4. Haunting Nightmares Is Not Reality

Crack!

The whip from a leather belt pierced against the young boy's back. It happened swiftly and more than anything painfully. The boy was facing towards a concrete wall meanwhile his arms were leaning against the wall, trying to support himself from falling to the ground. The boy clenched his teeth in order to keep himself from screaming in pain. Sweat was running down his face and over the rest of his body like running water, but the warmth from the sweat only amplified the pain on the cuts that was forming behind his back. His head was leaning forward, looking straight at the floor. Blood was dripping, creating a small pool of blood underneath his feet. The boy wasn't too worried about the blood though, since he had already gotten used to be punished in such drastic measures by this psychopathic man.

"Do you understand, brat?" a man said with a sinister tone, indicating that he was enjoying causing him pain. The boy had learned over time that the man was truly a sadistic ass, but he also learned that unless he didn't give the man any kind of sign that he was in pain like moaning or to the point where his body just collapses in pain and exhaustion, then he wasn't winning in his own game of inflicting him the entire pain that he was expecting from him. "When you get an order, you will listen and obey. No questions asked. No sarcastic or cocky replies. And if you keep disobeying then you will get punished and I promise you I will find a way to break you."

The boy didn't answer, but he knew the threat was real enough so he didn't doubt that the man would continue to try and break him until there was only tiny pieces left of him. However he would rather be dead then allow his man or any of the other people in the facility, try and control him like a puppet on strings. He would fight until his last breath or till he could no longer keep things in check mentally and just go insane. Whichever of those two things that came first, but his wish was that he could at least get out of this hell with dignity and his brain still in tact.

"Whatever you say…" The boy murmured. His head was kept down and he was looking at his worn-out sneakers. A moment went by since his response, but that was all it took before he felt the excruciating pain once again on his back again. However this time the whip was even faster and more painful than ever, not giving him time to catch his breath before the pain started again. Which was why the boy couldn't hold it in anymore, so he cried in pain and tears appeared. He screamed, cried and begged someone to save him and stop the madness, but no one answered his prayers and the man started to laugh sinisterly when he finally achieved his goal. The laugher was cutting through the numbness he felt in his ears and was beginning to haunt his mind. The boy's inner voice listened to the laugher and the taunting and begged for it all to stop. He was tired of everything. Tired of the never-ending pain and torture of what was his reality. He wished over and over for it all to end and just put an end to him. But reality pierced through him again, stopping his thoughts and allowed to get smothered by the excruciating pain.

Alan jerked up from his bed, sat up straight and was breathing heavily. He almost screamed in panic and fear before something in the back of his mind stopped from doing so, by reminding him that his screams would wake up Fermat and possibly the rest of the dorm. His sight was blurry from the wetness in his eyes while his t-shirt was soaking wet from sweat, but that was the last thing that was on his mind. Over the last four years he had mostly had dreamless nights, but sometimes he had these terrifying nightmares of a young boy being physically or mentally abused. The whole picture was sort of blurry, never really seeing their faces clearly, but he was never mistaken over the people in the nightmares. But despite that the nightmares still scared the hell out of him.

He turned to look at the alarm clock that was residing on his nightstand. It was three in the morning and it was still totally dark outside. He groaned wearily and ran a hand through his greasy hair. His thoughts returned to the nightmare and he grew sick thinking about the horrific sight of an innocent boy being harmed like he was a worthless piece of crap. It was then nausea was building up and going up in his throat, so without any second to think about, he ran straight to the bathroom to puke his guts out in the toilet. His reaction to the nightmares was disgusting and he felt ashamed over it, which is why he told Haley and Jem about it. More importantly why he wasn't planning on telling Fermat about it because he didn't want the people he loved and cared most about in the whole world to worry about him.

Once he was done vomiting, his body slumped down on the cold bathroom floor with his arms wrapped around his stomach. Despite feeling hurt from the puking, he was also tired and wanted more then anything to go back to sleep, he was too agitated and awake to sleep. Then there is also the fact that he was slightly worried about the nightmare coming back. He was definitely not in the mood to watch another horrible nightmare and wake up to go and vomit his guts out again. So he decided to get out of bed and keep himself busy until he became sleepy again. Hopefully it would happen quickly since he really didn't want to get yelled at by his teachers for sleeping in the middle of class, at least not more than usual anyway.

So first thing he did was to take a quick shower and change out of those soaking clothes. Next thing he did was changing the bed sheets and put on clean sheets on. While he did all of this he tried to be as quietly as he could in order not to disturb Fermat sleep, but he was glad that Fermat was mostly a heavy sleeper. However thirty minutes later and he was still too agitated to sleep. So he tried to work on homework since his homework was starting to pile up. He never worked on the homework he got from class unless it was written assignment that the teacher needed in order to grade him. And though his opinion and thoughts on how he wasn't going to let other's expectations lead his life, there was a part of him that wanted to make Jem, Haley and Fermat proud of him. It was probably Fermat he wanted to prove himself most to, since the boy was persistent and more a voice of reason to his more impulsive nature, so he tried to keep him from getting in far too much trouble than what he normally would have. That is why he wanted Fermat to be proud of him to call him his friend.

Anyway it was starting to become annoying how even the most boring chores and homework couldn't get him even slightest exhausted. What was even more annoying was that every normal attempt to fall asleep failed him miserably when he lied down on his bed and did things like counting sheep, drinking some water, closing his eyes and emptying his mind etc. Seriously, was it too much to ask for a guy to get some sleep before he had to go through the day of boredom again?

Apparently it was, at least according to the universe. Alan groaned and slammed his head hard against the soft pillow. This was going to be long couple hours before it was time to get up and get to the day's classes. Hopefully he managed to get through the day without falling asleep or getting in too much trouble.

Taking another look at the clock on his wrist and not even two minutes had passed since he last checked it. Scott wondered if it was a good time to call Fermat and inform him about his visit to Boston. Whenever any of the Tracys was in the Boston area they would go and visit Fermat at the school, delivering stuff for Brains as well as checking up on the guy to see how he was doing. Since they all knew that Fermat was having a hard time fitting in to the school, no matter how hard the kid tried to hide it from them. So they made it an effort to make sure he was all right. If he weren't then the solution would be that Fermat would get homeschooled back at the island, which they really didn't wish for Fermat. The kid needed to have a sense of a normal life, be around normal people and get friends to be with. Something the International Rescue operation couldn't give him or Tin-Tin.

Scott sighed and decided to take a chance that Fermat was awake and had not yet left his room to go to breakfast and then to class. So he pressed the call button on his computer, opening the face chat with Fermat and waited for a response. Moments passed and nothing happened. He slowly grew impatient and was just about to give up when the screen changed and a picture of Fermat's dorm room appeared. However it wasn't Fermat who was sitting in front of the camera, it was a longhaired blonde. The odd thing was that he wasn't even sure if this person was a boy or a girl due to the person delicate facial features, but he assumed it was a guy since Fermat wasn't exactly confident with the ladies. What was even odder about this guy was that he looked almost exactly like his deceased mother who have been dead for thirteen years, that is why without any thought he said astonished, "Mom?"

The guy behind the camera was taken back by his words, but quickly hid his surprise. Then Scott realized what he had just said and was just about to take it back and apologize, since it was foolish to mistake a guy for being his dead mother, when the blond replied.

"Sorry, but I have to be a woman to be a mother," the blonde guy said with a joking tone. "Another point is that I'm too young to be your mother, though I guess I should be flattered to get mistaken as a woman, but then it might hurt my man pride."

Scott was surprised and had absolutely no clue how he was supposed to respond to that, but the blond guy continued talking while keeping this annoying smirk on his face.

"I guess that you are here to talk to Fermat?"

Scott nodded, not trusting his own voice. He was pretty sure there were a million questions going through his mind like who was this guy and why was he on Fermat's computer, but before he got the chance to ask the blond guy walked away from the camera. Then he heard shuffling and mumbling in the background, not loud enough for him to hear what they were saying, but shortly Fermat appeared in front of the screen. The fourteen year old was rubbing his eyes and looked like he had just been woken up.

"M-morning Scott," Fermat said. "H-h-how are y-you this m-morning?"

"I'm fine, Fermat," Scott answered with smile. "By the way Fermat, whom was I talking with before?"

Fermat shifted in his seat, almost like he was uncomfortable to answer, but then a soft smile appeared on the boy's face.

"T-that's my f-f-friend and r-roommate Alan," Fermat said softly. "S-sorry if h-he said s-something w-wrong or i-insulted you in a-any way. H-he is s-sort of a t-trouble m-magnet."

"I heard that!" Alan shouted from the background. "And by the way it is not always intentional."

Fermat held back his laugh, but it was obvious that he was having a hard time keeping face. Scott was surprised over the interaction between Fermat and his roommate since he had never seen Fermat act like that with anyone other than possibly Tin-Tin. The normally shy fourteen-year-old was bantering and looked very comfortable around this roommate. And for once appeared to enjoy being at Wharton that didn't involve the excellent education. Which was why Scott became more suspicious and decided to take caution on Fermat's friend, since he didn't like the sudden change and what kind of consequences it would bring not only for Fermat, but also him and his family.

"So how long have you known him?" Scott asked carefully. Asking things with care was not his strong suit, he was rather bold and direct about things he was wondering about, but he had learned from experience people tend to get defensive and shut him out. So for once he was going to follow the advice John always gave him whenever he got in a sticky situation.

"H-he transferred h-here a c-couple of m-months ago and w-we just c-connected I g-guess," Fermat replied and shrugged his shoulders. "H-he is a g-good g-guy, Scott."

Scott wasn't comforted by Fermat's words, especially since he got the distinct feeling that there was more behind the story than what Fermat was telling him, but he decided not to push it any more. So he nodded and changed the subject.

"Actually I'm going to be in the Boston area in a couple of days and I was wondering if there was anything you need that I can bring with me when I come up and visit," Scott explained. Fermat had a thoughtful expression on his face, thinking carefully over the question, but he quickly shook his head.

"N-no, I c-can't think of a-anything," Fermat said. He readjusted his glasses. " B-but I'm s-sure you k-know what I-I would n-need."

"Right," Scott smiled. "Then I will come up at the school this weekend and then you can tell me all about your experience here at Wharton."

Fermat smiled and promised that he was expecting him, but before they could say anything else Fermat's roommate interrupted and told Fermat they needed to go to the dining hall otherwise they would not get any breakfast before class. Scott and Fermat exchanged quick goodbyes and turned off the camera chat.

It left Scott alone in his room, leaning back against his chair while thinking over the conversation. His appointment with Jem and Fermat was settled and he should be happy over making it work, but his mind was occupied with other questions. He was happy for Fermat gaining at least one friend at the school, but they seemed far too different to be interacting with each other. Then there was also the fact that Fermat had not even mention this new roommate/friend before. Which left a hanging question in Scott's mind. Why would Fermat be so secretive about this friend?

Other than the surprise call from Scott this morning, the rest of the day went as usual with Alan getting into a verbal discussion with one of the teachers again and got detention as punishment for having a big mouth. Fermat was glad that his friend's head-butting had lessen to at least one or two teachers per day, even though he was entertained whenever he saw Alan making quick-witted and sarcastic remarks against people who tried to dominate and control him, he really didn't want Alan to get in too much trouble especially when he knew that his friend was a clever individual that could do anything if he put his mind to it.

Anyway after getting through the day's classes and his club hours, he almost crashed straight into the bed once he got back to his dorm room after dinner. And without much difficulty he fell straight into a deep sleep and didn't wake up until he was waken up by scream. The scream itself wasn't too loud, but it certainly had taken him by surprise and woken him up despite the fact that he was normally a heavy sleeper. He opened his eyes and turned to see Alan sitting up straight in his bed, shaking and sweating out of control. He shifted in his bed and was just about to ask Alan what was wrong when the blond jumped out of bed and hurried off to the bathroom.

Fermat didn't waste time getting out of bed and followed his friend in to the bathroom. He was surprised to find Alan hanging over the toilet bowl, puking his guts out. He turned on the lights in the bathroom to get a better look at his friend, who looked like almost haunted and was basically he terrified out of his mind. He had never seen Alan like this before, so scared and vulnerable that it almost hurt him to watch.

"Fermat?" Alan said confused. He had finally stopped vomiting and realized that he was watching him. "Sorry, did I wake up? Please go back to sleep. I'm fine now."

Fermat knew that Alan tried to push him away and let him to deal with his problems on his own, but he wasn't having it. His friend could be as stubborn as he wanted to be, but there was no way he was going to leave him alone in the bathroom especially when he was in this state.

"W-what happened? D-did you h-have a n-nightmare?" Fermat asked distressed. "H-has this h-happened before?"

Alan didn't answer any of his questions, but he didn't need to. Because his silence only confirmed what he suspected. It was then Fermat truly got a better look at his friend's appearance.
"Alan, w-what is o-on your h-hands? As w-well on your b-back?" Fermat pointed out, failing to keep his composure. On Alan's hands were two large scars seemed to have pierced through his hands, meanwhile his back was covered with multiple scars. Some of them were small, but others were huge and certainly old. All the scars Fermat could see told him that Alan had gone through painful and terrible experiences, but he also to notice that those injuries had happened a long time ago and most likely from the time before Alan had lost his memories.

"You know what they are, Fermat," Alan sighed. Alan ran his right hand through the wet and sweaty hair. "And before you begin pitying me or whatever, I didn't want you to know about my scars and nightmares because I'm ashamed, okay?"

Fermat blinked his eyes a couple of times. He didn't pity Alan for what had happened to him or the fact that he was having nightmares. No if there was anything Fermat realized after finding out about this was that Alan was even stronger person than what he assumed he was, going through that sort of pain and endure it, while he still managed keep that sun-warming smile on his face around him.

"I-I don't p-pity you," Fermat comforted. He sat down on the floor next to Alan and turned to look at Alan, whom had his gaze focused on the bathroom tiles. "Y-you just s-showed me that you are e-even a s-stronger person than w-what I r-realized."

Alan didn't say anything, but his breath was panting. Then he shook his head like he was trying to dismiss his words and couldn't believe that what he was saying was true.

"I'm not strong, Fermat," Alan admitted. "I just pretend that I am in order to survive, but in reality I'm terrified for the nightmares I'm having. Because every time I close my eyes I begin to see a man hurting this kid both physically and mentally, and I wait for the moment where the kid finally breaks and only becomes an empty shell of himself. And though I can never see their faces, but I know that kid is me, and I'm terrified that some day I'm going just break."

Fermat nodded. It wasn't surprising that Alan would gain some of his old memories, even if they were only breadcrumbs that only appeared in his dreams. However he didn't want Alan to live through whatever happened to him again, especially when it was already causing him more than enough distress and hurt. What Alan needed and certainly deserved was the chance to start over and have a normal teenage life.

Neither of them said anything, but Fermat had pulled Alan in his arms in order to allow him to release those feelings he had been desperate to keep hidden inside. Alan froze by the sudden action, but quickly relaxed as he began sobbing on his back. Tears were dripping on his pajamas. Fermat ran up and down Alan's head, whispering in his ear that everything was going to be okay and somehow it had a calming effect on him. The sobbing began to lessen along with the tears and Fermat could hear Alan murmuring thanks and sorry in his ear. It warmed his heart to hear those words; it truly showed how much he mattered to his friend. They were so different, yet they truly cared and needed each other. And nothing made Fermat more proud and honored to be considered a part of Alan closest circle. Which was why he treasured their friendship and was determined to always be there for him. The same way he knew that Alan would always be there for him.

It was already Friday afternoon when Jem was sitting alone by a table at his favorite old-fashioned diner, waiting for Scott to for once in his life make it to a scheduled appointment with his old friend. He tapped his foot impatiently against the floor, while keeping his arms crossed on his chest. Despite the fact that his friend still had some time to show up, he had serious doubts that he would show let alone remember that they had scheduled a meeting to catch up.

He sighed and leaned back in his seat. He knew that he shouldn't be so hard on Scott, after all he too had a demanding job and it wasn't exactly easy just to drop everything. However he being friends with Scott proved to be quite some task when the guy is always so busy with either his mysterious job or his even more mysterious family, who he had never seen or met in person. Then again he was any better, since Scott have never seen or heard about Alan either.

"Sorry, I just finished an errand for my dad," Scott said, interrupting his thoughts. "Have you waited long?"

Jem shook his head and a happy smile appeared on his face before he got up his seat to give his friend a hug and clapped his back. Then the two men sat down and ordered two cups of coffee from the waitress. It didn't take long before the waitress came back to their table and served their coffee and then moved back to her other customers. Jem took a sip of his coffee and then placed the cup on the table and looked at his friend.

"I almost expected that you wouldn't show up," Jem stated, while he began fingering with his coffee cup. "But I'm glad that you are here. I missed you, and I'm dying to hear what has been going on with you the last couple of years. So start talking."

Scott laughed by his directness, but he didn't hesitate telling him about his family and his job for his father's business. However over the course of the conversation he began to notice how Scott didn't give him very much details about his personal life like what exactly he did for his dad or what he normally did whenever he wasn't working other than working on airplanes, but that wasn't something new about Scott. Even back when they were on the Air Force together his friend was very pretty secretive and cautious to reveal anything remotely personal, but who could blame him when he was son of one of the biggest billionaires in the world?

"How about you?" Scott said, redirecting the conversation back on him. "Anything going on with you? Something at work or new girlfriend perhaps?"

Jem snorted about the girlfriend comment. He was focused on his job that having a girlfriend wasn't much of a priority, and besides he didn't have the time since he was dedicated to spend his spare time with his friends and family. Then there was also the fact that his job wasn't a lady magnet, especially since his job was dangerous and didn't have the best insurance that he would always come back alive.

"Nah, no girlfriend," Jem answered. "I'm usually busy with either my job or keeping my family in line and out of trouble."

"What? Is Haley in some kind of trouble?" Scott asked surprised. Jem wasn't taken back by his friend's surprise since Haley was normally very nice and never got herself involved in anything dirty, at least knowingly.

"No, it wasn't Haley I was talking about," Jem replied. Suddenly he felt his shoulders become heavy. He had really hoped that he could ease the topic about Alan in the conversation, but it seemed fate had other plans and decided now was the best time to tell his friend about the other addition in his family. So he sighed and continued the conversation. "Scott, about four years ago Haley and I took in a kid, who was from what we knew orphaned and didn't have anyone who could take care of him. So instead of letting him go into the foster system we raised as our younger brother."

Scott blinked his eyes a couple of times, processing what exactly he was hearing before he exclaimed, "You have a brother! And you didn't tell me!"

Jem frowned about the accusation, but he wasn't going to point out that it was kind of difficult to talk about Alan in a random conversation especially when you haven't been in enough contact to tell about it either.

"Yeah, his name is Alan and he is sixteen," Jem continued explaining. "Pretty much the biggest trouble magnet you can find, but he is amazing Scott. He is so smart and talented it almost scares me, and both Haley and I are incredibly proud of him despite his reluctance to show his abilities. "

Scott smiled by his bragging, but the smile didn't reach his eyes. Jem stopped talking and looked closely at his friend, who had this sad and haunted look in his eyes, but he couldn't understand what exactly he was sad about. Was it something he had said?

"Sorry," Scott shook his head. "I was thinking about something else. Don't worry about it. But I'm glad that you found happiness with this kid, you deserve to be happy."

"Thanks," Jem replied. "He makes me happy, even though he drives me insane most of the time by getting into trouble and questioning my authority. He attends Wharton Academy right now and it seems to have calmed his troublemaking ways a little."

"He goes to Wharton?" Scott wondered. "Does he happen to be a long haired blond with cocky attitude?"

Jem was surprised how Scott jumped to that conclusion, especially since it was correct description on Alan."

"Yeah, how did you know?" Jem asked baffled. Then Scott began explaining how a family friend's son attends the same school and was apparently a close friend to Alan as well as how Scott ended up meeting Alan. The conversation continued for a while before they ended up changing the subject and began reminiscing the good old days back at the Air Force. And before he knew it the distance between him and Scott seemed to have grown shorter and it was almost like having his friend back.

"A-are you s-sure this is s-such a g-good i-idea?" Fermat stuttered. "I-I mean, what if y-you get in t-trouble?"

"Come on, Fermat," Alan said with a complaining tone. The two of them had just gotten off the bus that stopped in Boston, a couple of blocks away from his family's apartment, and was walking towards the apartment. "I won't get in trouble, especially since it is Friday night and the school allows students to visit their family during the weekend. Besides I want you to meet my family and I'm pretty sure both Jem and Haley are going to like you as much as I do. Probably even more than me."

"B-but what a-about Scott?" Fermat tried to argue. "H-he is g-going to s-show up at the s-school tomorrow."

"Don't worry, Fermat," Alan shrugged. "I promise that Jem or Haley will drive us back to the academy in the morning, just to make sure that I continue staying there and don't try and run off."

Fermat still didn't look entirely convinced, but Alan was getting tired of convincing him especially since he had done that from the moment he had suggested to bring him home and introduce him to his family after the whole 'bathroom incident' a couple of days ago, and through out the entire bus ride to the city.

"Look, just trust me," Alan said annoyed. He was almost stomping on the pavement when he and Fermat turned around the corner. "Nothing is going to happen to you, I promise to bring you back safe and sound. But first we need to pick up some food, do you like Chinese?"

Fermat nodded tentatively and Alan led them to the Chinese restaurant where he and his family always picked up take-out whenever their schedule was too busy and none of them had time to cook.

Alan entered the restaurant first, followed closely by Fermat and quickly gave the worker behind the counter their orders. Since there were not many people in the restaurant the duo decided to wait and entertained themselves by chatting and laughing about random and insignificant topics. Once their orders were up Alan grabbed the take-out bags and paid for the food. However it was then the doorbell began shimming and a group of people entered the restaurant. Despite the fact that he had his back towards the newcomers, he could immediately sense the sudden change in the air. Something was going to happen, something very bad. It was then he heard it, someone whistling the melody "Ode to Joy" with taunting arrogance. Alan froze up and the bad stomach feeling hit it like a knife. He was afraid, no wrong word. He was terrified because he knew this person who was whistling, he might not remember the man due to his amnesia, but that didn't stop him from knowing that whoever this person was he was dangerous and he needed to get him and Fermat out of there. His suspicion was only confirmed when the whistling stopped and the deep taunting voice said, "Hello, Brat. Did you miss me?"

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Sorry for taking so long updating this, but after working almost non-stop on this and my other on-going story in March I needed to have a little break from writing. Hopefully you will like this chapter, since it is now I'm beginning to work up the suspense and get on with the story.

I wanted to point out that if I don't update this story again this month then you might have to wait a while before my next update, since in last days of May I will be having my exams and I will probably use the entire month practicing for the exam. But I promise that once I'm done with my exams I will be updating again and probably more often giving the extra time I'm going to have.

Anyways thank you for the reviews, favorite and followings and please, and I mean please continue doing so. Hopefully I get to update this story soon, but if not then my message above explains why. But until then...

xXrebelgirl07Xx