Alex had walked the streets for hours until he reached his uncles apartment. He nervously knocked on the door.
The door opened slowly, and his Uncle peered out.
"Betty?" He asked expectantly.
"What?" Alex asked a little uncomfortably, he had forgotten about Betty.
Uncle Miles looked down and saw his nephew.
"Alex!" He said in his gravely voice, as he flung the door open. He looked up and down the hall way. "Where's that no good brother of mine?"
"Don't know, don't care" Alex lied, the truth was he would miss his dad, but he couldn't put up with Nat any longer.
"You're here by yourself?" Uncle Miles said stunned.
"Can I live with you Uncle Miles?" Alex asked desperately.
Uncle Miles thought about it for about a minute.
"Why?" He finally asked.
"I don't want to live with Nat anymore" Alex said with anger in his voice.
"Brothers, you can't live with them. You can definitely live without them, Come on in" Uncle Miles said standing aside letting Alex in.
Wolff Apartment
Mr Wolff left Dr Blackman's apartment happy, she had shown him that there was life after Betty. Mr Wolff spirits dropped a notch when he realized he would have sort out his son's problems when he got home. He found the front door wide open and walked in. He felt immediately that something had gone wrong. He frantically search for either of his sons, Upstairs he noticed that one of his sons pictures was broken. He noticed that Alex's clothes were scattered over the room and one of his bags was missing. He ran down stairs just as Nat walked in.
"Nat have you seen Alex?" He asked worried.
Nat just nodded unable to say anything.
"Where?" Sonny pressed more urgently.
Nat opened his mouth a couple of times but nothing coming.
"Gone…" He finally choked out as he began crying.
Mr Wolff just stood there stunned.
"What do you mean 'gone'" he pressed on, now desperate.
Nat searched for some way to say it easier but failed.
"Ran… Away… To… Uncle… Miles's…" Nat managed to choke out between the sobs. 'It's all my fault' Nat thought to himself, as his fathers face crumpled in shock.
Nat woke up the next morning and got up out of bed.
"Come on Alex, time to get up" Nat said before turning to face the empty bed. It all hadn't just been a bad dream.
Nat sighed heavy heartedly, and picked up some of his clothes and went for a shower, he spent half an hour as though trying to drown away his problems.
Nat grabbed a muesli bar, after getting changed, and heading out the door. It felt so strange not to have Alex walking beside him, he wished he knew how to make things better.
"Hey Nat, how did things go?" Rosalina asked running up to Nat.
"Hey Rosie, don't ask," Nat said sighing heavily.
"Oy! Nat, where's Alex?" Juanita called skateboarding up to Nat and Rosalina.
Nat had dreaded this moment since the moment he woke.
"Gone, he ran away last night" Nat said slowly and quietly.
Juanita didn't say anything, she ran threw her thoughts, and grew angry with both Alex and Ryan, both as pigheaded as each other.
"Do you know where he went?" Rosalina said grabbing Nat's hand.
"Uncle Miles's," Nat said simply.
"Cooper!" Nat called seeing his friend and band manager.
"Hey Nat what are you up to?" Cooper said formally.
"Alex quit the band" Nat said bitterly.
"What? Why?" Cooper said stunned.
"He ran away as well." Nat said holding back the emotions.
"Why?" Cooper said stunned.
"It's a long story," Nat replied.
"It's my fault," Juanita said finally speaking.
"Juanita it is not your fault, you did nothing wrong" Rosalina reassured.
"But did I do anything right?" Juanita asked back.
Uncle Miles Apartment
Alex lay sleeping on the couch, blankets drooped over him. Alex was suddenly shaken awake and woke up in a blinding light.
"Rise and shine sleeping beauty?" Uncle Miles said in his gravely voice.
"Why?" Alex moaned with his good arm up protecting his eyes from the sunlight.
"School" Uncle Miles said throwing a towel at Alex.
"I don't want to go to school" Alex protested.
"Not an option bossman" Uncle Miles said heading to the kitchen and getting a cup of coffee.
"Bastard" Alex swore under his breath as he got up, and grabbing some clothes from his bag made his way to the bathroom.
Alex looked in the mirror as he turned the shower on, he looked like he had seen better days. His right eye was black and swollen and he had a cut on the forehead above his left eye. His hair was matted with blood from a gash on his scalp. Alex took the sling of his arm and massaged his shoulder, it felt stiff and sore as he had dislocated it the day before.
Alex spent close to half an hour in the shower as he both cleaned himself and tried to procrastinate what was certain to come.
It was to quickly Alex found himself at school, arm in a sling, and getting strange looks from everyone.
Alex saw Juanita, Rosalina, Cooper and Nat, walking along the footpath and he quickly darted into the school.
Qaasim, Thomas and David walked up to Nat Rosalina, Cooper and Juanita.
"What happened to Alex?" David asked, having spotted Alex disappearing into the school.
"You saw him?" Nat asked incredulously.
"Yeah he's right… there…" Qaasim said point to where Alex had been standing, "well he was"
"I'm going to find him," Juanita said and started walking quickly towards the school.
"You think he will listen?" Rosalina asked sceptically, quickening her pace to keep up.
"I have to try don't I?" Juanita replied
Juanita and Rosalina ran into the school, and began searching the corridors.