The Solution of an End.
By: Alex Destine
"Were you scarred?" it seemed like a reasonable question. It wasn't often
anyone had to live through what he did and he simply wanted to know how his
brother was handling it.
"Were you scarred?" he asked again making his voice harder. Why was Lexington
not answering him? It was a simple question. It still amazed him that he could
deal with it better then his brother.
"Lex, look at me." He was becoming desperate. He wanted, no needed a
reaction from his brother. Any reaction. Ever since they woke up he wanted to
talk to Lex about what had happened the night before, he wanted to do it in
private so he waited for the best opportunity and here they were, alone in
Alexander's room. Owen was busy in Xanatos office and he usually allowed Lex to
take care of the baby, they seemed to get along. The rest of the clan was busy
in their usual routine and Xanatos and Fox had left for a party the rest of the
night. So here they were, just the two of them… and a baby.
"Lex, I just want to know how you're doing"
"How do you think I'm doing?" Lex was worried; he didn't know how to approach
this. He should've told Goliath, he should've told Hudson, he should've told anyone.
This was very important, but he didn't and now he had to face it alone. Just
like he had to do it the night before.
"Brook, what were you thinking?" Lex turned around to stare at his brother. "Do
you know how lucky you were?! I might not have been there!"
"I was counting on no one being there!" Brooklyn was very serious. Now Lex definitely
wanted Goliath to walk in but that would've been too easy.
"What were you trying to do Brook? When Goliath finds out…"
"He doesn't have to find out!" Brooklyn was nervous. Goliath! Find out! What
was Lex thinking?! He thought Lex understood the need for secrecy. Goliath was
strict enough as it is, he didn't need him breathing down his neck at
everything he did now.
"Lex, there's no need to tell Goliath. It won't happen again. Last night was
just… it was hard, ok! I was angry. I didn't know what to do, but things are ok
now."
That Brook, he thinks he can talk himself out of anything. But Lex knew better.
He closed his eyes and saw the blood again. So much of it, it covered the whole
floor. How on Earth was Brooklyn here talking to him right now.
He had been on his computer last night, Broadway and Angela were somewhere
together, he imaged that Goliath and Elisa were together too and Hudson was
with Bronx watching TV. Everything was normal. He didn't think anything was out
of place. Then he had this urge to walk, nowhere in particular, simply walk. He
was tired of the computer anyway. So he got up and decided to look for Brooklyn
in the library.
He remembered the sound he heard inside one of the rooms as he walked down the
hallway. A loud 'thud' type of sound. Like something hard falling. He didn't
pay much attention and kept walking. After a while he couldn't find Brook
anywhere so he decided to go back to his computer. He walked by the same place
where he heard the sound before. This time though, he decided to investigate. A
decision he regretted not doing sooner.
"Lex! Did you hear me? There's no need to tell Goliath." Brooklyn looked at his
brother with some concern in his eyes. Lex was obviously thinking about last
night. How he wished he hadn't seen that. Still, now his biggest worry was not
to have Goliath and the rest of the clan down on him. It was hard enough to
live in the castle now. He didn't wish to think how his life would be if they
knew.
Goliath would probably think less of him as a Second in Command. He might even
take his job away! And if he wasn't the clan's Second in Command, then who was
he?!?
Lex looked up now. Brooklyn was very worried about anyone finding out. But
someone else already knew. It was obvious.
"Why did you do it Brook?" Yeah, why?! I can't imagine why! You scarred the
life out of me last night Brook! You better have a good reason!
"I…umh, I don't know."
Not a good answer Brook, definitely not a good answer.
"You just don't do this sort of thing when you're bored you know! Why did you
do it Brook?! What were you thinking?!" Lexington was shouting now. He was mad,
angry and scarred.
Alex began to cry and Lex quickly picked him up and clamed his voice to sooth
the child to sleep. He could feel tears on the edge of breaking down so he
turned away from his brother to give the baby his full attention. He hoped
Brook hadn't seen that.
"I wasn't thinking…" Brooklyn answered slowly almost in a whisper. He had made
his brother upset. He didn't think Lex would cry about it, boy was he
wrong. He wanted to tell him that it would never happen again, that he was fine
now. But he knew he'd be lying and although his best lines would work on anyone
somehow his brothers knew when he was telling the truth or not.
Brooklyn looked down at the floor and began to think about last night. He was
depressed. He was alone, very much alone. He looked for someone he could talk
to, someone who would understand him somehow.
Hudson was watching TV, no he wouldn't do. Everyone knew you couldn't get
Hudson away from his favorite shows.
Lex was on his computer. He didn't know why his brother liked it so much but he
would spend the entire night on it. He'd only leave when Goliath told him they
had to patrol the city or when he had to eat something. He knew Lex would be
busy.
Goliath was on the Tower with Elisa, no definite not an option. Two's company
and three… well, three was always Brooklyn somehow.
That left Broadway and Angela. Oh yeah, like he was going there.
These past few nights had been very hard on him. Everyone had settle for a
normal routine right away. Everyone busy with people or things they loved.
Brook thought he had a routine too. He'd stay in the library, read all the
books he could possible get. Do his best on patrol. But somehow he'd always
start to walk around and eventually he'd bump into his brother and Angela.
At first he thought it was ok. He needed to talk to someone after all, but
Broadway was anything but friendly. He wasn't being mean or doing anything so
obvious that Angela would get mad, but he knew, somehow he knew.
He couldn't blame him either. Everyone at the castle knew he liked Angela. He
thought it was clear to Broadway that he had won her but apparently not. And he
couldn't blame him for that either since he wasn't over her.
In order to avoid the couple he decided to simply stay at one room. But being
alone like that made one think. You didn't want to think. Not if the stuff you
thought of was always turning very sadistic. Of course, that alone wasn't a
good enough reason for what he had done last night, but to be completely alone
night after night after night. It began to take its toll on Brooklyn.
He began to think about Demona. No wonder she turned evil, she knew loneliness
better then anyone. But he had something she didn't have. The solution of an
end. That was the first time the thought occurred to him. An end.
How fitting that sounded. How relaxing. No more worries or evil looks from
Broadway, no more loneliness and that was the best part.
It took a few nights to gather his courage. Last night had been when he finally
decided to try it.
He took a knife and locked himself up in a room. He knew no one would be
looking for him. They had already done their patrol and everyone went right
back to their routine. That left him with plenty of time by himself.
He was scarred at first, he knew it would hurt. He couldn't quite get himself
to cut his throat, so the most obvious answer was his wrists.
That was easy, and from what he's heard, very efficient.
So with two quick motions he began to bleed down on the floor.
He kept looking at his hands now bloody. Those were his? he thought. He
looked at the floor that was now also covered and before he realized what had
happened his legs couldn't support him and he fell down, rather hard in fact.
He hoped no one had heard him. That would spoil everything. He waited for an
awkward moment to see if anyone would find him, he then realized that was
impossible. They were all too busy.
He kept seeing blood, and more blood. He couldn't believe all that came from
him. He was getting tired, he didn't want to fall asleep he wanted to keep
looking at the blood as it ran all over the floor but his eyes gave in and soon
he remembered nothing more.
"BROOK!" Brooklyn's eyes snapped open and he saw Lexington holding on to his
arm.
"Are you ok? I kept calling you and you didn't even move."
"I'm fine Lex." Had he been that far gone into his mind?
"You should talk to someone."
"Look I've got it covered alright!" no Goliath! No Goliath at all! "Lex, just
promise me you'll let me handle it."
Lexington didn't know what to do. This was very serious. He wanted to tell
someone, he didn't want this sort of pressure. To know what Brook had almost
done and to not do anything about it was out of the question. But he knew how
awful things would get for him if Goliath was involved.
"You promise to talk to someone about this?"
"Of course I do." YES! Lex wasn't going to tell Goliath! He was safe! He knew
Lex would be watching him now, but better him then the leader of the clan.
"Then I wont tell him, but Brook if something like this happens again I'll…"
"It wont! Ok? I promise Lex." He was lying, but somehow Lex was thinking about
too many things at once to notice this.
"Alright."
Things would go back to normal now. They talked. That's what they needed to do,
right? It was over. Brook promised it was over.
With one last departing look Lexington gathered Alex into his arms and headed
toward the kitchen. Now Brooklyn was once again alone with his thoughts.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Owen Burnett was busy inside Mr. Xanatos office. He had spent all night working
on different types of important documents. He was grateful that he could count
on Lexington for some assistance, he knew Alex was safe and well take care of
by the younger gargoyle. All in all he was about to check on them when his
employer walked in.
"Good evening Mr. Xanatos. I did not expect you for another two hours."
"The party was getting boring Owen and Fox wanted to leave. I was wondering if
I've missed much while I was gone."
Xanatos sat down on his comfortable chair overlooking what he personally
thought of as his Manhattan.
"As a matter of fact Mr. Xanatos there's something you'd be very interested on
knowing. It seems one of the younger gargoyles has some problems."
"Problems Owen?" his curiosity got the best of him. He loved finding out things
like this, although he was through making evil plans for the gargoyles he still
liked these little tidbits of information about them. It was always good. "And
what sort of problems might they be?"
"It seems Brooklyn has been suffering from a mild depression these past few
weeks, last night his better judgment must've been misplaced since he decided
to try and kill himself. Lexington found him, and even though Brooklyn had lost
a lot of blood the sun was up before he was truly gone. I found them in one of
rooms as status all covered in blood. I moved them back to where the others
were sleeping as well and cleaned the mess up. But I'm afraid Mr. Xanatos that
neither of them has had the common sense of telling Goliath about this."
"I see. How very interesting. Thank you Owen, that will be all."
The End