Chapter Two
Miss Jessica Collins one of the English teachers at Brookland Comprehensive was sat at home in the cream living room of her small apartment with a stack of papers to mark. She had put a small, barely decorated Christmas tree up. It had been put up at her eight year old sister, Jenny's insistence when her parents, her fifteen year old brother and eight year old sister had come over last month. Jessica was going to be spending Christmas with them when school term let out in two weeks. She sighed at her tedious task. Why had she set this task knowing that she was going to be the one marking them?
Jessica read through the papers giving hints and tips as she went. Gracie Franks got an A for her report on her older brother who was in the army. Sean Devon got marked down from a B to a C because of his grammar, punctuation and spelling wasn't at all up to speed. Tom Harris would have got an A had it not been for the fact that it was just way too short. Rachel Tyler had no paragraphs another C. Yvonne Sampson got a good B having done almost enough for an A but not quite. Then Jessica got to Alex Rider's paper.
Jessica had been more than a little worried when she had accepted a job as she – like the whole world – had heard of shooting back in May with Tom Harris being shot. But she had thought that lightening couldn't strike twice, surely so had accepted it. And that was that. Jessica had begun working the next September were she had learnt to ignore the hormonal teenaged boys' lustful looks knowing that it would mostly pass with maturity. It wasn't long until staff room talk came to Alex Rider. Jessica had at first wondered why the teachers were gossiping about a fifteen year old boy. But then she had met the infamous Alex Rider.
Alex Rider had been off for the first three weeks of school term for unknown reason. Then he had just turned up one day with a sick note. JJessica had become fast friends with Jane Bedfordshire being close in age and the secretary had told her that it had said that he'd had chicken pocks. There seemed to be nothing to say it wasn't true and nobody could find any fault in his explanation. But for the fact the boy was also covered in bruises and cuts and it had happened many times before. When Jessica had asked Alex where the bruises and cuts had come from the boy claimed he'd fallen down the stairs whilst trying to get toast without waking his guardian who had been working nightshift.
Again there seemed to be nothing wrong with this explanation. Jessica initially suspected abuse but as it had started before with another guardian that didn't seem likely. So Jessica had almost believed him but when the pattern repeated itself at the end of November to the start of December. This time the boy had come back with bandages wrapped around his left arm. When the bandages had been removed the boy what looked like a knife wound down his left arm. Jane had told Jessica that the boy had told her that he had tripped whilst cutting bread. Jessica didn't see how anybody could do that and wondered about self arm. But his wrists when inspected were clean. Jane had remarked that it was strange because Alex was never clumsy actually he was very careful.
Jessica had been told that Alex had been ill with measles. But it looked like something else was up. Gangs? Drugs? She knew that some teenagers could get involved in deep trouble like that. And as the catalyst to all this was his uncle's death then it could be believed that the boy had used something like this to escape his grief and pain. But then why did he have doctors' notes? The headmaster had even called up the Doctor Crawley who had confirmed what they had said. Alex had never once shown anything to be a lie.
But it was those chocolate brown eyes that should look innocent but never could. They scared the life out of Jessica more than anything else. The first time she had seen the boy she had seen a young, fairly handsome young boy. Then she had locked upon those eyes. It had been said that eyes the window to one's soul. If that were so then Jessica was sure that she had never seen a soul like Alex Rider's. There was intelligence there and some secret knowledge that Jessica didn't understand. Then there was the darkness of someone who's seen too much, way too much. What could a fifteen year old have seen to make him look like that? And even further down Jessica could see something dark and dangerous lurking down there, something that made her shiver.
Was she scared of her student? It would seem that yes she was. But Alex Rider was certainly a huge mystery to her and the rest of Brookland. No matter how many times she had tried to get to the bottom of Alex Rider she had never even found one of his secrets. But he seemed to know everything about her. Jessica often wondered how he'd found out. In the end Jessica had given up and had moved him to the back of the class which wasn't much of a loss since he had only been here for about just over a month in total anyway.
Giving up on trying figuring out the elusive boy who was Alex Rider she picked up her pen once more to begin to work on what he had wrote about heroes. Maybe this would give her a better insight onto the odd teenager. Jessica was feeling tired it was rather late but she wanted to get these done by tomorrow so that the class could get them back. She had found that some students had been pestering her all week for the assignments. Not Alex Rider he just seemed bored in class and amused at his classmate's reaction.
There are no such things as heroes!
What? This wasn't what the assignment was about. But there it was plain as day what Alex was writing about. Surely all boys Alex's age dreamed about being James Bond or Jason Bourne or whoever. Jessica had certainly read enough of the teenagers' essays about how they wanted to grow up to be super spies. Jessica doubted that this would happen but accepted it none the less. Most of the boys who wrote about wanting to be spies hadn't got the greatest grades which Jessica thought was they were too busy watching movies to bother with work. But Jessica felt she had to mark the essay. And it was an excellent opening sentence.
There are heroic deeds and there are evil deeds and everything in between.
That is true Jessica thought. But a person's deeds which make stems from their choices which come from what kind of person they are. A hero will do heroic deeds whilst an evil man will do evil deeds. Surely that's all there is to it. Jessica sighed and marked out the "deeds" asking Alex to change one of them so to something like acts so it didn't become to repetitive. But apart from that there was nothing wrong with his sentence. Jessica wondered what kind of acts that Alex had done in his short life; good, bad or a bit of both to make him believe this.
But a man who has once saved one persons life can then turn around and kill another person.
Jessica shuddered. How could a fifteen year old think like this? This boy was certainly very dark. But he didn't seem to be a Goth or depressive then why were these thoughts so violent? What had those all too ancient eyes seen? Jessica found herself no longer hating the boy but feeling a lot of worry about this boy. How long had his depression gone on without anyone noticing? Had it been his uncle's death? Had it been what had happened last May? Jessica had heard all the children there had been given counselling so surely Alex had as well.
Is this man a hero?
Jessica frowned at this. Of course, the man wasn't a hero. He may have saved one life but he was still a murderer. Didn't Alex know this? This essay wasn't like the many others she had marked and she was worried for the boy's mental health if nothing else. Jessica decided she'd talk to Nancy the grey haired school psychologist after she had finished marking showing her the essay. Hopefully the psychologist would be able to help the troubled youth. If Nancy couldn't or wouldn't then she was afraid that the boy would stay in the same downward spiral.
Is this man a villain?
Of course, he was. Surely the boy knew that if you killed someone that made you a villain. Then a very dark thought entered Jessica's mind. A thought she never thought she'd have about any child whilst doing her teaching degree or any other time for that matter. A thought that made her shudder as soon as it had crossed her mind. It was a thought that Jessica regretted as soon as the thought had formed. Had Alex killed anyone? As much as Jessica tried to push it away and forget the thought she never could. She just hoped she was wrong.
Is he both?
No he's just a murderer. How can it be both? Jessica couldn't think of anyone who could save one life then kill another. You couldn't be a heroic murderer. What was going on in this boy's head? But then coming back to her previous thought about Alex Rider she wondered. Was the boy trying to make himself feel better about killing someone? Or maybe he felt guilty for a death that wasn't his fault and he was trying to convince himself it wasn't his fault. Jessica didn't know but she was beginning to feel very sick.
Is he neither?
Again of course he's a villain. He's bloody killed someone. You could tell that Jessica was getting very upset and worked up because even in her thoughts she never swore. Jessica couldn't help but thinking out of all these pointless essays that she had made the class write as a tool to work on their writing she hadn't had one anywhere near as thought provoking as Alex Rider's. Jessica decided to write that at the bottom of the page so as to encourage Alex to turn up to school more. Maybe his absences were caused by his depression!
This is a very thought provoking essay Alex.
Or is it just deeds?
It is commonly thought that spies and soldiers are our countries heroes because they protect us from the evils of the world. But as Friedrich Nietzsche says "Be careful when you fight the monsters, lest you become one". Isn't this what happens to military personnel all over the world? Oh yes they protect civilians but in the end they will become just as bad as those they fight. For example, at Guantanamo Bay American soldiers were willing to torture terror suspects to get the information they needed.
Alex actually had a good point there backed up by a quote and a real life event. Jessica was quietly impressed with Alex's work even though she thought the judgement was faulty. Jessica decided to write that as well around there highlighting the quote and the example as it was obvious that a lot of effort had been put into this essay. He must have a good memory to quote perfectly. Maybe that was reason he was depressed and rarely turned up to school as he got perfect grades whenever he turned up.
Jessica had heard it said that many of the genius' had done awfully at school as they were simply bored by the material. Jessica had to say that in Alex Rider's case it would certainly make a lot of sense. And the depression was just stemming from being so stifled at school. He wasn't coming into school because he saw no point in coming. Yes Jessica would definitely have to talk to Nancy about Alex Rider. Jessica turned to the next paragraph to see if he had wrote anything a bit less dark. Apparently not:
Can we say these me are heroes? No of course not they have tortured.
At least Alex knew that much about morality. But there were plenty of other soldiers that had high strung morals even if they did kill, weren't there? Jessica thought about the other boys who had wrote about an idealised spy like James Bond. Here Alex was writing about the same thing but telling her what a dirty job it was. Alex was definitely unusual in that concern as in every concern. But he did have a good style of writing she had to give him that. Jessica suspected that for the essay, if not his psychological profile, Alex would get a good grade.
Can we say that those who work in the Black ops who are employed assassins are heroes?
Again Jessica shivered a bit. Alex had once again used a real world example to prove his point. It was obvious that Alex hadn't been writing prose like all the other students. But had rather done a persuasive essay about the lack of heroes in the world Jessica didn't like that idea one bit. It was all very sad. But Jessica had always hated the fact that their government who claimed to be against capital punishment still employed what was in essence an assassin. Jessica again wrote that it was good that he had proved his point.
Glad that you have proved your point of view.
They may save people but their methods are highly questionable.
"Highly questionable"? Jessica shook her head it was almost like Alex approved or empathized with those who killed for the good of the country. But wasn't that all soldiers? Oh no Alex was convincing her that he was right. And she so did not want to even go there. Jessica wanted this essay over and done with and quickly. She wanted to hand it over to someone else and not concern herself with the boy anymore. Jessica wrote that Alex had a very persuasive argument which he did. She was becoming swayed by the boy.
He would be one hell of a writer or journalist. Jessica knew that the science and maths department wanted him to go study at Oxford or Cambridge their chosen subjects. But she felt that he would do good journalism if very controversial journalism. Jessica decided she'd suggest this to the boy. Jessica wondered what the boy wanted to do anyway. Surely by now he'd have some idea. And hopefully it wouldn't involve crime! Jessica knew that Alex had been going to America to be adopted by some journalist but for some reason over the holidays it hadn't worked out.
This is the same as spies everywhere.
Why did it seem that the boy knew more about spies, assassins and soldiers than any other child even Gracie whose brother was in the army knew. This was very odd and Jessica didn't like it not one bit. Maybe the boy knew someone who worked for the military in some capacity. But surely there were good spies somewhere. Jessica couldn't stand the idea of the world being so dark. Jessica wasn't one to see the world as hopeless as it seemed Alex Rider saw it. But did he really see it as depressing or did he just see what is and it not bother him?
It is only the side that that so called good and bad people belong to that differs not the methods.
It is only the separate sides that so called good and bad people belong to that differs and not the methods.
Jessica corrected this and wondered if this was true.
Can we really use the excuse an ends to a means? Or does that make us as bad as the people we fight? What is a hero? I believe there is no such thing as heroes.
A hero is like magic and destiny exists only in the realm of storybooks, children and people who do not or cannot see in the real world, naïve people. There is no point in believing in things like heroes it only gets you hurt in the end. It is far better to see the world as it is. Because in the real world unlike the movies the good guys can die in horrific pain but the bad guys often walk away their plans having succeeded. Bad guys are not bald men in black suits stroking white cats like in cartoons. It is almost impossible to tell an assassin from a normal civilian. It is that what makes them so dangerous.
