To be in Control | Quackity

Chapter four

Alexis woke up to hands shaking him roughly, and he immediately tried to bat those hands away despite how tired his arms felt. Hazel eyes opened wide and bright colours swirled before his eyes as he suddenly registered the cold he had nearly forgotten about while unconscious.

Stone walls. His setup. He was draped across his chair in the basement. Why? Why wasn't he sleeping in his bed? These thoughts obscured Alex's mind as he locked eyes with his younger brother, who'd shaken him awake.

"What— why the fuck was I sleeping in my chair?" Alex asked, clearly dishevelled.

"Why are you even asking me? I wasn't here when you fell asleep." His brother answered annoyedly, rolling his eyes.

"Whatever, man," Alex checked the time on his wristwatch. 09:48 am. " just leave me alone. Tell mamá she doesen't have to cook me any food, would you? I'm not feeling too great right now. I'll eat later." He pleaded. His brother nodded sullenly and walked out the room. Alex new that he shouldn't push his family away, but it seemed as though he couldn't help it.

Alex blamed his lack of appetite on the flu and had been able to get away with several days of barely eating anything. He had been lucky- his exhaustion, inability to keep warm, and his unfocused state could all he blamed on the simple flu.

He sighed audibly and picked up his cap from the floor. He ruffled up his dark locks before putting it on and turning on his computer. He had about a dozen messages from his friends. They were all asking him what happened and making lighthearted jokes. Alex ignored them all.

As Christmas approached, Alex took to wearing multiple layers of clothing to keep warm. This kept everyone from seeing his gaunt form, wasting away from the inability to keep a meal down. Alex had stopped thinking about what he was doing, knowing by now that he had resigned himself to this situation. He knew it was a problem, but he just didn't want to deal with it.

And Christmas came and went with little incident. Alex stayed in his room most of the time, with few people ever seeing him outside. He had sent off all his presents to his friend round the world and received some in return, without real acknowledgement of the holiday. Most of his time had been spent sleeping and working on new videos.

But January only sprung a surprise at the boy. While Alex and his parents were back on comfortable speaking terms again, Alex found that he just didn't as much to talk about as before. He had gotten used to the quiet during the holiday, and felt uncomfortable around places of noise.

With his yearly physical examination growing closer, Alex started to get a little nervous. Although the examinations were not a thorough thing, just a brief height and weight chart, as well as blood pressure and health, it was still something that could prove to be rather eventful.

Alex spent a few hours frantically wondering how he was going to get out of doing the exams. Physical examinations had always made him uncomfortable, year after year. While he wasn't the tallest boy in his social circle, he wasn't exactly short per se. And though he didn't weigh himself on a regular basis, Alex calculated his weight to be around 50 kilograms.

That was not a good thing according to the physical exams. It was something that had to be remedied.

☾ *:·ﾟ✧

Alex's brother was not the most graceful boy in town. In fact, he was far, far from it. Still slightly childlike even at fourteen years of age, he was sweet and clumsy to the point that his friends would roll their eyes at him every time something went wrong. He was not the bravest person, nor anyone with really special attributes, really.

But he was good at noticing things that other people didn't. It was during that year when he had developed an unspoken agreement with his parents to watch out for Alex. They had agreed not to interfere with anything, but to keep an eye out if something was off about him.

An agreement like that was hard to maintain, though, as there were at all times something off with Alex. The dark-haired boy was much more introverted now. It wasn't hard to tell that he was keeping secrets from his family.

"Maybe he's trying to hide an affair with a girl."

Alex's brother shook his head at the offhand statement. His mother's serene expression made her look altogether too pleasant, and he couldn't tell if she had been joking or not.

"If he's trying to hide an affair, I think he'd be more likely to sneak out rather than staying in his room all the time." He answered thoughtfully.

"That's true. Anyhow, dinner is about to be served. Go get Alex, would you?" His mother inquired. Alex's brother nodded solemnly and trudged through the house, reaching Alex's room within a minute. He carefully knocked on the wooden door. He heard muffled rustling, and was soon met with Alex's tired face.

"What is it?" Alex asked. He tried forcing a crooked smile, which ended in a weird grimace.

"Dinner is ready—" He was cut off almost immediately. "Go tell mamá I'm not fucking hungry." He spat, glaring coldly at his younger brother. Alex's brother had had enough. Alex was pushing him away, and he wouldn't stand aside while his brother kept destroying himself. This was where he put his foot down.

"You don't get to speak to me like that! Why are you pushing me away?" He barked angrily, poking Alex in the chest. Alex's lip curled into a sneer, and she sent his brother one last glare before dashing through the door and down the hall.

☾ *:·ﾟ✧

It was the day of Alex's yearly physical examination, and his brother had just returned from school. He was in the process of walking to the back of the house in order to enter, when he heard a soft rustle, and immediately tensed up. He leaned back against some trash-cans, eyeing the wall suspiciously. Mexico wasn't exactly the safest place on earth.

Another soft rustle behind the house, and Alex's brother dared a peek to see if it was someone he knew that was there. He was more than shocked to find Alex crouching on the concrete, face hidden in shadows as he went through his pockets. The boy seemed expressionless as he slowly rummaged through his clothing, and pulled out a few large stones.

His brother barely dared to breathe as he watched Alex, eyes widening with each rock or heavy item that was pulled out of Alex's pockets. What was he doing? Alex was placing the items in a neat order behind the wall.

There were a couple more rustles and Alex managed to pull out a thin, but large water bottle and a heavy looking book. When all of it was out, Alex stood up again, looking very tired and weary, before turning and walking back into the house, never noticing that someone had been watching him.

His brother just watched Alex walk back, confused. What in the world was going on?

Alex sighed in relief when he got back into his room. He had dreaded throughout the day that his doctor would suddenly call him and tell him there was some error in his examinations.

He might look too thin... but healthy foods aren't bad, right? His body just needed some time to adjust to them, that's all. He wasn't eating things that were so heavy to his system anymore.

Alex also hoped that no one would notice a pile of his things behind the house.

A/N: Well, that's a lot of damage. 

#weloveyoualex <3