Welcome Home ((Closed))

[Alexander Promise R7]

“It was her smile and her eyes that pulled him in though, they trapped him.”

Alex set down his pen and looked around his room. It had been weeks now since he’d gotten off that train. Weeks now since he’d seen her. Yet…she was the only thing he could think about. Why her? There were a million and one girls out there and he falls in love with her. No…no that’s wrong. You’re not in love. You cant be in love. You’re 16 and you just met this girl. This is not a fairy tale Alexander. This is real life.

He nodded to himself. Sometimes he wondered why he was falling for her. She was just another girl right? But he couldn’t help himself. This was just… He blinked. Why did he always do that? Standing, Alex walked over to his window, trying not to self-narrate his actions. It was a bad habit. He looked out across the grounds. Of all the rooms in the house, Alex adored his room. He adored it for two reasons; his writing and his window. Everything flowed in this room. All his ideas, where as he might not have exactly gotten them onto paper, where clear in this room. He was at his most creative in this room. The window only aided his creativity. He loved the view he had. Directly below his room where the pastures. Well I suppose you could call them pastures. At least once a day, if you looked out the window at the right time, you could see groups of griffins meandering around the field below. It was a break for them. A time when they could just be. Alex liked watching them just…be.

He had come home disappointed this year. He narrated as he looked down at the empty green grass. He had. There were no cubs this year. No new additions. None to train. Of the six that had been born, three were sold straight off to a Greek trainer, and three didn’t live past a year. It was something you had to learn to deal with in this sort of a business, but Alex had been so excited. But it’s alright, because you did get something new. That was right. He had. And at that moment it had taken the liberty of pushing open the door and running into the room.

Bach was around 6 months old and he was a giant puppy. Bernese mountain dogs were big dogs. As the little ball of fluff rammed himself into Alex’s legs Alex almost fell over. Laughing happily he dropped down onto his knee and the dog leapt up onto him. “How did you get the door open Bud?”

“He didn’t.”

Oh jeeze… Alex turned his head to the door to see his sister leaning against the wall with a smirk on her face. “Nice to see you’ve learned to knock.”

“I know, aren’t I good at it?” He grinned and Alex laughed again, standing up and walking over to give her a hug.

“Welcome home.” He said and she ruffled his hair.

“Sure thing little bro.”

“Seven minutes Chrys. Seven. Minutes.” Shaking his head he walked back over to his desk. He looked down at the mess and then grabbed his notebook, sitting on his bed and reading over it. Chrys looked around the room before walking over to his desk and looking at it too.

“You’re a mess kid.” She shook her head and rummaged through his things.

“I know.” He shrugged as Bach jumped up onto his bed and shoved himself into Alex’s lap. Scratching the dogs head he frowned at the writing in his hands. He couldn’t say he was pleased with it. But it wasn’t finished.

Chrys snatched a few bits of paper off the desk and looked them over. “What’re these?” She said, raising an eyebrow. Alex looked up. Ohhh jeeze…

“Tickets.” He said simply.

“Yeah…I can see that dim wit.” She picked one and waved it in the air. “This one’s for a ride to the mainland.” Then took another and did the same. “And this one is to a concert…Mackenzie Holden? When have you been into that sort of thing?” She shrugged and grabbed the last one before looking back at him with that smirk on her face. “Oooo, back stage pass.”

Alex rolled his eyes and looked up at her. “Just put them down ok? She’s a friend.”

“A friend?” Chrys scoffed and suddenly snatched the notebook out of his hands. “This is a loooove story.”

“Oh, you’re real mature Chrys.” He sighed; there really was no point in trying to get the notebook back.

Chrys looked up at him and then down at the tickets, and back to the notebook in her hands. “Her?” Alex nodded and Chrys grinned.

“Just set them down ok?” Alex laid back on his elbows looking at her. Chrys knew him better then anyone, but then again…shouldn’t she? She was his twin after all.

Chrys looked down at one of the tickets and raised an eyebrow. “This ferry pass says it’s for two…are you taking someone with you?” She looked up at him, hopeful.

“Yeah…” He said, smirking. “I’m taking Bach.”

[Alexander Promise R7]

Alex opened his eyes slowly, almost reluctantly and stared up at the ceiling for a while. Why had he woken up? His alarm had yet to go off, and his curtains were still shut tight, so what had wrenched him from such a nice sleep? He had been dreaming. Alex never dreamed at night. Ever. It took him hours upon hours to get to sleep but he never dreamed. It was almost as if all his dreams were had during the day, or right before sleep, not during. He spent his days staring off into space, involved in one day dream or another, and he spent his hours before sleep going over his day in his head. His mind would split off into tangents of what ifs and that would lead to more daydreams…though technically they were night dreams…just not sleeping night dreams. Oh good lord it was too early to be doing this. All he wanted to know what why he had been awakened from the first dreamed he’d had in years. What had he even been dreaming? It had involved her hadn’t it? Yes, it had. What else could it have possibly been about? He remembered it was nighttime in a city, and there were lights everywhere. There had been him, her, and a dog. A dog? Did he have a dog? Just then Bach scooted up from his place at the foot of Alex’s bed. The over-grown puppy made himself comfortable on one of Alex’s pillows before letting out a loud snore. “At least you can stay asleep.” Alex said irritably.

It was coming back slowly, the dream, until Alex was disrupted yet again. His door crashed open and Chrys came skipping in. She hopped over to his curtains and tore them open. “Get up!” A wave of sunlight cascaded into the room, momentarily blinded the teenage boy in his bed. Alex hid his face under the covers and groaned. “Whyyyy?” He whined from the sanctity of his sheets. “It’s far too early to be up and so gosh dang hyper, ya crazy.” Chrys laughed and bounced over to sit on the end of his bed. “It’s half past noon you lazy bum, get up and get dressed.” Alex sighed. He always slept in; it was just when Chrys came home from school that he was forced to be up by one o’clock. She always wanted him up; Alex figured she got lonely. “Did you have something in mind for us to do Chrys?” He said, sitting up with his eyes closed tight. He didn’t know it, but Chrys shrugged and watched him yawn and rubs his eyes, opening them slowly once more. “I thought we could have lunch since you’ll be leaving tonight for the mainland.” She said very nonchalantly. She had gotten lonely.

Finally he pulled himself out of bed and walked over to his dresser, pulling out a pair of jeans. Chrys didn’t bother leaving the room to give him privacy, she had never been good at the whole ‘personal space’ thing. “Are you excited?” she asked, watching him pull out a black t-shirt and tug it over his head. “For what?” He replied, turning around and facing her, reaching up and scratching his head. “To see…” Chrys broke off and laughed. “What is it?” Alex asked turning and looking around behind him. Chrys shook her head and laid back on his bed by the dog, laughing still. “Your hair is a mess.” Alex sighed and looked in the mirror hanging on his wall. She was right; he was a total wreck. “Rough night?” Chrys asked through her laughter. Alex shook his head and turned walking off through a door that connected to his bathroom. “Give me another half hour and then we’ll go to lunch ok?” Ignoring Chrys’ constant giggles he turned and headed off to the shower. Maybe dreaming wasn’t such a great thing after all.

[Alexander Promise R7]

Pulling back on his clothes, Alex walked back into his room to find Chrys still laying on his bed. “Don’t you have better things to do?” She looked up at him and shrugged, smirking. “How does your hair dry so fast?” she asked in an arrogant tone. She was definitely Slytherin material, daddy’s girl. “I blow-dried it.” He sighed as he opened his closet and pulled out a hoodie. “Oh how feminine of you, Alex.” She still had that same smirk on her face when Alex turned back around and he rolled his eyes. “You’re just jealous ‘cause my hair is better then yours Chrys.” His smirk rivaled hers and she rolled her eyes this time before shrugging. “Okay maybe just a little.” They laughed. As mean as they were together they were twins, and they were close twins. They knew each other like the back of their hands…ok probably a little better because Alex really had no idea what the back of his hand looked like. It was remarkable how they could spend so much time apart and yet nothing changed when they were together. Even the fact that Chrys was a squib didn’t matter much, she was Alex’s sister, and as much as it was awkward to talk about her at school, at home none of that mattered to him.

Alex walked to a hook next to his door and pulled his black coat off of it, pulling it over his shoulders and then pulling the hood of his sweater out and over the collar. “You dress like it’s cold outside.” Alex groaned. Chrys had probably the greatest threshold for cold weather that he had ever seen in his life. Alex did not. The slightest breeze made him cold, so he was constantly bundled up. “You’re just a freak Chrys, it is cold outside.” She shrugged and stood from the bed. Automatically, Bach jumped up and followed her. The two of them made their way out of the house and onto the grounds, the whole ‘lunch’ idea wasn’t so appealing anymore, neither of them was hungry. “So...really…are you excited?” Chrys asked as they sat down on a fence surrounding one of the many empty fields. Alex settled himself down and stared out at a spot far off where a few griffins where roaming. Bach sat down near their feet, eagerly watching the half bird, half lion creatures that would surely not play nice with him at his current size. Maybe when he was full grown though. Turning his attention back to Chrys’ question, Alex nodded. “You really have no idea Chrys.” She smiled warmly over at him. She was a girl, he was a romantic, they could talk about this sort of thing. “I’ve never seen you so caught up in a girl before Alex. She’s all you talk about these days. All you write about.” Alex laughed lightly and nodded. “All I listen to.” He added and Chrys smiled again. The first thing Alex had done when he’d got back was look up Mackenzie Holden and order her albums.

They sat for a while, Chrys giving him time to sort through his thoughts; she understood how Alex thought. Finally she looked out at the griffins again and spoke, “Why her?” Alex sighed slightly and looked back over at her. “How many times have you asked me that Chrys?” She smirked and looked over at him too, “How many times have you shrugged it off and said you didn’t know?” It was true; Alex had done that quite a few times now. It was complicated. “It’s complicated.” He said. Is it? Maybe it just seemed complicated to him but Chrys knew him better then that; “Just talk Alex.” He nodded and found himself lost at once in his thoughts. Why her? It was a logical question wasn’t it? He took a deep breath and looked Chrys in the eyes. “I’ve never been so caught up in a girl before, Chrys. And it’s…weird honestly…I don’t get caught up like this.” He sighed and looked off into the distance again. He always liked to think that when it came to girls, he was good at keeping his feet firmly on the ground. He didn’t get caught up in fantasies and then get let down. That’s why he wrote. Alex had decided after dealing with numerous friends’ complaints about relationships-gone-wrong that it wasn’t worth it. He really never wanted that. He had no desire to be happy for maybe five minutes and then be depressed for weeks. Then there was the stress having a girl friend had, you always had to impress someone and Alex hated feeling as if he had to impress people. Therefore, he wrote about romance, and got his fix that way. In a story, Alex had complete control. He could make sure that no one’s feelings got hurt, and that everyone lived happily ever after. That’s what he liked, the safety of it. But Mackenzie made him feel…an urge…to impress, to try, to work at a relationship. He wanted to be with her and he didn’t care that him might get hurt, it was the least of his worries. Why? That was the tough part.

“I don’t…know…why…Chrys.” It was not the answer she wanted; she scoffed at him and shook her head. She had a habit of doing that. “It’s hard ok?” He continued now, looking back at her, though her focus was now on Bach. “It’s hard to say why because I honestly don’t care…does that make sense? Chrys, I’ve never felt like this before and…I’m happy feeling like this. I don’t care why she is the girl for me; all I care about is that she is. The why isn’t important. I just do. I just want to be with her. She just…makes me happy, I just barely met her…and I only talked to her for a couple hours at most. So…I just cant say ok? Give me more time with her and maybe then I can tell you why she’s the one…but for now…she just…is.” He took a breath and nodded. Chrys smiled over at him and after a few minutes of just looking at each other, she pushed him. Alex toppled backwards off the fence and was immediately trampled by Bach. Chrys laughed and climbed off the fence, walking back up the grounds, heading towards the house. “You two have fun tonight.” She called over her shoulder. Alex looked up at the dog that was now happily sitting on his chest and shook his head. “Do you think she has any friends at school?” Bach cocked his head to the site and barked before he hopped off Alex and ran up after Chrys. Frowning, Alex stood and dusted himself off, calling after the dog. “Yeah, thanks, thanks a lot buddy.” He shook his head again and gave a weary look to a group of storm clouds in the distance before hurrying off after them.