The Other Side of the Door
This time, I've had enough.
And you've called a hundred times, but I'm not picking up.
Alex angrily stormed into his room, slamming his bedroom door shut before throwing himself onto his bed. His mobile rang. Again. The sixteen year old pulled his mobile out of his pocket and glanced at the caller ID.
Marie Reynolds.
Swearing angrily, he jammed the ignore option before throwing his phone aside. Outside his window, the weather seemed to reflect his bad mood. It was cloudy, grey, and raining, splattering across his window with loud, rhythmic beats.
It was early November, and the rain was coming down heavier than usual. November, marking eleven months since Alex and Desiree's first kiss. November, marking five months since Alex had fallen for Marie Reynolds, one of Cindy's cheerleaders and loyal follower. He should've known better than to expect something good to come out of their relationship. What had he been thinking when he'd asked the girl out?
Two weeks ago, Tom had walked in on Marie in a full-blown snogging sessions with Brody, a defender on their football team. The boy had displayed that he did indeed possess some form of intellectual thought by sneaking out unnoticed and informing Alex, instead of getting into protective friend mode. Which he then did the following practice, tackling Brody to the ground. He had to be pulled off the other boy and physically restrained while they got Brody medical assistance, and since then had the two had to be kept separate. For such a short, scrawny boy, Tom was definitely not someone you wanted to mess around with.
That piece of information from his best friend had been the last straw for Alex. His and Marie's relationship had already been strained, with Alex not liking the heavy amount of flirting the girl was doing with boys who weren't her boyfriend, and Marie constantly complaining about the fact that Alex had refused to "give some to her".
A little more than a week ago, Alex had confronted Marie about the incident, and had subsequently broken up with her. Since then, the girl would not stop pestering him, constant calls telling him how sorry she was, how she wouldn't do it again, how he should give her a second chance.
But Alex had given her plenty of second chances already. And he wasn't willing to put his heart on the line only for it to be trampled on over and over again, with no reprieve. Because that girl did not change her ways. Alex should have known that; anyone who followed Cindy so willingly would be like that.
"Alex?" Jack's muffled voice said through the closed door, "Alex, please come out and talk about this!"
The boy ignored his housekeeper, his friend. He knew that he should tell Jack about it, vent his frustration and hurt. But he just couldn't bring himself to think about all that, not again, not when it came and haunted him night after night in his nightmares.
"Alex, please! You've done nothing but sulk for the past week! I may not know much, but please you have to talk to me! Please Alex!" But Alex remained silent. After a while, he heard Jack sigh softly, heard her footsteps retreat away from his door, and he was alone again.
Hours passed. He wasn't sure how long he'd stayed in his room, but soon Jack came back up again to softly whisper that dinner was ready. Alex didn't move. He hadn't come down to dinner for the week, preferring to sneak down in the dead of night to forage whatever was left over from the meal. And Jack always made sure there were leftovers.
The doorbell sounded. He could hear Jack answer the door, letting in whoever was visiting. In his semi-depressed state of mind, it never occurred to Alex that the guest may be dangerous. But fortunately for him, they weren't.
"Alex! Alex Rider!"
Alex started as a familiar voice shouted at him through the door. It was Agent Rose Allende, who had always made time to visit him and Jack when she wasn't out on missions. The twenty two year old had become like a sort of surrogate sister to Alex, giving the boy plenty of advice over the past eleven months, and helping him deal with Desiree's departure from his life. Now it appeared that the woman would once again come to Alex's rescue.
"Alex Rider, I know you can hear me! And if you don't stop sulking like a little child and open this door when I count to three, I will kick it down and drag you out myself!"
Knowing that Rose was the kind of woman who would come through with any threat she made, Alex sighed and got off his bed, dragging his feet before he opened the door. He came face to face with hazel eyes filled with concern. The eyes lit up at once when Rose realised that she didn't even have to start counting. Putting an arm around Alex's shoulders, the twenty two year old led the boy over to his bed again.
"Now tell me," she said once they both got comfortable, "What's the matter?"
And then it suddenly just came pouring out. The betrayal, the hurt, the anger Alex had bottled up over the entire ordeal came out in a rush of words. Rose remained silent, letting Alex shout and cry and pace and throw things around the room, occasionally ducking when a couple of items came flying her way. Accidentally, of course. Eventually Alex calmed down, tear tracks still visible along his cheeks. He sat back down on the bed and allowed Rose to pull him into a warm and comfortable hug.
"Better now?" She asked, drying the boy's tears in a motherly fashion.
"Yeah," Alex whispered, his voice hoarse from the amount of shouting he just did.
"Let's go down for dinner, okay? Jack's been worried sick about you."
Alex nodded, allowing Rose to help him off his bed and wrap an arm around his shoulders again before steering him down the stairs and into the kitchen. Jack stood at the counter, a worried expression etched into her face. Upon seeing Alex out of his room giving her a smile, she rushed over and pulled the boy into a tight hug of her own.
"Erm, Jack...I don't think that anyone would be too happy if you strangled him," Rose joked upon seeing Alex struggle for air. She pried the American's arms off Alex, before allowing her to lead the boy to the kitchen table and sit him down, before fetching him a huge plate of spaghetti bolognaise. Rose sat herself down next to Alex with her on plate of Jack's famous five minute meal.
Alex grinned in welcome at the food, his first real smile in over two weeks, before tucking into his meal with great vigour, making Jack smile in a motherly fashion. He wasn't better. He would still hurt, and hurt for a long while. But that was the beauty of time. It could heal all wounds.
And it would heal his too.
