keep focus on one specific topic. It wasn't until his stomach made a growling noise that Alex snapped out of his daze.

"I need food." He decided dragging his feet to the kitchen. It was strange to Alex how he never ate at school but there were those times when he got home and wanted to eat fucking everything.

"Poptarts?" He asked in a singasong voice before shaking his head. "Oreos?" He thought this over for a minute, looking at the chocolate cookies before placing the pack back into the cupboard. He didn’t like opening new boxes of food.

"How about that tasteless slop your mother calls meatloaf?"

"That's not nice." Alex narrowed his eyes at the voice.

"Her food isn't nice." Alex shook the comment away and turned to the fridge. There were random items scattered around but nothing caught his attention.

"There's nothing anyways." Alex frowned moving around the top shelf to see if he found anything behind the milk.

"There's a piece of cake on the bottom shelf." Alex shrugged before crouching down and finding the dessert.

"Thanks." He grinned letting the fridge door shut and placed the cake on the counter. Sure the voices were annoying sometimes but they could be quite useful.

"You better hurry upstairs." Alex raised a brow taking out a fork from the sink.

"I wanna eat fir-" Alex was cut off by the sound of heels coming closer to the kitchen.

"Shit." He mumbled scooting the slice of cake away from him.

"Who were you talking to honey?" His mom asked coming into the room and placing her coat on the counter.

"I was just...just...studying." He lied terribly. He knew how much it hurt his mom to see her son struggle with voice in his head. She had known since Alex was in elementary school that he had social problems, so she took her son to a psychologist. It was here that Alex confessed to hearing his friends talk to him. He even went as far to describe them, which scared both the psychologist and Alex's mom. They had a serious talk with him and Alex told them he was just sad he had no friends and had to make his own. This of course was a lie, but six year old Alex figured its be better to say this if it would make his mom stop crying and take him to the crazy lady who spelled like bubble gum.

"Oh ok." She forced a smile and accepted her son's lie. "How was school?" She shuffled around taking out pots and pans to begin the night’s dinner.

"It was great." Alex smiled nodding a little to eagerly.

"That's great honey." His mom went along with it. She figured if she pretended everything was fine then maybe her son would turn normal. Alex shifted from foot to foot as his mom took out ingredients from the fridge. He didn’t know what to do, should he go back up or help her?

"Your dad always makes such a mess." His mom sighed laughing halfheartedly at the box of Oreos on the floor. Alex jumped back slightly, he was sure he had out them back.... "And they're expired! Like two years ago." His mom made a face and tossed them into the bin. "They even melted from the heat." Alex was convinced he was delirious.

"Alex have you seen the plastic pa-Alex!" His mom's face grew stern. He just stared at her confused.

"You aren't supposed to be eating sweets!" She scolded pointing to the plate in Alex's hands. Wait, hadn't he put it down?

"I'm sorry...I forgot." He apologized with honesty. It slipped his mind at times, he didn’t understand why.

"You know it gives you nightmares!" She shook her head taking the plate from Alex's hand, which he didn’t object to. His mom had cut all sort of junk food from his diet. She liked to blame her son's problems on anything she could find.

"And Peter made it himself."

"Who is Peter?" He asked baffled.

His mothers face flushed and then quickly erased all emotion. "Peter? What are you talking about?"

"You said Peter made it..." Alex was unsure now and felt extremely uncomfortable.

"Alex I didn’t say anything." She said calmly.

"Yes you did! Y-you said that P-" Alex tried to reason but his mom shook her head.

"I didn't say anything." She repeated firmly.

"But mom I-"

"Go to your room Alex." She closed her eyes, pinching her nose trying to force back tears.

"Mom I'm sorry, I didn't th-"

"Now! Go now!" She yelled and Alex nodded slowly, walking up the stairs.

"Boy, someone needs a chill pill."

"Fuck off." Alex gritted his teeth.

"Why? We're the only ones who haven't yelled at you, or judged you, not even rejected you. Not once." Alex felt his eyes water. It was depressing to know the only think in your life that wasn't ashamed or embarrassed of you were voices that no one else heard.

Notes

I hope that wasn't too confusing...poor Lex :(
Title credits: Pierce the Veil.

Ok....So like I know this is boring and whatever but it will get better! I don't want people to lose interest because Jack hasn't been introduced yet, but i want you guys to really know Alex before i do. I hope this chapter gave you a little bit of insight about the things Alex has to deal with....SO PATIENCE YOUG ONE (or old, i don't judge) THIS WILL BE JALEX.

SO thanks for all the feedback! So don't be a silent reader, COMMENT! Leave your opinions, predictions, ideas, thoughts, bra sizes- ANYTHING!!!
Thanks whores :D

-An