Chapter 14

 

        Later that day, Alex returned home from school. After grabbing his backpack from the passenger seat, he got out of his car and walked up the porch steps. When he got inside, he found his mother sitting on the couch watching television.

        “I'm home,” he announced as he kicked his gym shoes off.

        “How was school?” his mother asked him as she turned her head to look at him.

        “Pretty good. Gonna go start my homework. Tell me when dinner's ready.”

        Alex climbed the stairs and went to his room. He set his backpack down next to the desk and laid his car keys onto the wooden surface of it before taking a seat in the computer chair. After quickly checking his email and replying to the one that Vincent had sent him the previous night, he began his homework.

        As he did his homework though, Sean slowly drifted into his mind. The boy stopped doing the worksheet that was in front of him and stared out the window in thought, which overlooked a fairly large tree that birds flew in and out of frequently. Alex was still a little concerned about Sean and the feeling that he was hiding something stuck out in his mind.

        The brown-haired boy was broken from his thoughts shortly afterwards though by his mom calling him down to eat supper. Alex set his pencil next to the worksheet before heading downstairs. Both his mother and father were already seated around the table. He joined them and started to fill his plate with the food his mother had cooked.

        During that whole time, Alex didn't pay much attention to what his parents were talking about. He stared down at his plate and slowly ate while thoughts of Sean continued to cloud his mind. When dinner did finally end, Alex did the dishes like he always did every night before heading back upstairs. Once he reached his room, he shut the door behind him and went over to go lay on his bed, completely forgetting about the fact that he still had homework to do. His hands interlaced behind his head as those hazel hues of his stayed fixed on the white ceiling that was over him.

        A few seconds later Alex heard a light knocking at his door and the thoughts that had accumulated in his head dispersed. His head turned to the side to see his mother poking her head through a small opening in the door.

        “Hey, you okay?” she asked him before slowly stepping into the room.

        Alex gave a small smile and nodded before saying, “Yeah, I'm fine.”

        “You sure?” his mother questioned as she slowly moved towards the bed. “You seemed a little spaced out during dinner.”

        “I did?” Alex then sighed. “Just a little concerned about a friend I guess, that's all.”

        “Is it Vincent?” she asked as she sat down at the side of the bed.

        “No, his name's Sean.”

        “Oh, is he a new friend of yours?”

        “Yeah. I met him at the beginning of the school year.”

        “Oh, that's nice. And what is it that makes you concerned about him?”

        “Well, when I was walking home Friday night, I saw him at the lake, and he was going to—well, you know—kill himself. I stopped him before he could and he ran off afterwards. He was here at school today though.”

        “That sounds pretty serious.”

        “Yeah. I asked him what was giving him so much trouble, but he just said it wasn't anything important and that he was over it.”

        “Did it look like he was?”

        “Guess so. He seemed to be back to his normal self. He didn't seem to be too depressed about anything. There's a part of me that wants to believe him, but I still can't help but to worry about him a little.”

        “I'm sure you are after seeing something like that. If he says it's not bothering him anymore, then take his word for it. If he doesn't look like he's depressed about anything like you said, then he could be telling you the truth. And if he isn't, just try to cheer him up a little.”

        Alex nodded. He didn't respond right away as he just thought it over a little.

        “Alright,” he finally said a couple seconds later while giving a small smile. “Thanks.”

        His mother nodded and returned the smile with one of her own. She left shortly afterwards, leaving Alex to himself. He laid there for a few more minutes and thought it over a little more. The more he did think about it, the calmer he became about it. Perhaps he was just worrying a little too much? Maybe he was just thinking things? Alex just let the thoughts of what he had earlier leave his mind as he went over to resume his homework.

        Once he finished, he went down to watch television with his parents like he usually did. When it was getting late, he told the two good night and went back up to his room, where he got into bed. It didn't take him long to fall asleep.

Author's Note

I don't know if I played this part as good as I could have. I had a little trouble trying to come up with the dialogue between Alex and his mother. Comments?

Reviews

[Amy]

I agree with Amund, it does seem fake in this chapter. If I told my mom somrthing like that she would be freaking out!....But she freaks out a lot....

[Amund Schofield]

Well yeah, the dialogue does seem fake.. Just ask your mother to help you out with it. I'm sure she'll be happy to role play with you. If you're too scared to ask her, you can always just roleplay in your head, and think about what you would ask your kid if he told you something like that.