"She can be such a bitch!" Rian rambled on and Alex simply nodded following him to his locker.

"I mean," Rian threw open his locker, "I fucking tripped, I was only a second late!" Alex leaned against the locker next to his ranting friend and nodded once again. He often just shook his head and left a comment here and there when Rian talked, though he didn't mind Alex’s sparse talking. After Rian had his books, the two made their way to their next class.

"So Alex, about yesterday, I'm still re-"

"It's okay." Alex cut him off and shook his head. "Don't worry about it." He assured him with a forced smile.

"I still feel bad. How about we go get something to eat after school? It's on me." Rian offered. It had taken him a long time to come to the offer, but he was genuinely sorry.

"No, it's okay. I know you don't like going out much." That was partially true.

"Yes I do." Rian defended.

"Just not with you."

"It's okay, really. I wouldn't want to be seen with a freak like me either." He mumbled and shoved his hands into his pocket before he sat in his usual seat in the back of the classroom. Rian followed behind with a frown, but didn’t say anything more.

***********

"Who can tell me the year Hitler came to power?" The teacher continued on with her lecture, but Alex was not fully there.

"You should pay attention."

"I hate history class." He mumbled quietly to make sure no one else could hear.

"Do something else then. You just stare at the wall." Alex shrugged and stayed fixed on whatever he was staring at. His mind was wandering again. Rian gave him a sympathetic smile, used to Alex's constant daydreaming.

"Mr. Gaskarth!" He flinched back in surprise then realized the teacher stood in front of him . "You need to pay attention! I've been asking you to take out your book for minutes now!"

"Sorry." He said half-heartedly then pulled out his book from underneath his desk with a loud sigh. Everyone was looking at him, most full of snickers and rude side marks, but Rian just pretended to take down notes.

"As I was saying," the teacher went on.

"The kid has no idea what to do with life."

Alex heard her voice ring through his head and swallowed the knot that formed in his throat. He turned to the page she had written on the board and tried hard to concentrate on the words in front of him, but he couldn't. They looked like a jumbled mess of letters. It was all so blurry, he had to blink a couple of times to make sure he wasn’t going blind. Everyone else seemed to either pretend to be reading or typing away on their phones. Alex opted for staring at the book, except he couldn't. The letters gave him a headache, so he closed it, louder than he intended.

"Alex!"

He threw in an apology between his teacher’s lecture of proper behavior. It was then that a very bright light came close to Alex's eyesight, so bright that he had to close his eyes

"Are you even listening?" She was pissed now, but he couldn't focus, not when there was a fucking beam in his eyes. He rubbed at them, but it wouldn't stop.

"Turn it off." He pleaded quietly.

"Turn what off?" His teacher asked in a confused tone. Alex reasoned to himself that she was messing with him, but he couldn't even look up without a burning sensation running through his face. He placed his arms over his book and buried his face into them. It was like his face was catching fire.

"Mr. Gaskarth!"

By now everyone was shamelessly checking out the scene in the back of the room, but Alex couldn't focus on that right now. All he knew was there was something burning his face.

"An attention seeker, just like his brother."

"Don't talk about Tom!" He snapped. Alex rose from his desk quickly and his teacher stumbled back in shock; whether it was from Alex knowing what she had been thinking or the fact the plastic part of the textbook was melted onto Alex's arms, he didn’t know. He was breathing fast and hadn't noticed the terrified looks everyone had, until Rian meekly pointed it out.

"Your book." Alex let his eyes drop down to his desk, sure enough part of his book was a melting mess. Alex didn’t have words. He didn’t know what to say. There had to be a logical explanation.

"Freak!" A girl screeched from somewhere in the room and Alex physically jumped. Pretty soon everyone was pointing, shaking, name-calling, and Alex couldn't take it. Not even the teacher could look at him.

"Stop it!" He yelled and backed against the wall. "Stop," he had never heard so many voices inside his head before. They all belonged to someone from the class.

"Why is he looking at me?"
"He's a freak."
"He's gonna kill us."
"Freak."
"Creep."
"He's shaking."
"Look at his eyes!"

Alex tried to block it all out but he just couldn't. He stumbled his way to the door, and only stopped momentarily to look at Rian.

"Don't look at me. Keep going. Don’t drag me into this." Rian's voice was clear in his mind. He dropped his gaze and ran down the hall.

**********
By the time the lunch bell rang Alex had stopped shaking and had his head resting in his lap inside one of the stalls in the boy’s restroom. He was sure the school would be informed of the previous events and call his parents, but after an hour passed and nothing happened Alex figured the teacher let it slide. It was better for him anyway.

“Mommy and daddy are on their way.”

“Who called them? I thought you said Ms. Smith wasn’t going to call.” Alex’s voice was muffled through tears.

“It was Rian.”

“Why does he care anyway?” Alex sniffled and wiped his watery eyes with his sleeve. He felt a roll of tissue land on his lap. “Thanks.”

“Just stop crying. It’s not your fault he hates you.”

Alex nodded and brought his knees up to his chest. He just wanted to sink down into the ground and disappear for a very long time.

“Alex?” a voice called as the door squeaked opened. Alex sat up straighter, but didn’t bother to answer his mother’s voice.

“Alex. Sweetie, let’s go home.” she called again. Alex shook his head even though she couldn’t see him.

“Please, we don’t have to talk about it. Let’s just go home,” she pleaded once more before Alex gave in. He didn’t want his mother to think he was any more troubled. He unlocked the stall and came out toward his mom, his head down and eyes low. He had turned his sweater inside out to hide the book incident he could not explain. She gave him a small smile before placing her hand on his back gently and directing him to the car. The second they got in Alex felt the atmosphere heat up. He felt like he was going to burst, so he rolled down the car window. He felt his mother’s eyes on him, but said nothing as she pulled out of the school parking lot.

“Did Rian call you?” Alex asked quietly, his voice pained from crying so hard.

“Yes, he said you had an outburst in class. The teacher said she didn’t know what he was talking about.” His mom said as she fixed her rearview mirror. Alex shifted in his seat.

“She doesn’t want to accept your freakish powers.”

“They’re not powers.” Alex mumbled earning a strange look from his mother, which he pretended not to notice.

“Was something wrong?” she asked him.

“I was just angry, that’s all.” he sighed. The conversation was inevitable.

“About what?” she sounded concerned, and her facial features expressed that clearly. It only made it harder for Alex to answer.

“I got a detention for being late.” he lied and pulled on his hood.

“Alex, we both know this isn’t about a detention.”

“It’s about melting books and reading people’s thoughts.”

“Can we just drop it? I already know I’m crazy. I don’t need you telling me too,” he answered sharply. His mom opened her mouth to answer, but quickly closed it to not upset her son any more. The second his mom pulled up into the driveway he ran out of the car and straight to his room while he ignored his mom’s calls.

“Stop being rude to mommy.”

“She was being a bitch.” Alex defended with a groan. “Whose side are you on anyways?” Alex demanded.

“Well she is prettier than you.”

“Fuck you.” Alex rolled his eyes and kicked off his shoes to lie down on his bed.

“If only you could.” Alex scoffed at that. “Thanks, but no thanks. I like seeing the person I’m gonna fuck, thank you very much.”

“Is that an invitation?”

“You need to go away.” Alex sighed and pulled the covers around him.

“But you can see me! If you let me.” Alex shook his head; he didn’t want to see them. People already thought he was crazy for hearing them; they’d probably burn him for seeing things, too.

“I need to clear my head.”

“Maybe going into Tom’s room can help.” Alex shook his head. He didn’t want to go into his room; he could never bring himself to open the door. It was a mix of terror and anxiety.

“You know you want to. You know you’re dying to see if he left anything for you.” Alex lost it then and threw the nearest object he could against the wall, which happened to be his cell phone. Lovely.

“Don’t you fucking dare!” he screamed, and soon felt tears stream down his face. He started to shake, and no matter how tight he wrapped himself with the blankets, he felt extremely cold.

“You know it’s the truth. You know you feel hatred for him. You know it, Alex. Accept it.”

“Shut up!” he bellowed; his mom could probably hear him, but he could care less. He was on the verge of a complete break down, which hadn't happened in almost 5 months.

"He didn’t even love you. He didn’t even care.”

"Yes he did! Yes he did!" Alex repeated through tears.

"Then why would he do it?"

Alex shook his head rapidly to try to block out the voice. Why wouldn't they leave? In an instant, everything went silent, pin-drop quiet. The sound of Alex's heavy breaths filled the room, and with a shaky hand he peeled off the blankets from his head. Timidly, he sat up and stared around the room blankly. He couldn't even hear his mom downstairs anymore.

"Hello Alex." Alex let out a scream he didn’t know he was capable of making. His head was a whirling mess; his whole body trembled and his throat tightened.

"Alex?" The voice asked sadly, stepping closer.

"No!" Alex spat back, then ripped his gaze to the floor and away from the what he knew would be burning brown eyes, he could already feel them pierce through him.

"But Lex."

"No. No. Stop! Stop! Stop!" He was on his knees now.

"What's wrong little brother?"

Alex pushed Tom's hand away. "You're not real! You're not real! You're dead. You're not real." He sobbed and wrapped his arms around himself.

"But I am! Alex I am!" He insisted and knelt down next to him.

"Stop i-it, I'm begging you." He choked out, falling to the floor and bringing his knees to his chest. His brother said nothing, but instead wrapped his arms around him. Alex felt like he was going to explode from the chills and the whole thing in general.

"It's ok." Tom soothed.

"W-why? Why would you leave me?" Alex sniffed, "And not even leave me a reason why?" His eyes spilled over with tears. "You were my best friend. You were..." He couldn't finish the sentence and threw his arms around him. "I miss you." He whispered.

"But I can stay. You just have to let me." Tom said softly.

"I- I don't understand." Alex said confused.

"Look at me Alex." The voice was demanding and had lost the softness it had before. This wasn’t Tom.

"No." He whispered, eyes trained to the floor. "You're not real. I can't hurt myself like that." He whispered.

"Look at me!"

"No!" Alex shot back and pushed him away. He felt extremely cold.

"You fucking brat! You're the reason all of this happened!"

Alex felt a knot at his throat. This wasn't his Tom. It couldn't be. Tom would never tell him that...unless...unless it was true.

"You don't mean that." He mumbled.

"Can't accept the truth Alex? Can't accept the fact you're a freak?" Alex was backing into the wall. "That you tore the family apart?" Alex shook his head and pulled at his hair to make this stop. "That you're the reason I'm dead?"

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Alex shouted, his hands shaking above his head. He felt the room start to shake and suddenly everything he had in the room began to fall down. Frames, posters, even the furniture. Panicked, Alex huddled to the corner, crouching in to himself. He covered his ears with his hands and closed his eyes tight. He felt pieces of glass jump onto him and he swallowed hard to control his breathing. The atmosphere dropped 20 degrees in a matter of seconds that left Alex to tremble not only with fear, but absence of heat. He bit his lip and rocked himself back and forth when the room suddenly turned hot and sticky.

"Please." He begged and felt his chest tighten.

"Then look at me Alex!" He felt a tingle run across his spine. This version of Tom was not one he liked. "Look at me!" Alex couldn't take it anymore; he was tired of fighting himself and sick of hearing his dead brother's voice. He looked up groggily, but something held him back. He shook his head; something wasn't letting him look up. "I'm sick of you,” he groaned. He felt sick, his stomach twisted. He didn’t understand what was happening, but then everything went still. Like time literally stopped. Alex gulped loudly.

"I am crazy." He gasped then covered his eyes.

"You're not crazy, just lost." Alex looked up at the unknown voice. He felt his jaw drop and his eyes widened.

"Who are you?" He managed to croak out. The boy in front of him stood proudly, a smirk on his face. It was then that Alex realized the room was back in order and everything that had been broken seconds prior was sitting in its proper spot unscathed. Alex felt his vision start to fog. He hadn’t seen them in years. This just couldn’t be.

"My name's Jack, and now that you've learned to block out the dumbasses, even if it’s momentarily, I can help." And that's when everything went black.

Notes

OMG GAWD JACK IS FINALY HERE YOU IMPATIENT LITTLE BRATS!!!!!!!! <3

Remember everything thing in italics is the voices in Alex's head.

SO IS TOM REAL!? IS ALEX CRAZY!? IS JACK REAL!? WILL I EVER STOP USING MY CAPS KEY?!

I LOVEZ U ALLZ SO MUCH. Ok, I'm done typing like a 12 year old. Thanks for the support guys, but I'm kinda sad about the amount of comments :( I know you can do better! Those motivate me to write faster! LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS, PREDICTIONS, LOVE, ADDRESS, GUILTY PLEASURE!

SO IS TOM REAL!? IS ALEX CRAZY!? IS JACK REAL!? WILL I EVER STOP USING MY CAPS KEY?!

-AN<3