By Your Side

Chapter 4

Alex didn't remember going to bed that night. He woke up to the smell of food cooking. He sat up and remembered something. Someone did the same thing back wherever it was he came from. He thought long and hard about it.
Walking into the kitchen the name came to him. Jack. That was it.
"Good morning!" Kelly cheerfully greeted him.
"Alex, we have good news," Mike said. Alex was about to say he did too but didn't.
"What is it?" He asked.
"We got you into a school. You start tomorrow. I hope it's not too sudden of a change for you," Mike said.
Alex shook his head. "Not at all. I've had worse changes happen to me."
"Like what?" Mike asked. The room went silent as Alex tried to think.
"I-I can't remember, but things are slowly coming back. I remember a name. Jack. That's as far as it goes," Alex replied.
"At least it's starting to come back. And remember, we're here for you no matter what," Mike said. A small crash came from the living room. It startled Alex. He grabbed the closest object to him and held it tightly. Mike went to check it out. It had just been the dog knocking something over.
Later that day, Alex was home alone. Kelly had taken Margo to the store with her. She had said she would be back within an hour. Alex was just glad to be alone.
As he was organising his room he heard a noise from outside his room. It wasn't a usual noise that he knew like Kelly or Mike coming home. Instead it was the sliding of a window. Alex knew it had to be an intruder. The girls would surely shout for him when they got home. That's what they did for the past two days. Alex grabbed a pen from the desk. He clutched it so the end was facing his back.
Pushing the door open ever so slightly, Alex peered out. A man was searching around the house. Quietly, Alex opened the door enough for him to slip through. Thinking he had the upper hand, Alex attempted to stab the man with the pen. The man turned just as Alex moved the pen into position. Grabbing his arm, he forced Alex down to the ground. Alex tried to fight back, but the man over powered him.
"Alex?" The man asked. He had a Liverpool accent. The name sat on Alex's brain like a word he knew but couldn't remember.
"Wh-who are you?" Alex asked.
"Ben Daniels but you know me better as Fox," the man replied as he pulled Alex up.
"What are you doing here?"
"Scorpia is after you. I was sent here to bring you back to England. MI6 will be able to protect you better in England."
"I'm not leaving here. I'm safe. And what even is Scorpia?!"
Ben sighed. "You don't remember anything?"
"I don't remember a lot. Just Jack."
"You can see her again if you come with me," Ben said. Alex was shocked. He could see Jack and all he had to do was go with Ben. Alex almost said he would go, but then he saw Kelly's car pull into the driveway.
"You have to leave. Look I'll be going to school tomorrow. Try to get a position there. You can keep an eye on me without being suspicious about it. Now go before Kelly comes inside. Through the back," Alex said as he hurried Ben outside through the back door.
"Alex, we're home! Please come help!" Kelly called.
"Coming!" Alex replied as he ran to her from the back door. Ben had successfully gotten away. He would bring the new information Alex gave him to MI6 and go from there.
Alex helped Kelly. Just as Alex was bringing in the last of the groceries, someone came up from behind. He dropped the bags and flipped the person over. It turned out to be June. She was laughing about it.
"Alex!" Nora and Eisley shouted in unison.
"I am so sorry, June. Are you okay?" Alex asked as he helped her up.
"Just.... winded," she replied.
"Don't sneak up on me like that. You could've gotten hurt," Alex responded.
"You don't look strong enough to cause a lot of harm," Nora said.
"Trust me I can," Alex replied. The four of them then walked into the house.
"Alex flipped June," Nora said as Alex brought the bags of food into the kitchen.
"Why?" Kelly asked.
"It was a reflex. I made sure she wasn't hurt after it happened," Alex replied.
"I'm okay!" June said happily.
"Alex, it's not okay to do that. I know you said it was a reflex, but please be careful," Kelly said. Alex silently went to his room without another word to her or anyone.

Ben Daniels went to MI6 with the information about Alex. They agreed to arrange for K-unit to keep an eye on Alex from a distance. They placed Mrs Jones in the field as well. She would be his school counsellor in case something happened. Everything was set in place to keep Alex safe. K-unit was placed in the same neighbourhood as Alex. All they needed to do was make sure Scorpia couldn't get to him.

During dinner that night Mike found out about the incident with June. He wasn't thrilled but he knew Alex didn't mean it.
"I hope anything like that won't happen tomorrow at school," Mike said.
"As long as no one comes at me from behind there shouldn't be any problems," Alex replied.
"Hugging from behind isn't coming at you," Kelly said.
Alex almost said something hurtful to her. Then he had a memory of almost drowning and getting stung by a jellyfish. That lead him to remember a snowboarding accident he had trying to escape from somewhere.
"Are you okay, Alex?" Mike said. Alex sat there gripping the table tightly as more horrifying memories flooded back to him.
"D-don't hurt me please," Alex said quietly as tears formed in his eyes. Mike reached a hand out to comfort him. Alex leapt back, knocking the chair over.
All the eyes were on him. Alex ran into his room and barricaded the door. He blocked off the window as well and sat in his closet. He pulled his knees to his chest. He heard a knock on the door.
"Alex? Alex, I'm sorry if I scared you. I didn't mean to. Please come out and we can talk about it," Mike said. Alex sat where he was for a minute. He thought about it and eventually let Mike in.
"They're coming for me," Alex said. Terror was in his voice and on his face.
"Who?"
"I can't remember. I wish I did. Every time I try it just gets harder. I just remember pain and Jack."
"It'll be okay. Just remember that I will be here for you. And there's another person who is there for you all the time."
"Who?"
"God."