A/N: So, this is officially version 2.0 of The Ultimate Escape! After reading over the original fic, I felt that it could do with a little bit of an update and overall facelift, so I decided that it would be better to re-write it! Hopefully, you'll all enjoy this as much as you enjoyed the original!
As always, any and all reviews, whether good or bad, are deeply appreciated, so feel free to leave your opinions! Opinions make me a happy writer, and a happy writer is a productive writer!
Unfortunately, as much as I want to, I don't, nor will I ever own either Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, or anyone else who randomly decides to turn up in this fic!
Enjoy guys! :)
The cold night breeze was the first thing to hit Alex in the face when he opened the main door to the hotel, and the sharpness of it made him wince subconsciously as he folded his arms tightly across his chest, trying desperately to keep himself warm. He was already beginning to shiver, and the spots of rain that were starting to fall certainly wasn't helping matters as he wandered over to stand underneath one of the canopies hanging over the entrance, taking a few deep calming breaths as he did so before he leant back against the hard brick wall behind him.
He couldn't believe how much of a fool he was, how close he'd come to being rumbled by the others as he rested his head back against the concrete, trying hard to hold back the tears that were welling in the corners of his eyes. He should of known by now never to let his guard down for even the tiniest moment, and this was just further proof of why that was.
He hadn't been ready for the questions that had almost immediately begun upon his arrival in the hotel lobby. Alex arrived alone as per normal - he refused to let Alex be seen with him - and as he'd walked in, he'd bumped straight into Jay, Storm and Roode. Normally, he'd have been happy enough to stand there and talk to them about whatever took their fancy, but he was way too nervous and jittery to be able to make conversation with them. Sharp-eyed as they were, they called him out on it, asking him what was going on, whether he was okay, whether his sudden change in behaviour was done to anything someone had done to him, even whether he'd pulled a prank and was looking over his shoulder out of fear for the recipient getting their own back on him.
He couldn't answer.
All Alex could hear in his head was his voice, telling him to keep his worthless mouth shut, telling him that his words meant nothing and that no-one really cared about what he had to say. As he was listening to the soundtrack that made up most of his life, Jay had touched him on the shoulder, and Alex had flinched so damn violently that he thought he'd end up having a heart attack from the surge of terror that ran up his spine. Jay hadn't even had time to start apologising to him before he fled, claiming that he needed some air and that he'd catch up with them later before he practically ran out of the hotel to escape their questioning and confused stares.
Letting out a shallow shaky sigh, Alex rubbed his hand over his eyes in a futile attempt to hold back his tears, but that didn't stop them from beginning to slip down his face as he let out a half choked sob. In the past, he'd never have been caught dead letting out so much emotion; he'd rather have been killed straight between the legs and revoked of his manhood before he did such a thing, but times had changed since then. Circumstances had changed. Now, crying was one of the rare pleasures that he had left to let out all of his hurt and sadness, when he found himself alone and he had time to reflect about how far he had fallen.
It had never been like this to begin with. What had started out as one of the greatest periods of his entire life had descended into what was by far the worst, but he couldn't find anyway out of the torture that had now become his everyday waking world. He was too far in, too beaten, too broken to even think about making things change now, and even if he did try to break the cycle, he knew exactly what would happen to him. It was what was threatened to him a million times a day, everyday for the past 8 months, and even just the mere thought of the consequences was enough to make him tense and shudder in unadulterated fear.
Running his hand down his arm, his fingers shook as he slowly prised up the sleeve of his jacket, revealing his skin. Even through the unshed tears that blurred his vision, the vibrant black and purple bruises that rung his forearm, the cuts and burns that lay scattered across his arm, and the fresh and fading scars that seemed to touch every inch of his flesh were still clear as day to see. Pressing his fingertips softly to a deeply welted stripe on the inside of his wrist, he couldn't help but let out another hiccuped sob as the vividly haunting memories of the night before and barely a few hours ago played through his mind.
He couldn't even remember what he had done, but he had paid for it. By God, he had well and truly paid in blood for whatever it was he had done last night to anger him. Alex had begged and pleaded for forgiveness, promised him that he'd be better in future, that he wouldn't upset him again, but it stll hadn't been enough to quench the violence that he had unleashed upon him. If anything, Alex's cries had driven him on to deliver a particularly bloody and brutal beating, until Alex had lost all will to be able to speak at all.
Quickly rolling back down the sleeve of his jacket in disgust, a sudden wave of self-hatred and bitterness washed over Alex as he repeatedly punched his hand back into the wall angrily, not caring for the extreme amount of pain now flowing through his knuckles as the tears continued to stream down his face. He couldn't believe how far he'd fallen, how low he'd sunk or how pathetic he'd become. The Alex Shelley of old had all but been destroyed, and the Alex Shelley of now absolutely resented himself for letting it happen; but the more he let out his internal anger, the worse and worse he felt, his sorrow eventually completely overcoming him as he broke down into sobs of sheer anguish, cradling his now bloody hand to his chest as he let himself openly weep.
"Now that wasn't the smartest of ideas, was it?"
Alex jumped out of his skin in shock at the voice, his breath heavy and fast as he snapped his head round in the direction of the person who'd spoken. His widened eyes caught sight of Chris leaning up against the wall next to him, looking at him worried, and he coudn't stop himself from dropping his gaze to the floor in shame as he desperately willed his tears to stop. They didn't of course, and when he felt Chris' body move to stand in front of him, he couldn't help but curl in on himself in fear, unable to stop his natural instinct even in front of his best friend.
"Alex? What's wrong dude? Anyone would get the idea that you think I'm going to hurt you or something."
Chris remark was laced with a hint of sarcasm, but Alex knew him well enough to hear the overwhelming concern in his voice, and that in turn just made his stomach knot up. No one gave a damn about him. No one cared about how he was or what he was feeling. He was nothing more than an insignificant and worthless excuse for a human being. Nothing more, nothing less.
Chrs cocked an eyebrow at Alex's scared silence, and he reached his hand out to gently clasp around Alex's wrist, pulling his bleeding hand away from his chest and into the light of the street lamps. The second Chris had touched him, Alex had flinched violently in fear once more, biting his lip to stop himself from screaming out in pain as Chris's fingers rubbed against the welts and bruises around his arm that had been left there from the night before. Chris carefully pried Alex's fingers open, inspecting his hand as he very softly ran his thumb over the raw knuckles, trying to look at the damage down. Alex just stood there with his eyes glued to the ground as tears of pain and terror ran down his face, every muscle in his body tightly tensed as he shook.
"I don't think you've done anything major dude, but you'd better get that checked out with the doctor tomorrow just to make sure."
"Yes si- Chris," Alex mumbled under his breath automatically, his response ingrained into his brain. He barely lifted his gaze from the floor to look up at Chris, but as he did so, he caught sight of the person walking on the opposite side of the road towards the hotel, and Alex was suddenly desperate to get away from Chris and go to his room before he noticed him standing there talking to another man.
It didn't work.
His eyes locked for a brief few seconds with his as he crossed over the road and made his way to the door of the hotel, and the glare that he fixed him with was enough to tell him that he was really going to be in for it if he didn't stop talking to Chris at that very moment. He went to snatch his hand back, but Chris kept a tight grip, making Alex wince in pain as more tears sprung into his eyes. He heard Chris sigh deeply, and he knew that whatever Chris was about to say to him was going to cost Alex dearly, as he leisurely strolled along the path, staring icily at Alex the entire time as he closed in on the entrance.
"Look Alex, I know that there's something going on. You've been like this for months, and I'm really honestly worried about you," When Alex didn't reply, Chris let out another sigh before continuing. "If you don't want to say anything, that's fine, but just know that when you are ready to talk about it, I'll be ready to listen, okay? I'll see you tomorrow for our match, and promise me you'll get that hand of yours checked in the morning."
"I promise," Alex murmered brokenly, unable to shake off the fear now ripping down his spine as he shook his head firmly, giving him one last glare before disappearing inside the hotel, emphatically telling him that if he didn't get his ass back to the room right now, there was going to be hell to pay.
"Good, now I'll catch you later," Chris replied softly, before carefully letting go of Alex's hand and walking back towards the brightly lit entrance of the hotel.
Watching with held breath as Chris left his view, Alex leant back against the wall for a few moments, the terror rolling off of him in thick waves as almost hysterical tears ran down his face. He'd known from the moment that he'd seen him that it was going to be a long night, and the reality of having to go inside and face all of that anger and fury made Alex want to run off and never come back, but he knew that would never work.
He never had any choice.
Quickly wiping his non-injured hand across his face to get rid of the tears, he dragged himself as fast as his reluctance would let him towards the door that both he and Chris had gone through, almost desperately praying that the lobby would be empty. He didn't think he'd be able to find an excuse for his condition that would be half way believable, and the prospect of facing more questions made him want to throw up. Peering through the glass, he thanked his paper thin luck that the lobby had now cleared out. Opening the door to the hotel lobby, he almost ran across the floor, not wanting to make him wait any longer that he had already. Making him wait was enough of an excuse for some major punishment, and as much of a coward as Alex now thought himself to be, he knew that the smartest option was to get it over and done with quick to stop it being drawn out any longer than it needed to be.
Alex almost sprinted up the first flight of stairs before walking as fast as he could down the corridor before stopping outside his room. Their room. Closing his eyes for a few seconds, he could feel his hands shake in a mixture of cold and fear as he tried to gather together every shred of courage that he still had left. Lifting his hand up, he took a deep breath before giving a couple of hard knocks to the door, listening as the thuds reverberated between the empty walls. His heart was almost buzzing in his chest as he heard heavy footsteps on the inside of the room, before the handle began to twist. Alex found himself rooted to the spot as the door swung upon with a loud crash, and he averted his gaze to the floor as he came to stand in front of him, his entire body radiating anger and fury.
Instantly, a fist curled itself around the collar of Alex's jacket, and Alex almost yelped in shock as he was violently yanked forward into the room and the door slammed shut behind him. He barely had time to think before he was thrown back first into the wall, tight hands gripped tight around his throat as he pinned Alex hard against the wall, digging his fingertips hard into Alex's neck as Alex began to wheeze and beg, the tears starting to stream down his face once again. He desperately clawed at his throat, trying to gain some space to allow him to breath, but was almost instantly cut off as he smacked Alex hard around the face, a whimper of pain being released into the air as a small streak of blood began to drip from Alex's bottom lip.
"What the fuck do you think you were playing at?" He snarled viciously, his eyes blazing with psychotic levels of anger as he slapped Alex again. Alex couldn't help but cry and choke in sheer terror as his hands tightened further around his throat, leaving the outline of his fingers on the already bruising skin.
"I'm sorry," Alex sobbed desperately, "I didn't mean to, he snuck up on me and-"
"LIAR!" He screamed into Alex's face fiercely, watching with a sickening amount of perverse happiness as Alex continued to fight and struggle to breath. As he abruptly let go of Alex's neck, Alex immediately crumpled to a heap on the floor, violently shaking as sobs ripped through his aching body.
"I'm sorry! It won't happen again, I swear it! I didn't mean for him to talk to me, I didn't mean for him to touch what isn't his, I swear!" Alex pleaded, hoping it would satisfy him as he leant up against the wall, trying to stop the constant stream of tears from racing down his bruised cheek. He dared a look into his face,immediately wishing he hadn't as he dropped his red raw eyes back to the carpet beneath him as the terrifyingly vicious anger contorted his expressions.
Alex screamed out in pain as the sickening thud of a boot hit his chest, snatching at every last breath that Alex tried to steal. Pain rippled in waves throughout his frame as more and more savage kicks and punches were rained down mercilessly upon his broken body, thick bruises immediately being painted on his skin from the sheer brute force of the hits. Darkness began to engulf Alex, drawing him further and further from the real world, from the brutality that was being inflicted. His entire body tensed as he felt him kneel down beside him, and he couldn't help but flinch as he cupped his cheek roughly, eliciting a whimper of fear as he went nose to nose with the visibly petrified man.
"Don't you dare ever fucking lie to me again you worthless slut! If I ever see you in the same room as him, I swear on this earth that you are going to pay dearly, do I make myself clear, or do you need a fucking demonstration of what happens when you disobey me?"
"Yes, yes! I understand, don't talk to him, don't let him touch me, don't go near him! I promise I won't, I swear on my life!"
He let out a harsh chuckle. "Oh Alex, your life means absolutely nothing to anybody, and neither does your word." Throwing one last hard punch at Alex's face, he stood up before giving Alex a final sharp boot to the chest for good measure. "Next time you even dare to think about defying me, I'm going to slit your fucking throat." With his explicit threat hanging in the air, he turned on his heel before stalking over to the bed.
Alex just lay there on the hard floor, not hesitating to fight the darkness that overtook him, earning him his temporary release from reality. Shallow sobs stabbed at his pain-racked chest as the tears mixed with the blood on his slowly bruising face. Wincing in pain as he curled his knees into his stomach as carefully as he could, he finally passed out where he was, too weak and too scared to move from his place on the floor. Where he belonged. Where he would stay for the rest of his miserable, worthless life.
He couldn't do this anymore.