Joe sat quietly in the corner of his best friend Charles' room as all of his friends, including Alice, talked animatedly about the night before. They were all filled with an exited energy that tended to linger after something happened that caused adrenaline rushes.
Even though none of them had gotten any sleep they weren't tired. The only one of them that was subdued at all was Joe, who hadn't spoken much since the alien left. Usually he would be voicing his own thoughts and opinions in a situation like this (not that having an alien terrorize their town was a common occurrence), but for now he was content to let the others do all the talking.
As Cary retold the story of how he and Joe had gone into the underground tunnels and saved Alice, Joe thought back on what happened immediately after the alien left.
Once it's spaceship was completely out of site, the trace everyone who saw it had seemed to be in broke, and the military men noticed the three kids and two adults that shouldn't have been there. All five of them were roughly shoved into camouflaged jeeps and driven back to their base were they were reunited with a bandaged and drugged up Martin and a hysterical Charles. Once Joe had clamed his friend down all of them (excluding Martin, none of his sentences made any sense) were questioned about their involvement with the alien and then released when it was apparent that they had just been trying to help, and knew nothing that they already didn't.
The only interrogation that went oddly was Joe's. He answered all of the questions that were asked, but it was evident that he was feeling out of it when his words came out pained. He had had, and still had, a headache that made even thinking painful. When asked about it he said it was nothing, but really it felt as if something was building up in his brain and pushing against the walls of his skull. As he left with his dad he could feel someone's eyes on him, but he tried to ignore it.
After that they went back to the town, where all the people who had been hurriedly evacuated were returning. Charles, Cary, and Martin (leaning heavily on Joe) met up with their anxious families and reassured them that they were fine and gave them the lame excuse that the military personal told them to use. They couldn't very well just say that they had been trying to save their friend from an angry alien that wanted to eat her.
All the people who's homes were still intact returned to them, and those whose houses were destroyed or heavily damaged were directed the towns community center where cots had been set up for temporary use. The military fed the people of Lillian lies and half-truths, but they did promise to make sure all their homes would be rebuilt on the governments pay, something that surprised everyone.
Joe went home with his dad, feeling slightly better knowing the he might be able to establish a better relationship with him, but the headache was still there. He dad never let him out of his sight until they were safe in their home, which had been thankfully saved from any damage. The only one of his friend's homes that had received any destructive blows, and or explosions was Cary's house. His family had to stay at the community center, although they didn't mind. Their house had been a wreck because of Cary's obsession with fire and explosives. They would have had to remodel anyway, this way they didn't even have to pay.
The next morning all six of them met up at Charles' house so they could all get the entire story. Preston was especially confused because all he had gotten was the militaries explanation, which he knew couldn't have been true because he knew about the alien.
"Hey Joe! You ok over there? You keep spacing out?" a voice asked him bringing him out of his flow of memories and back to the present.
He looked up to the curious eyes of Cary, who had asked the question. Everyone looked at him, waiting for an answer. Alice looked especially concerned.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine, guys. You don't have to worry." He assured them, absently massaging his pounding head.
"Are you sure, because you had that really bad headache last night and it seems like it hasn't gone away. Maybe you should tell your dad about it." Alice pressed suspiciously. Joe looked at with something akin to panic in his eyes.
"No! My dad doesn't need to know. It's nothing really, just a simple headache." He objected with a weak smile. Alice narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips.
"Sure man, whatever." Cary replied dismissively, oblivious to Joe's nervousness.
Martin was sitting in a chair with his leg propped up, his eyes still droopy from the painkillers he was given, so he didn't notice anything strange with Joe either, but Preston and Charles did. Preston was a quiet person and knew when not to push a person and give much needed space, Charles on the other hand was not so tactful.
"Oh come on, Joe. Your head hurt so bad yesterday you couldn't even think clearly! Just tell your freaking dad and stop trying being some kind of hero." He exclaimed standing up and towering over Joe's small form.
"What do you mean 'trying to be some kind of hero'? It's just a headache. Everybody gets them." Joe questioned weakly, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"You think that you're so tough and brave, but you're not! Any one of us could have saved Alice last night. I could have if I hadn't stayed with Martin!" Charles yelled angrily.
"Hey, leave me out of this." Martin mumbled through his tired haze, probably just hearing Charles' raised voice and his name. It wasn't hard to tell when Charles was starting a fight.
"We weren't even talking about that," Joe said slowly, as he would talk to an animal about to pounce. "I just have a headache, ok? I know that you could have saved Alice if you had been given the chance."
On the inside his blood was boiling. He was usually the peacemaker along with Preston, and he was trying to keep the peace now, but his friend was being exceedingly rude and selfish. Just as he was partially a peacemaker, he was also quiet and shy, the complete opposite of Charles. Usually Charles would be in the spotlight and he would be in the shadowed background. Why couldn't his friend be happy for him?
"I'm sure I could have saved her. I don't need you to tell me that! Your just being cocky because of what you did last night, but it wasn't as great as you probably think." Charles sneered.
Cary was glaring at Charles, obviously angry at his words, while Preston looked unsure of what to do and Alice kept looking between him and Charles with a knowing look. Martin was asleep.
Joe, sick of how he was being spoken to, stood up right in front of Charles and got in his face.
"I didn't go after Alice because I was trying to be a hero! I did it because I didn't want her to die. The entire time Cary and I were down in those tunnels I was scared out of my mind! I wasn't sure if I was going to die. And I wasn't being cocky just because I don't want to tell my dad about my headache! It's no big deal and I would appreciate it if you all would stop being so darn nosy." He yelled with his hands rolled into fists.
As he ranted hi felt something in his mind snap, and the pressure he felt before seemed to flow freely. Where it flowed, he wasn't sure, but flowed was the perfect word to use. It was like having water in his head, making him feel top heavy.
With one hand he clenched his head and with the other he supported him self on the wall. His eyes were squeezed tightly shut in pain.
Charles, whose face now showed concern, put a hand on his shoulder and asked if he was ok. All the others were now standing (except Martin) and crowding around him.
"I need to leave." He gasped out desperately like he could get in any air.
He shoved his way past them and stumbled down the hall and out of the house, ignoring Charles' mother as she asked if he was ok. Once outside he headed straight for his bike, not even sure if he'd be to ride.
He reached for its handle as another wave of dizziness hit him. He closed his eyes and steadied himself so he wouldn't fall. As the world seemed to stop spinning he realized that something cool and slick was in his hand. He opened his eyes and saw that he was now gripping his bike handle tightly in his hand.
He looked at it in confusion. He could have sworn it was at least a foot away from him before. He shook his head in a fruitless attempt to clear it and quickly mounted his bike.
The closer he got to his house, the better he felt. It was like whatever was pressuring his skull before was settling, like it had been held back and just need space to expand.
Instead of feeling dizzy or achy he felt refreshed and energized. Like he had drunk twenty bottles of coca cola.
Something that bothered him about this new feeling was the nagging sense of awareness that wasn't there before, like he knew more then he ever had.
As he pulled into his driveway he saw the light on in his living room and knew his father was home from work. He had left early in the morning to help with all the chaos.
He smiled, looking forward to seeing his changed dad and completely forgetting about his old headache and the new awareness.
A/N: OK, PLEASE READ THIS IF YOU LIKED THE FIRST CHAPTER! This is kind of like a testing chapter to see if anyone would like the idea of this story, if someone doesn't read it I'm not going to bother continuing, but if you read it and liked it, I desperately need your help. I'm not sure if I should add an OC as a main character or make this a Joe/Alice story or a Joe/OC story or even maybe have an OC be a main character but still keep it Joe/Alice and keep the OC single or pair her with another main character. If you want any say in how this story proceeds I suggest you tell me because I'm going to be basing the next chapter on what the majority of you want most. If I include an OC she will show in chapter 2 so I need to know before I start writing in and finishing my story outline. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE TELL ME WHAT YOU'D LIKE! I NEED TO KNOW!