Sleepwalking // Sam Fender

Alternative ending (Alex)

Alex's POV

I knew what it meant that Alice was not answering my calls. Believe it or not, we had been through that too many times back when we dated. That's I told her not become a stranger, so I could actually know if she was doing alright. But as the day went by and I got no reply to either my calls or my texts, I decided that I had had enough. I called Sam who straight up told me that he didn't care anymore. I knew he was stupid but I didn't know he could be such a massive prick.

Still, I knew that Alice was in Manchester. She had told me a while back so in attempt to search for her in one of England's biggest cities, I dropped Beth at my parents' and took the first train to Manchester. I then spent around a week asking around if anyone had seen her, until I remembered that she had a shelter in the outskirts of Manchester.

I made my way to the shelter only to see her coming out of it so I followed her (I must have looked like a creep) until I reached a block of apartments, where she quickly locked her door. She smelt of cigarettes and she looked skinnier, signs that warned me of what she was about to do. Alice had a destructive pattern that I knew too well. So I knocked on her door.

"Alice, open up. I know you're in there" I said after a few seconds before knocking again. "If you don't open the door, I'll come in. I know where you keep your spare keys" It was not a complete lie, I knew where she used to keep her spare keys when she lived in an apartment in L.A. 

As I received no answer, I looked for the keys in her mailbox, which was big enough for me to fit at least two fingers. And indeed, her keys were there. I then opened her door.

"Alice?" I called out before taking any step further into her house. As I again, received no answer I decided to walk around her house while calling her name. Until I got to a door which was closed. Counting the rooms that I had been in before, that room had to be the bathroom. Another sign of alert.

I opened the door to find my ex-wife about to sink in the bath, with her eyes completely closed and in an state of unconciousness. 

"Alice, not again" I rushed to her side and pulled her out of the bath. I tried to find her pulse, which turned out to be weak. I called an ambulance and stayed by her side until we got to the hospital. 

I was shaking and crying uncontrollaby, as all the previous times that I had dealt with one of Alice's suicide attempts. I still  could not belive that I had just witnessed another one.

Days and days went by without any sign of Alice being actually there. I even took Beth to see her twice. It was as if Alice was sleeping anyways, and if she was going to drift off life, I wanted my daughter to see her mother a couple of times before she said goobye.

"Sam"? I heard a weak voice while I was staring at the TV. I turned around to Alice in complete shock to find her awake.

"Oh my God, Alice" I rushed to find a doctor and waited patiently by her side until the doctors confirmed that she was now awake and doing alright.

"Where's Sam?" Alice asked. I shook my head while looking down. I had tried calling him hundreds of time but he did not reply to any single one of them.

Five years later

Arriving home from tour was really something else. I think that I was never so happy as when I turned the street and I could finally see my house after weeks and weeks of wanting to stay in bed with my wife and not do anything other than... Anyways, I was home back from tour.

I opened the front door and greeted my two dogs: a border collie and a german shepherd. Both dogs had disabilities and Alice had begged me to take them in as part of our new family. Little did she know that she did not need to beg as I loved animals as much as she did. 

Then, I heard footsteps rushing to the door and I kneeled down, waiting for my nine-year old do jump straight into my arms. And so, she did.

"Dad!" She yelled before quite literally jumping to my arms. 

"Beth" I hugged her really really tight. Touring became almost a burden since I became a dad and each year that went by, it became even harder. "You've grown up so much" I looked my daughter from up to down to see that it was true that she was taller and even the shape of her face was different. 

I kissed her forehead as I saw Alice's head coming out of the kitchen.

"Hiya!" She greeted. "I'm kind of busy" She said. I smiled wide as I followed the smell of something delicious coming out of the kitchen, with my daughter holding my hand and both of my dogs following me.

"It smells delicious, darling" I looked into the oven, where I saw a half-baked cake. I smiled to myself as Alice made the tradition to bake a cake for me whenever I got home from tour. I had to admit that Alice was the best cook ever. "What else are you cooking, love?" Beth sat down in one of the chairs that we had in the kitchen, while I placed my hands in my wife's hip and kissed her cheek softly from behind, earning a 'ugh' from Beth.

"Your favourite soup" Alice turned around to peck my lips , earning yet another gagging sound from our daughter. "Oi!" She called Beth out. "Why don't you go get your father our little surprise?" She asked. Beth's eyes lit up and ran out of the kitchen.

"Another surprise, uh?" I kneeled down to scratch my border collie's ears. "I have to leave more often if this is going to become my usual welcoming"

Beth came back into the kitchen running, as per usual, and handed me a small box. I frowned slightly, looking back at Alice and Beth, who both were looking at me. I opened the small box and looked throught the confetti that it had inside to find a baby-sized converse. I turned to Alic with my eyes wide opened.

"We did not" I told her, to which she only nodded.

"I am going to be a big sister again!" Beth said excited. I stood up and quickly walked to Alice, to hold her by her cheeks and kiss her. 

"I''m sure as hell the happiest I've ever been" I said.

________________________________________

Sorry, I had to. I've been listening to All Time Low way too much lately and Alex is actually such a sweetheart that I had to give him a sort of happy ending.