Hey guys! Here's chapter 2!
This chapter has flashbacks in it to help further understand Justin and Alex's relationship. Flashbacks will be in italics.
Also, we will eventually find out he reason why Justin hurt her- I promise I won't leave you hanging for too long!
Alex collapsed onto the floor of the bathroom hyperventilating over the toilet bowl.
She felt sick, how could he do that? She trusted him more than anyone else and he went and did that.
She hurled into the toilet as the moments prior consumed her thoughts, emptying all the contents from her stomach until she was left dry heaving.
Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she flushed the toilet and stood up shakily before turning on the shower and walking over to the mirror as she waited for the water to heat up.
Alex almost didn't recognize her own reflection. She looked pale as a ghost, and her eyes were red and swollen. She noticed a red handprint around her neck and gently brushed her fingers over it, gasping when she suddenly saw Justin on top of her, with his fingers wrapped tightly around her throat. She shook her head violently trying to rid her mind of the memory.
She stepped into the shower, letting the hot water wash away any traces of him.
Grabbing her purple loofa, she scrubbed her body raw, in attempt to get his touch off of her. She could still feel him. She felt him in places she didn't want him in. He was everywhere.
With her lips pressed tightly together, she scraped the loofa across her soft flesh and sobbed because no matter how hard she scrubbed, he was still there. He just kept coming and she was so overwhelmed and exhausted.
She fell to her knees with a wail and curled into a tight ball in the bathtub, letting the hot water scald her back.
"Alex honey I'm going to go to the bathroom, don't go near the stove okay?" Theresa said to the six year old who was sitting on the couch watching Rugrats.
She nodded and watched as her mom climbed the spiral staircase. As soon as she was out of sight, the six year old ran over to the kitchen to see what her mom was making, because even at six years old, Alex did what she wanted; not what she was told.
She saw a boiling pot of water sitting on the stove, and was mesmerized by the bubbles flowing over the top and sizzling as they hit the fire beneath it.
She started to reach out to touch the bubbles. Max had just gotten a bubble machine for his fourth birthday and from what Alex knew, bubbles were fun. Those bubbles looked different than the kitchen bubbles though.
Just as she was about to touch the burning pot, eight year old Justin came up the stairs from the sub station.
"Alex no!" He shouted, pulling her away from the stove.
"That's very hot! You're gonna burn yourself!" He tells her.
"But I like bubbles!" Alex whined to her older brother. "Bubbles can't hurt me Justin."
"These bubbles are different Alex. They're not like the ones we play with. They would hurt if you touched them" He tells her.
Alex scrunches her face. "No Justin, stop being a meanie, bubbles are good. There's no bad bubbles".
"I just don't want you to get hurt" He shrugs.
All Justin ever did was protect her. Was it all a lie? Was he just using that as a cover for something much deeper and darker and Alex had just been too late to catch onto? Was he only protecting her so that he could stay closer with her than anyone else ever would be able to get?
Alex sobs, causing her whole body to shake. There was nothing left in her, causing her to tremble and take in shaky breaths of air.
Eventually the warm water turned cold and she turned off the shower, and slowly got up off of the floor.
She shivered as she wrapped her towel tightly around her body. The sudden vile taste of vomit still lingering in her mouth causes her to gag before grabbing her toothbrush and thoroughly brush her teeth.
Alex turns and opens the bathroom door, all she wanted to do was go to sleep. As soon as she stepped out into the hallway, Justin came up the stairs and was headed towards the bathroom.
Alex froze. She didn't want to see him. He kept walking towards the bathroom and her heart rate sped up. 'What if he hurts me again?' she thinks.
"Alex..." Was all Justin could get out before she bolted past him and into her room, closing and locking the door behind her.
She leans against her door, trying to get her breathing under control, when she realizes that he looked as if he'd been crying.
Why would he be crying? He wasn't supposed to be the one crying. She was. He wasn't the one who was viciously attacked and robbed of his innocence.
With a sudden burst of anger, Alex threw the closest picture frame to the ground and hears the glass shatter. She flips the frame around and stares at the photo in saudade. Alex was 11 in that picture, and Justin was 13. Justin grinned wildly at the camera as Alex stuck her tongue out. They were eating ice cream at Alex's favorite ice cream shop, this particular day they stopped by after Alex had just gone through the most embarrassing moments in her life thus far and it was Justin's way of cheering her up.
Justin walked past Alex's room, eager to go read his new Captain Jim Bob Sherwood comic book he had just bought, but doubled back as he noticed that his sister was awfully dressed up for a Wednesday afternoon.
"What are you all dressed up for?" He asked, looking at her wearing a light green dress with small white flowers all over that ended right above her knees, with a tight white t-shirt beneath.
She looked up at Justin while struggling to pull on her white high top converse.
"I'm going to have my first kiss" She whispered, standing up to face her brother, grinning crazily.
"You- What!?" Justin asked, surprised. She was only in 6th grade, who was she kissing?
"Shhh!" Alex shushes him. "You won't believe it! Shawn O'Malley told Jackson, who told Dylan, who told Ella, who told Hannah, who told Taylor, who told Harper, who told me; that he likes me!" Alex squeals.
"Wait, Shawn O'Malley?" Justin questions.
"Yes! Isn't it amazing! And then yesterday he asked me to meet him under the foot bridge in central park tonight, which is where all of the cool couples go!" She tells him excitedly.
"Shawn O'Malley, as in the 8th grade football Shawn O'Malley?" Justin asks.
"Duh! What other Shawn O'Malley would I be talking about!" Alex says.
"Alex, he's in 8th grade" Justin tells her.
"Yeah, so?" Alex asks.
"You're in 6th grade!" Justin exclaims.
"Yeah... so...? -I will be the coolest 6th grader ever if I go out with Shawn!" She says, "Now move, I got a date to go to." she says, starting to walk towards the door.
Justin grabs her shoulders and looks her in the eyes, while she struggles to get loose, anxious to go see Shawn.
"Alex, please be safe. You don't have to do anything you don't-" Justin starts but is quickly cut off by Alex.
"Yeah yeah, bla bla blah, be safe, don't take candy from men in vans I got it... C'ya!" She says quickly before skipping out the door.
Justin would go after her, but it would still be light out for a few hours, and she would be in Central Park, there was always so many people there. She would be fine.
She would be fine...
45 minutes later Justin was still in Alex's room, sitting on her bed reading his new comic book, when he hears her storm through the door.
He looks up quickly to see tears running down her face.
"I'm so stupid!" She yells, throwing down her purse forcefully.
"Alex, what happened?" Justin asks gently.
"I was humiliated! In front of everyone! I actually believed- UGH!!" She shouts, burying her face in a pillow.
Justin didn't know what to do, so he patted her head softly.
"Wanna talk abou-" he begins to ask but she started talking before he could finish.
"It was all a joke! One of his stupid friends is Gigi's brother and she told him that I've had a crush on Shawn since forever and he DARED him to ask me out! As- as a sick prank to make me look like a loser! Everyone was there! The whole schools gonna know by tomorrow and I'll just be known as the loser who thought the star football kid would actually give me a chance." She rants, ending with a sob. Justin knew better than to interrupt her when she got like this.
He felt horrible for Alex. He wanted to beat up Shawn, but everyone knew how poorly that would end for Justin.
After a few moments of silence, Justin taps Alex on her shoulder and she looks up at him with saddened eyes.
"Hey, I think I know what will make you feel better" he says.
She sniffs and wipes away a tear before trying to read Justin's face. A big grin forms on her face as she says "Ice cream?!"
Justin smiles back "I bet I could convince dad to take us!".
She had no idea how long she'd been staring at the picture for, but a sudden cold drift from her window caused her to shiver, and get up to change into warm pajamas.
She was exhausted from the nights events and passed out as soon as her head hit the pillow.
Sorry if the flashbacks were kinda long..??
Why do you think Justin hurt her? Do you think he always felt that certain way about her?
Chapter 3 is being written as we speak ... spoiler: we get to hear from Justin's side of things ;)