Problems

|| Chapter 9 ||

Holy shit you guys, this is a heavy chapter. I tried to make it longer and wow. Angst. It's loaded.

I had like no time to edit this, so sorry for any mistakes.
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They were at some bar... somewhere. Alex didn't know, he just knew that he was probably drunk and that he didn't care.

John was happy sitting next to him, happily humming some random song and sipping on some type of drink.

"Let's go somewhere," Laf suggested from Alex's other side, and Alex giggled. "Laf, we already are somewhere."

"No, I mean go to somewhere that isn't a bar."

Alex shrugged. He had nothing to lose. "Okay."

Hercules stood up. "Okay, losers, get in the car. I'm the designated driver." He motioned to the door. "Okay, dad," John muttered, and stumbled out. Alex rolled his eyes and followed him. John wasn't hammered, but he definitely didn't know if he was able to make good decisions or not.

They went to the trails in the park down the street. The moon was shining bright above them, glinting off of the river that ran next to the path. John was holding Alex's hand and they were leaning against each other, while Laf and Herc were arguing up ahead. Laf was talking about something from France, occasionally switching over to French and back, while Herc was desperately trying to follow along to no avail.

"Hey, look up there." John pointed up at the bridge up ahead that stretched across a sizable waterfall. "This is my favorite part of the trail. It's always so peaceful." He smiled at Alex.

The group stopped in the middle of the bridge and watched the black water tumble onto the rocks at the bottom, the spray lightly misting their faces.

Lafayette lightly punched Hercules' arm. "I dare you to stand over the railing," he smirked, and Alex glanced up. "I will," he said, and John looked at him with a startled expression. "What?" Alex asked. "It'll be fine." He swung one leg over the railing, then the other, and stood there looking at the drop. The water shone with moonlight, relfecting back his image. The rocks at the bottom were covered in mist. It looked like something out of a travel magazine.

Alex hadn't seen that many waterfalls at this height.

A fall from this high up would probably kill someone.

Huh.

He took one hand off of the railing.

"Alex-" John's voice was full of warning. Alex stared at the water.

Just let go. The voice in his head was back.

"Alex, you can come back over now." He could barely hear John over the noise filtering through his ears.

Alex took his other hand off of the railing.

He stood there and closed his eyes. His foot moved forward a few inches until it was halfway off of the ledge.

No more pain. No more panic attacks. No more sleepless nights.

He leaned forward.

Hands grabbed at his arms and hauled him back over the railing. He sprawled on the ground, cement scraping his palms. His eyes felt glassy and his heart was pounding Viscously. 

"What the hell were you thinking?!" John was screaming at him. Lafayette and Hercules were staring at him, worry etched across their faces.

Alex slowly got to his feet and stared at the ground, keeping quiet. The only sound was the water crashing into the rocks.