a confession

this will probably be a later chapter in fairytale life once i get to working on it - it's the same alec, think of it as a sneak peek of what's to come.

     Alec paced the floor of her bedroom. Four people sat among the poorly organized piles of music books and loose sheet music scattered around the room, not to even mention the bed, which was overflowing with pillows and blankets. The people were really the only people she trusted in the world - or even close to trusted. There was Ellie, her older sister through adoption, and while they annoyed the s**t out of each other, Ellie had always been there for Alec. There was Blake, who had always been her best friend. They were the same age, and they both came from odd situations - Blake, a b*****d child, and Alec, adopted by a lesbian couple. There was Ben, who always had something to say...even if it wasn't particularly comforting, it never failed to make her laugh, or at least be so unfailingly idiotic that her mind was lifted from that particular subject. And then there was Cadan, who was practically her brother, her arch-enemy, the only person who could get her out of her comfort zone. They were the only people she could trust with this...and she was still terrified.

     Ellie wasn't sure what was going on, only that it was obviously making Alec twist harder than a tornado in a trailer park. She was always worried about her younger sister. She hadn't exactly had an easy life, Ellie knew. Born to a prostitute and adopted by a gay couple, a back riddled with burn scars and a heart that cared too much to let on, she figured Alec wouldn't ever be completely okay. Or anything even close. And Ellie didn't trust Alec's boyfriend at all. Donald Marquee was Alec's psychiatrist, he was (according to Ellie) fifteen times her age, almost twenty years older than her. Ellie didn't like him one bit, he had this aura about him that she just couldn't stand.

     Blake, who had actually been mistaken for Alec's sister - they were very close, and with their dark hair and fair complexion, the resemblance was believable, though Blake's gray eyes were a sharp contrast to Alec's bright blue. She was just as terrified as Alec looked to be - shaky-handed, she clung to her friend's favorite black quilt and stared at the pacing brunette. She had no idea what was going on...well, no, she had far too many ideas. Quite an imaginative girl, Blake assumed the worst - Alec had killed someone? Had she tried to commit suicide? Had she committed arson and lit an entire family on fire? What if she had ripped apart every stuffed animal in a toy store? That last one seemed the most likely of all of the aforementioned. Especially moreso than the arson. But it didn't stop Blake from worrying.

     Ben was, as always, maybe not calm, but not nearly as worried as anyone else in the room. Practically bouncing, he didn't seem to notice anything different about the way Alec paced the floor. Clad in his leather jacket, he certainly looked out of place, flat on his back on her piano bench and fidgeting, staring at the ceiling, back to Alec, back to the ceiling. Truth be told, this attitude was the only reason he was there, Alec had called him in because she needed someone to lighten the atmosphere. She loved Ben dearly, but at the moment she needed someone to make the others laugh more than herself.

     Cadan. She was most worried about his reaction. Cadan and Don...did not get along. Cadan hated Don with a firey, burning passion, it honestly frightened her when they were in the same room. He tensed up any time she and Don were together, and though he made her happy, he just didn't think that Don was entirely right in the head, it seemed. Cadan was staring right at her, staring through her, his eyes seemed to be burning holes into the small amount of composure she could maintain.

     Alec broke.

     "Okay. So. I know you guys really, really hate him and I know you're probably gonna stop talking to me entirely and you're gonna be just horrifically mad at me bu-"

     "ALEC, YOU DIDN'T."

     "I think she did, Blake."

     "Oh, my god, Ben, she did. You committed a murder, didn't you?"

     "You totally stabbed someone. I know you did."

     "Alec. Alec, Alec, Alec. You can't just go out on a limb and stab people."

     Alec let out a laugh broken by sobbing. She couldn't control the tears rolling down her cheeks. Ellie stared at her, and it suddenly dawned on her. She blinked almost audibly, visibly stopped breathing for a moment, and buried her face into the bed cushions. Cadan, not exactly perceptive, couldn't figure out what had happened. As he asked, Alec turned to face him. Her eyeliner streamed down her face in black canals, and her voice shook more than he'd ever known it to as she answered in the quietest voice that he'd ever heard her use, save for the time she showed him her scars.

     "I'm p-pregnant." Ellie shrieked into the bed and sat up, looking completely composed. Blake let go of the quilt suddenly, it slid from the bed, and her eyes snapped towards Alec, directing all of their attention onto her face. Cadan just stared blankly. He didn't seem to understand. It was Ben who spoke first.

     ".....Why?" he asked, blunt like a baseball bat. "He's, like...your shrink and stuff, Alec." He sat up on the piano bench, leaning against the piano, his elbows playing a horrible chord that seemed to describe the tone of the room perfectly. The somber group winced collectively, and Ben pulled his arms off, not bothering to apologize. Blake reached over to shut the lid over the ivory keys. Alec sobbed again and opened her mouth to reply, but Ellie beat her to the punch.

     "Ben, is that really the only thing you can find that's wrong with that?" It seemed as if her voice was forced, like she could barely speak.

     "Well," Ben paused. "No. He's also weird-looking."

     "Ben!" Alec cried out in a protesting tone.

     "No, really, Alec, you'd better hope the kid looks like you." He nodded sagely. Alec let out a very odd noise, something like a whine or a whimper. She slid to the ground, leaned against her bookshelf. Her eyes closed tightly shut, and she looked older than her friends had ever seen her before. Lines creased her stark white forehead, and there were dark circles around her eyes. She looked unhealthy - stressed and afraid. Cadan breathed in deeply.

     "Well, let's get you to a doctor, then," he spoke, his tone forcedly even.

     "It's too early for an ultrasound,"

     "...I mean an abortion, Blake."

     "She can't get an abortion!"

     "She can't take care of the kid."

     "Of course she can, she'll keep it." Blake stared at her half-brother as if he was insane. Alec was still crying rather too hard to respond. He stared at Alec, stood up, and was gone. Ben, Cadan's best friend, not Alec's, followed suite. Blake slid to the floor and rubbed her friend's back comfortably. Ellie remained where she was on the bed, staring at her sister with hard eyes.

     "What about protection, huh? Did it just not seem appealing? No? Jesus, Alec, I thought you were smart. Had to pick this time to be an idiot, huh?" Alec sobbed harder, and Blake blinked at Ellie. Alec could feel the whole world shattering around her feet, crashing down to her ankles and breaking into shards of who-knows-what. Cadan couldn't have left, he was Cadan. Cadan was Alec's rock, the strongman brother figure who wasn't ever not there. He couldn't be gone. She couldn't focus, she heard snippets of Blake and Ellie arguing, she saw strands of Ellie's hair, a venomous green with rage. Every time she opened her eyes, all she saw was Cadan leaving her. She closed them and saw only his face, staring at her like she was stupid.

     She vaguely registered a door slamming - Ellie had stomped off to her own room. Blake hugged her friend tightly and debated calling for Zoe. Alec was obviously hyperventillating, and Blake was pretty sure she had pills for this, but if she brought in Zoe, she'd want to know why Alec was panicking and why Ben and Cadan had left so suddenly. She decided against calling, but heard footsteps coming up the landing. Blake thanked god, though, that it was the light, geisha-like footsteps of Zoe, not the combat boot-clad thuds of Belle. She had a tray of tea in her arms, and Alec's pills on the side of the tray. She sat down on the bed and handed both Blake and Alec cups of tea, took one of her own, took a sip, and crossed her arms.

     "So, what's going on?"

     "H-he...left..." Alec was still sobbing too hard to get a good sentence out. Zoe sighed heavily, and opened the pill bottle. She shook out one of the little white things, took Alec's tea, and dropped it in. Handing the china back, she commanded her daughter to drink, and jumping to just as many conclusions as Blake and Ben, prepared herself for the worst. Blake took a sip of her tea, and helped steady Alec's hand enough to get the shaking china to her lips. Alec drank slowly, and slowly calmed down. After what felt like years, she stared at Zoe.

     "I'm..." She seemed to wince at the thought, and looked to Blake for assistance.

     "...She's pregnant, Mrs. Chase." Blake squeezed her friend's hand tightly. Bewildered, Zoe blinked, and looked between the two of them, as if she hoped one of them would start laughing, and say they had played a sick, twisted joke. But they didn't. Zoe sighed, and slid to the ground. Shooing Blake away a bit, Zoe wrapped her arms around her daughter.

     She didn't much like Don...at least, not outside the realm of psychiatry. But he made her daughter happy. They were having a baby. Maternal instincts took over, and Zoe let a tear slip down her tan face.

Author's Note

i know the ending's a little abrupt, constructive criticism on it?