Chapter Two

“Xander wake up! Come on! Mommy says we gotta get to the airport soon,” Xander’s younger sister calls through the closed door. He sits up in bed and lightly rotates his shoulders and neck.

*thump*

*thump*

*thump*

 

“Xander, wake up,” Agnes hisses again in a tiny voice.

 

“Okay, okay, ‘m up,” Xander calls back, standing to stretch more.

           

            He paces the room for a moment, shaking off last night’s nightmare, and contemplating what he should leave behind.  He eventually grabs the small stack of clothes at the end of his bed, a black Green Day Parade t-shirt, skinny blue jeans, and gray converses, and throws them on in rush. He picks up his black, carry-on suitcase and stalks out to his waiting family, looking back at his old home just once more.

 

 

            The four arrive at Redding Municipal Airport and board their plane around noon. Their plane is almost completely filled with passengers and leaves Xander feeling a bit claustrophobic. Agnes lies with her head on Xander’s lap, after demanding he give her the window seat and Xander turns on some music from an old mp3 player, and gazes out the window. His left hand absently strokes Agnes’ blonde hair while his mind gives him an endless supply of memories of Zane. Zane saved his life. He made Xander happy after his father left.

 

            ‘James left when he was nine years old. When he turned fifteen, he visited the small family and told Xander it was his fault he left. He said he couldn’t live with a ‘f****t’ son; that he was ashamed that he failed at his job. Xander’s mother assured him that his father left because he got another woman pregnant and that their dad was just an a*****e. Nevertheless, it put the young boy into a deep depression; He was close to becoming suicidal before his best friend at the time stepped in. Zane worked with Xander, slowly pulling him out of his shell. The depression never really went away but it got much better with time and Zane was there with him every step of the way. But now he isn’t. He may never be in Xander’s life again.

 

Memories flood Xander’s mind, pulling him deeper and deeper back into his depression.

 

          .            ‘The night they met, age six, at some arcade; Xander was playing a video game when he ran out of tokens. His mother didn’t want to buy him anymore but Zane offered some of his.

 

          .            The night he realized they were best friends, aged seven; He was always begging his mom to visit Xander’s house and vice versa. The two did everything together.

 

          .            Age nine, when Xander’s father left, Zane was there to comfort the family. He brought video games, board games, and a music player to entertain them and distract Xander from it all.

 

          .             Zane and Xander sitting on the couch in the living room watching some scary movie; aged ten; they laughed at the cheesy lines and horrible make-up.

 

          .            Age fifteen, when Zane caught Xander trying to slit his wrist; Zane snatched the razor out of the boy’s hand and threw it out the window. When Xander told him a little about his father, he held him to his chest and let him cry in his arms;

 

          .            a month later, Xander revealed to his friend that he is bisexual, the reason his father left, and Zane accepted him with open arms;

 

          .            age sixteen, Zane and Xander realized they were in love, and three months later, they slept together, both the boy’s first time.’

 

As more happy memories turn sour, especially the ones from the last two months, Xander slips deeper into himself. Everything he’d fought off comes crashing back. He turns up his music with a sigh and stares out the plane window, watching his world disappear behind them as the plane takes off. He falls asleep to the beat of Metallica and dreams of nothingness.

 

 

            About five hours later, the plane lands in the Miami airport and Agnes enthusiastically shakes Xander’s shoulder, waking him with a start. He jumps in his seat, dropping his mp3 to the floor.

 

“I’m up, chill out,” he gripes. He stands and allows Agnes to climb on his back, and then grabs their bags, following the other passengers off the plane. Miami airport is hectic. The place is so crowded, that Xander could barely make out the forms of his brother and mother who are already waiting by the baggage claim.

 

            “Hey, mommy,” Agnes squeals loudly in Xander’s ear. He drops her wriggling form to the floor so that she can run up ahead, between people’s legs, to greet them and he shoulders the bags in hand. Xander shuffles through the large crowd and almost gets knocked over quite a few times.

            Jonathan Land, Margaret’s new husband, is there when Xander finally makes it to his family. He greets him with a nod before grabbing the extra bags from his mother’s hand. Jonathan doesn’t like Xander. He made that clear the day he met Xander’s fiancé;

 

(ex-fiancé) he reminds himself.

 

“The house is all ready, love. All of my belongings have been unpacked over the last couple of weeks and has been all fixed up, and ready to move you boys into,” Johnathan begins, linking his arm with Margaret’s. “There are five rooms for you all to choose from, children,” he adds, nodding a head towards the three kids. “Luna has yet to choose her room as well. She wanted to wait until the three of you could see the rooms as well.”

 

“Oh that’s great! Thank you for all the hard work you’ve put into this. I think, kids, Xander should pick his room first, alright? Xander what do you think? There’s another huge room that has a great view over a beautiful field. It’s quite calming and there’s lots of space for you. I think you’ll love it...”

“Yeah, thanks, mom, I’ll check it out,” Xander replies softly. He tries to smile, but her frown says it doesn’t reach his eyes. She begins to speak again, but he shrug her off with, “I’m fine, mom,” and continues on. Jonathan says something, his mother responds, and his siblings throw in a sentence every so often, but Xander drowns out their voices, unwilling to get in on the conversations.

 

The rest of the day passes in a blur as we leave the airport and travel to the new house. Their new home. Their new beginning.

Author's Note

I switched from first person to third, so if I missed any phrases in first person, please let me know.. The italics are Xander thinking, so they are supposed to be first person though.