Chapter 6

Alex entered the house to find her brother sitting on the living room couch with his eyes glued to the television. He peeled his eyes off the screen and took in Alex's broken and fearful appearance. He instantly knew that something had happened on her first day back at school and he feared to find out what it was. "Hey."

"Hi." She muttered. Her eyes glanced around the room before they settled back on Justin. "Aren't you supposed to be at the Sub Station?"

"Max was working today. Mom and Dad wanted me to wait for you to come home." He replied. He watched as his sister nodded her head and started for the stairs. "How was school?"

"Fine." Her voice cracked, betraying her.

"Alex." Justin sighed. He shifted on the couch and patted the spot beside him. "Come sit down and tell me what really happened."

Alex reluctantly moved to the couch and sat beside her brother. "It sucked, okay?"

"What happened?" He asked softly.

"It just sucked!" Her voice increased in volume as she grew annoyed.

"Where's Dean? Wasn't he supposed to come home with you?" Justin asked in attempt to pry more information from his stubborn sister. He concluded Dean's absence was related to why her day sucked.

"He has detention. He got in a fight."

Justin burrowed his eyebrows. He feared where this conversation was going. Did Dean get into a fight to protect Alex? Did someone find something out and say something to her? "Who did he get in a fight with?"

Alex met her brother's eyes. "Mason."

The color drained from Justin's face. "Wh-what? Mason? He's back? He's here?"

"Yes." She whispered. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears.

"Did he hurt you? Did he say something to you?" Justin's mind was jumping to a million different conclusions.

Alex hesitated before she recounted the events: her art class, his painting, and the fight. A tear escaped her eye and she wiped at it furiously. She couldn't cry in front of her brother. Her lower lips began to quiver though and it was only seconds before the tears bubbled in her eyes burst. "I'm sorry."

Justin felt a tear in his heart at the sight of his little sister crying. He wanted to find Mason and beat him until he as begging for mercy. He had hurt his sister and that was not okay. But right now his sister needed him. He shifted closer to her and wrapped his arm around her. She rested her head against his shoulder, letting her tears splash against his shirt.

He swore in that moment that he would do everything in his power to fix her. He missed her laugh. He missed her sarcasm. He missed her cunning pranks. He would give anything to hear her make fun of him again.

He placed his hand on her back and rubbed soothing circles. He cringed as his fingers felt practically every bone of her spine. He couldn't understand how they had all missed that something was wrong. She had been suffering tremendously and somehow she managed to hide that for so long. "You don't have to apologize for anything."

"Justin, I'm scared." She admitted huskily against his chest.

Justin closed his eyes for a moment. Her words reminded him of when she was little and would drag herself into his room when she had nightmares. Alex was rarely scared and almost never admitted it. He felt like he had failed at his role of older brother. He was supposed to protect her and he didn't. This wasn't one of those times that she was in trouble and ran to him for help and he found some way to fix it. No, this time he had no way of fixing things. Mason had broken her and he was pretty sure the damage was irreversible.

"It's normal to be scared, Alex. You're allowed to be scared." His voice was soothing.

She lifted her head from his chest and met his eyes. "I feel like he came back for me. I feel like he's planning something and it scares me."

"No, I wouldn't let that happen." He shook his head as he looked into her hopeless, tear filled eyes. "I'm not letting him hurt you again"

She nodded, but her eyes told him she wasn't convinced. Her eyes moved to the stairs at the sound of approaching footsteps. The tiniest of smiles found her lips as Dean appeared at the top of the steps. He walked over to the couch and a small gasp escaped Alex's lips. "Dean, your face…"

"I'm fine, it doesn't even hurt." He said

Alex stood and ran her thumb gently over the swirl of blue and purple beneath his left eye. She felt as though she caused the bruise; he fought Mason to protect her. "You…you shouldn't have done that."

"I wasn't just going to sit there and let him touch 1you." Dean's voice raised an octave as his pulse boiled at the thought of Mason touching her.

"What did you tell Mr. Laritate?" She asked.

"Just that he wouldn't leave you alone and that he was touching you after you told him to get off."

Justin swallowed the growl that rose in his throat. He wished he had been there to beat Mason up too.

"What did he say? Did Mason get in trouble too?" Alex felt guilty that Dean was protecting her and he couldn't even fully explain his reasons to the principal, but there was no way she was letting anyone else find out about this.

"Well he slightly understood at first and told me it was still inappropriate and he would have to punish me. But then he spoke to Mason who apparently was very convincing in saying he would never cause trouble especially on his first day back and that he was just catching up with you and I was being an overly jealous boyfriend." Dean's jaw tightened as he recalled the earlier events of the day. "I have a week of detention. Mason only had today because he was protecting himself."

"That son of a bitch." Justin couldn't help the growl that escaped his lips this time.

Alex's shoulders dropped. "This is why nobody is to find out what happened."

"Alex…" Dean sighed, reaching out to hold one of her hands. It didn't go unnoticed that her hand felt like it had been soaking in a bucket of ice water for hours. "Maybe if you just told Mr. Laritate he could change Mason's classes and be aware that he shouldn't be near you."

Alex retracted her hand from Dean's. Her nostrils flared and her eyes narrowed at him. "No! You just told me he believed Mason over you. Mason is going to be just as convincing. Mason doesn't get in trouble. I don't have the best record with Mr. Laritate so who do you think he's going to believe?"

"Alex…" Dean started softly.

"It's not happening. End of story. I already told you this." She threw her hands in the air exasperatedly. She moved to push passed him, but her vision blurred. Black spots flashed behind her eye lids. She was suddenly hot, yet goosebumps appeared on her skin. Her knees buckled. She started to fall, but Dean was there in an instant to catch her in his strong arms. Justin gasped as he jumped to his feet.

Dean slowly lowered her to the couch. He sat beside her, keeping his arm around her tiny waist. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She whispered gravelly.

"Did you eat today?" Justin asked.

Dean remember she was refusing to eat her lunch before he fought with Mason. "You never ate your lunch, did you?"

Alex failed to meet Dean or Justin's eyes. She remained silent. She used to be so good at lying, but she knew if she tried to form one they would see right through it. She flinched when Justin moved, walking into the kitchen. He returned seconds later with a sleeve of crackers and a bottle of water. He held them out to her. "You have to eat."

She glared at him and remained still. "I ate this morning."

"That was over six hours ago and an apple and slice of toast is not enough to get you through the day." Justin kept his arm stretched towards Alex with the crackers and water. She still didn't budge. "Alex, you just almost collapsed. That's your body's way of telling you it desperately needs food."

"Just have a few right now and you can take a break." Dean's voice was on the verge of pleading as he gently rubbed her arm.

"Or I can go get Mom and Dad and they can take you back to the hospital to get tube fed. That's where your headed again if you don't start eating." Justin hated that he had to be stern with her when she was in such a fragile state, but he needed her to understand how serious this was.

Alex hesitated before snatching the sleeve and bottle from her brother's hand. She was not going back to that hospital. She opened the sleeve and pulled out one of the saltine crackers. She ran her finger over the coarse salt, letting it prickle her skin. She examined the piece of food, wrinkling her nose in disgust. Her stomach grumbled, begging for food, but her mind was convincing her not to give in. Her stomach growling was satisfying. She was in control; she was creating that feeling.

Dean watched her silently, but impatiently. She finally brought the cracker to her and nibbled on it. He released the breath he didn't know he was holding. He moved his hand from her arm and placed it on her leg, squeezing it softly. "Thank you."

"Just start with five and then you can take a small break." Justin said, recalling the words of the nutritionist. One of the techniques she had told them was to start with small increments of food.

Alex reluctantly brought the cracker back to her mouth. She slipped it into her mouth and counted her bites-one, two, three, four, five; the more she chewed, the less calories she would ingest. She finally finished the five crackers. Her stomach pleaded for more, but she refused to give in. She had the control to fight and she refused to relinquish that power.

"Good. You can take a small break now, but in ten minutes I want you to eat another five." Justin told his sister.

Alex felt her control slipping from her grasp. He was taking it away and that was something she couldn't handle. Guilt swam in the pit of her stomach; she needed to get rid of the crackers. "No!"

Justin and Dean were both taken aback by Alex's reaction. Dean noticed Alex's chest beginning to heave up and down. He patted her leg gently. "Hey, it's okay. Just five more and then you can be done until dinner."

Her heart fluttered rapidly. Sweat beaded on her forehead. She clutched her tightening chest. "No, no. I can't do this."

Justin and Dean caught one another's concerned eyes. Justin sat on other end of his sister and placed a hand on her arm. He retracted it immediately when she flinched at his touch. He could hear her breathing growing heavier and heavier. "Alex, calm down."

She felt like she had no control. She was back in that room; rough hands pushing her onto the bed. He pulled his shirt off and crawled on top of her, straddling her waist. His lips found her neck, nipping at her flesh. She wanted to tell him to stop, to get off her, that he was hurting her, but her jaw wouldn't move; her mouth wouldn't form words. His hand slipped beneath her shirt and snaked up to unclasp her bra. His hand slithered down her stomach, stopping at the waistband of her jeans. He unbuttoned them and slid them down her legs. Her mind was screaming to kick him, push him away, but her muscles wouldn't move. His fingers slipped beneath the waistband of her underwear.

"No, get off me!" Alex screamed. She buried her head in her hands.

"Alex!" Dean called out, but she continued to tremble and breathe heavily.

He pulled off her underwear. His weight suddenly left her and relief washed over her. That relief vanished as quickly as it came as the sound of a zipper met her ears. He was back on top of her, crushing her small body. She wanted to scream, she wanted to fight, but no matter how hard she tried she could not move. It felt like a dream; when you scream, but nothing seems to actually come out and nobody can hear you. His hands were suddenly on her, touching her in places she didn't want.

"No, stop it! Please stop!" She pleaded desperately.

"I think she's having a flashback." Justin whispered nervously. He recalled learning about trauma victims having flashbacks in a psychology class. He watched his sister whimper; she was in her own world living her own nightmare.

"Alex, you're okay. You're safe." Dean said softly. He wanted to pull her in his arms and hold her, but he feared touching her while she was in this state would make things worse.

"Dean." Alex choked out. She kept her head buried in her hands. Her fingers gripped her hair tightly. "Make him stop. Get him off me."

Justin was fuming and heartbroken at the same time. He was furious that someone had done this to her and watching her suffer was heartbreaking. She had survived something so terrible and now she had to relive it.

Dean blinked back tears as he watched his girlfriend struggle to separate the past and present. "He's not there, Alex. You're safe. You're at home in your living room."

Alex heard Dean's words, but she was still in the bedroom. His hands were still all over her. "N-no. He's hurting me. Tell him to stop. I don't want to do this."

Justin fidgeted in his seat. He swore in that moment that somehow, someway he was going to make Mason pay for what he did to his sister.

"Alex, look at me. You're safe, I promise. I'm right here." Dean said softly. "Please just look at me."

Alex lifted her head from her hands and blinked rapidly as she turned her head to look at Dean. Her eyes scanned the room before settling back on Dean. She was home.

"See, you're home, you're safe." Dean reminded. He could tell she had had broken away from the flashback, but her eyes were still filled with terror. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Her lower lip quivered and her eyes shone with unshed tears. "No."

Dean held his arms open and she collapsed into them as she let out a sob. He held her tightly, never wanting to let her go. She buried her face into his chest and her fingers reached up to grip his shirt. His fingers danced in her soft curls. He pressed a ginger kiss to the top of her head. "You're okay. I've got you. You're safe."