Through the Smoke~ DTQK

Alex

Alex never used to be a rule breaker.

In fact, to his parents he still was a perfect kid who could do no wrong. He had good grades in school, did anything his parents asked him to, and was respectful.

He just wished that he could have their attention more.

Alex had an older brother. He didn't live with them anymore because he got kicked out at the age of 18. Right on his birthday his parents wouldn't let him in the house.

That's when the family moved. When Alex was 15 they packed up and moved from Mexico to a whole new country, and somehow ended up in Florida.

Alex's parents wanted to start completely fresh, with one perfect son and nobody else.

Danny was 3 years older than Alex, so he always went out of his way to bother him, but he also wanted to protect him as an older brother.

Their parents would constantly scream at Danny. Whether it was about his failing grades or his disrespectful mannerisms, they always found something to yell at him for.

Alex was always left in the shadow of Danny. His parents would be too busy yelling at him to pay attention to Alex.

He would sit on the couch and watch while Danny and his parents cursed back and forth at each other, yet they wouldn't even acknowledge him crying just a few feet away from them.

After every fight, however, Danny always made sure that he and Alex would spend time together. Most of the time it was Danny sneaking into Alex's room and asking if he wanted to play Mario Kart.

These small gestures would be the only thing making Alex smile.

As the boys grew older Alex watched as Danny got worse. He had progressed into a kid who would get suspended from school for a variety of reasons. Fights, disrespecting the faculty, caught stealing a final exam answer key, he did it all.

The life Danny lived when he entered high school was almost inevitable, after all, he was miserable.

He was almost never at home, and when he was, he didn't leave his room. Alex would knock softly to check up on him but would get no answer in return.

One night, Danny forgot to lock his door. Not knowing if he was home or not, Alex knocked with no response, and twisted the handle of the door to see his brother with a line of powder in front of him.

Alex stood in the doorway, wide eyed, not knowing what to do. He had no idea his brother had resorted to drugs.

"Please don't tell them." Danny had pleaded, not even trying to cover up what he was doing.

Alex nodded and backed out of the room, closing the door behind him. He wasn't going to tell his parents, he was just shocked at his brothers way of life.

The secret stayed safe with Alex. Yet his parents still ended up finding out, but not because they walked in on him doing the drugs. They found him in the bathroom, overdosing.

Alex had gotten home from school that day and was doing his homework in the living room. He didn't know if his brother was home or not but he wanted to get his mass amount of homework done.

His mom walked in about 20 minutes after Alex had gotten home, giving him a quick "hi" and then making her way upstairs.

It was silent in the house for a moment, before his mom starting screaming. It wasn't a normal altercation between her and Danny, which Alex would have brushed off, she was screaming in terror.

Alex rushed up the stairs to see his brother on the bathroom floor, unconscious. He stood behind his mother who was kneeling beside him, trying to shake him awake.

"Alexis be useful for once and call an ambulance." His mother had screamed at him. The words sent a pain through him as he stood. "Daniel wake up. What did you do?" She sobbed next to his body.

Alex ran down the stairs with tears streaming down him face as he reached the phone and called 911.

He stayed downstairs until the paramedics arrived a few minutes later and pointed them up the stairs, tears still streaming silently down his face. He couldn't look as they wheeled the stretcher past him with his brother on it.

"You stay here." His mom had said to him as she climbed into the back of the ambulance with Danny. Alex stood in the doorway and watched as they sped away, leaving him alone.

He would stay home by himself for the whole night and the entirety of the next day not knowing if his brother was even alive.

Luckily, the doctors were able to detox him in time.

When his parents arrived home with Danny, they couldn't even look at him. They argued with each other in the living room as Danny made his way upstairs away from them.

Danny made his way silently into Alex's room and hugged him tightly for a long time.

"I'm sorry you had to see that. I didn't mean to do it I promise." He whispered, Alex hearing him struggle to hold back tears.

Alex didn't say anything back but hugged his brother tighter, tears running down his face with quiet sobs filling the silence of the room.

Alex didn't know what was going to happen to Danny. He saw his parents browsing listings of houses that looked like they were far from home.

His parents and Danny fought everyday still, Alex listening to it all. Yet he wasn't prepared for them to kick him out the morning of his 18th birthday.

Alex had woken up to yelling across the hall in his brothers room. When he walked out of his own room he saw Danny shoving a bunch of stuff into a duffel bag, a saddened look in his eye.

"You have five minutes. Just leave when you're done, you're not welcome back here." His mother said coldly. His parents walked down the stairs, leaving Alex staring at his brother frantically throwing clothes and other belongings into his bag.

"They're kicking me out for good." Danny said to Alex. Alex felt his heart drop. "And you guys are moving to America. Their visa is approved and everything."

Danny now stood in front of Alex with his bag in hand. He saw his eyes start to water as he hugged him. Alex hugged back tightly.

"I'll be ok. I promise. I will never forget about you, and I hope you never forget about me." Danny said before leaving without another word.

Over the next couple of days, Alex and his parents started to pack up their belongings to ship to Florida, where they had bought a house.

It took a while for Alex to adjust to his new life in Florida. He hadn't made any friends right away and was alone most of the time. His parents still barely paid attention to him, so home life hadn't really changed for him.

It wasn't until Clay sat down across from him at lunch that he finally felt included. And happy.

"I saw you were sitting alone. Are you new?" Clay had said to him.

Alex nodded as he bit into the sandwich he had made himself at home.

"Well, I'm Clay. And you are?"

"Alex."

"Nice to meet you Alex. How would you like to join me and my friends over there?" He asked, nodding to a table near the window.

They hung out later that night, and it was also the first time Alex had ever smoked. He enjoyed the feeling of it, but seeing Clay and the others do other drugs made him upset. It reminded him of his brother.

He knew that those drugs would never be his thing. He didn't want to end up like his brother.