Chapter Four: This Time
Disclaimer:
Mitsi: I own nothing. I've completely realized it now…
Susie Q: That took you long enough!
Mitsi; I know…
Susie Q: Good!
Mitsi: I know…
Susie Q sighs: Mitsi come on! Try to make a decent update okay?! And without saying 'I know' constantly…
Mitsi: I know…
Susie Q: I'm so out of here! What's wrong with you? Depressed? Sad? Crazy woman…
Mitsi: I know… I'm sad… Danny will never be mine… Do you think Orlando Bloom will be?
Susie Q: NO! You don't own him either…
Mitsi pouts. She opens her mouth and tries to speak but Susie Q puts a hand in front of her mouth. The only thing you can hear is a muffled 'I know...'
Alex stormed out of the room and ran through the Hospital's hallways, leaving his family behind. He just ran and ran, not really noticing where he was going. He ran past Flack who was nursing a cup of coffee while chatting up one of the pretty nurses. He heard Mac yell his name, telling him to come back. Stella asked him what was wrong after she had grabbed his arms and made him stop. He shook her hands off of him and started running again. Tears were threatening to spill from is eyes. But he wouldn't cry. He was no girl!
People told him to slow down, to watch where he was going since he bumped into a few of the Hospital's staff members. Alex didn't listen, and just shouted some things that sounded like an apology. He found the doors to the emergency stairways and ran up, until the stairs only went down again. He stopped running and collapsed on the stairs. He held onto the handrail like it was his lifeline. He rested his head against the wall and tried to catch his breath. His heart was beating so fast he could feel it in his head. He closed his eyes and tried to make sense of it all…
After a few minutes he looked around. The stairs were made of concrete, and were the unattractive color that always went with it. The grey stone looked cold and dead. The walls were painted with a plain white that so matched the Hospital. In the corners there were little bits and pieces chipping off. And there was a door, Alex realized'A door that leads to the rooftop of the Hospital,' he mused, 'well let's look at it!' He stood up and walked towards the door and pushed it open.
There was a cold, chilly wind that send shivers down his spine. He wrapped his arms around is body, trying to warm himself. "Maybe mum is right; always put on your coat when you go out..." He said into the silence roof. He walked towards the edge of the rooftop, which was secured by a small wall. There was a bench. Alex slowly walked towards it, trying to decipher which fool had placed a bench on a rooftop.
"That's were they get their money from! Suicide cases!" He sighed… "Morons." He sat down. He felt exhausted. He put his elbows on his knees and lay his face in his hands. He shook his head and looked up to the sky. It was still before dawn, but he could see the dark blue sky turning light again. Stars were disappearing. They were going home. The moon looked down on him, casting his white light onto the city that never sleeps. Even up here, 24 floors high, he could still hear the cab's hunk their horns, the sirens of the police cars. And for a second he thought he heard a gunshot. His heart stopped beating, just for a second, and his eyes were watering up once again. But this time he let his tears spill down onto his cheeks, stain them. This time he let them all fall…
He cursed. Alex Messer wasn't your typical 10-year old. He was a lot wiser than that. He had to grow up, he just had to. He couldn't remember how many times he had been scared, he couldn't count them. There were just too many. Too many for a little boy… The times his Papa had been hurt, one way or another, scared the hell out of him. The times his mother came home with a sad face, after finishing yet another sad case. The times his parents had talked, secretly at night, about a case. The times he had listened to those stories. He couldn't remember ever not being scared when his parents took of to their jobs. Waiting, just waiting, for one of them to get hurt again. Whether it was a snakebite, chasing after a criminal jumping from a high building down onto the ground, or one of those always fun kidnappings, he was always scared. He just had to wait for something bad to happen to his parents.
Or his parents' friends. Uncle Flack had been hurt too, in that explosion. He talked so easily about it… Too easily for Alex's liking. Like it didn't mean a thing. Like he never was going to die, like he was superman. Alex knew better. He knew the dangers of his 'family's' job. He knew that his aunt Stella once almost got infected with some scary disease he couldn't remember the name of. He knew that uncle Sid and Sheldon cut open so many dead bodies. He knew all of that. But he couldn't be scared… He was supposed to be strong, the bigger man. He was supposed to know that his 'family' would always be safe, he ought to know that what they did was necessary. 'To keep the bad guys of the streets!' Like his father had said so many times. He ought to know all of that.
But he couldn't. He couldn't understand. Simple as that. Why did his parents always risk their lives?! Didn't they care for Rosa and him?! He sighed. Yesterday was a perfect example of that… His dead being kidnapped by some bunch of criminals. Because of his job. Alex hated the fact that both of his parents were CSI's. It always meant that were in danger all of the time…
He closed his eyes. Sighed again and lay down on the bench. He wrapped his arms safely around him, and cried his silent tears. This time it had come too close to the end. This time, it was almost over again. This time would be the last time he prayed. But just before he fell asleep, he remembered something: the last time would never come…