Morning Start

September 15, 2009

In the darkness of a room, a young man lay asleep on a plain couch. Tossing and turning was all he could do while he was trapped in yet another nightmare. These nightmares weren't uncommon to him. They didn't happen every night, but frequent enough for him to be a little afraid every time he went to sleep. By now he was starting to sweat.

The guy suddenly jolted up, waking from his dream. He looked around the dark room before calming down. He turned around to set his bare feet on the floor and held his head. He stayed like that for a few minutes trying to clear his mind before laying back and resting his head on the backrest of the couch. He stared up at the ceiling into nothingness while his eyes showed lack of sleep. He wore a white T-shirt with a V-neck and blue pajama pants.

The room he was in was the living room/kitchen. The couch was in the middle of the room. Near the wall facing the couch there was a fourteen inch T.V on top of a small stand. At the left of the couch from where he was sitting there was the front door. At the other side of the room in the corner of the room to his right there was a stove with cabinets around it. Next to it, more to the center of the right wall there was a sink and further down a table with two chairs against the wall a few feet away from it. Behind the couch there was a small hallway. The wall between the hall and stove had a refrigerator against it. In the middle of the hall there were two doors, one on the right and one on the left. At the end of the small hall there was a door. Overall, it was a small apartment.

After what seemed like hours he got up and walked to the small nightstand with two drawers next to the couch. He picked up the watch that was laying there and looked at the time.

6:26AM

No point in going back to sleep. He had to go to work an hour, anyway. He walked down the hall, passing the two doors and opened the door at the end of the hall. It was a bedroom. From the door there was a dresser on the left side of the room with a sliding closet next to it. On the right side there was a desk and a chair with a lamp and few books laying on top of the desk. A backpack lay on the bottom of the desk and a window above it. Finally, there was a bed at the opposite side from the door with the feet of the bed facing the door and a nightstand next to it with a digital clock on it.

The guy went over to the dresser as quietly as he could, trying not to disturb the sleeping person on the bed. He took out the clothes that he needed and did the same with the closet. Just as he came in, he walked out, quietly, and softly closed the door. Coming back down the hall, he opened the door to his right revealing a bathroom. He did everything he did every morning, took a shower, got dressed and brushed his teeth.

After he was done he went back to the living room/kitchen and started making breakfast. After cooking for a bit and making sure nothing would burn, he went back to the bedroom. He directly went to the window and opened the curtains, letting light into the room. He made his way to the bed and leaned over it.

"Alex." He said. With the light you could see a girl with long black hair sleeping.

"Alex." He shook her shoulder. Alex face slowly formed a small frown.

"What is it, Justin?" Alex asked, groaning.

"It's almost seven and you need to get ready for school. The alarm didn't go off, again." He responded.

Alex opened her eyes a bit and then after seeing the light, she quickly threw the covers over her head. Justin sighed and took the blanket away from her. Alex was wearing her old pajamas. One of the few things she still had from her old home. Alex buried her head under the pillow. Before he could take his little sister out of bed, he remembered he was cooking.

"Hurry up and get changed." He said as he hurried back to the kitchen.

Alex took her head out from under the pillow and looked at the clock. She closed her eyes and groaned, again. After minutes of fighting off the sleep, she stretched and got off the bed. Alex did everything her brother did, but unlike him, she liked taking her shower at night and also because there was only enough time of hot water for one person. If she waited for the hot water to come back she would be late and so would he.

After finishing, she went to the kitchen. Seeing as Justin was almost done, Alex took out two plates from the cabinets and set them on table along with forks and knives. When she finished she sat down. Justin brought the frying pan from the stove and gave her some eggs and some for himself. He put the pan in the sink and turned off the stove. Alex was already eating when he sat down across from her.

"This is all we have?" She asked after swallowing her food.

Justin looked at her. "Yeah, we're running low." Alex sighed.

"I guess I'll go grocery shopping after work." She paused and looked down at her plate. "When is the rent do?" Justin heard the hint of worry in her voice and lightly put his hand over hers.

"Alex." He said, trying to get her attention. She looked up at him. "Don't worry about it, I'll take care of it. I always do." He said with a warm smile. Even though she was still worried, she couldn't help, but smile back. After a few seconds passed they went back to eating. When she wasn't looking, Justin's smile dropped. There were so many troubles in his head, he didn't know how he managed to keep things like these from her. Justin shook his head. She didn't need to worry about their financial problem. When they were done, Alex grabbed her backpack and they headed out.

The sun was just over the horizon, behind the buildings, shining its morning rays. It was another new day in Brooklyn, New York. It was a little different from Manhattan, but still familiar.

They both descended down the stairs from their second floor apartment. They walked in a comfortable silence as the noises from the busy streets filled the air. Justin walked Alex to school every morning before going to work to fill in the time they couldn't see each other. Between school and their work, they didn't see much of each other through out the day. The only time they saw each other were Saturday afternoons, Sundays and their walks before school and after school. His second job was on the way to her school after school ended. Sometimes, Justin would come and see her on his breaks.

"Are you going to work late, again?" Alex asked. Justin looked at Alex from the sudden question.

"Yeah."

Alex kept looking forward and her face didn't give anything away. He sometimes wondered if she was becoming just as good as him at hiding her emotions. He knew she felt lonely when she was home by herself after work.

"Is the so popular Alex Russo a loner with no friends?" He said with a smirk.

Her blank expression broke as she rolled her eyes and pushed him to the side. Justin laughed, relieved to see Alex act more like herself.

"Are you kidding? I'm not a loser like you." She answered, sounding like her old self. If things were still the same like in the past, he would've been a little annoyed, but now he just chuckled.

"I still didn't here a no." Justin said, looking at her with amusement.

"Yes, I do have friends." She said, giving him a slight glare. "But since I have work after school, they go straight home and they live kind of far away from our apartment."

Justin's smile faded at her words. He could feel that small bit of sadness that was always there coming back. He wished he could do more for her, now that he was the only one she had left to take care of her. Well, that wasn't completely true. There were more capable people, who could take care of her, but she chose to stay with him. She made that clear almost a year ago. If there was anything he could do to make her life easier, he would do it in a heartbeat.

If he was only more capable.

If he only had somehow stopped…

Alex saw that sad look in his eyes that was becoming familiar to her. She wished he stopped feeling like that. She hated that look.

"I'm sor-" Alex didn't let him finish as she stop walking.

"Don't say it." She said. Justin turned to face her. Knowing why he was about to say that, she reached for his arm and continued. "It's not you fault." Her voice sounded so fragile. Justin hugged her with one hand on her back and the other on the back of her head.

"It's not." He faintly heard her say against his chest.

Life is hard just as it is. When you have lived with parents in a nice house most of your life, the bad things that happen to you like getting bad grades, being fired from a job, not being able to go to the university you wanted, or getting your heart broken, during that time, it seems to be very bad and it feels like it's the end of the world and you think it can't get any worse. But there are a lot of people in the world, who might disagree. Many people have suffered worse things than you have and when you experience it first hand, the problems from before don't seem so devastating anymore.

After walking a few more blocks, they could see the high school. Like any other school, it was filled with students talking and listing to music. Her first day of class was the day she dreaded. She didn't like being the new girl, but being Alex, she didn't let anyone push her around. Over time she gained some friends and that made school a little more tolerable. It wasn't so bad anymore after that.

When they were near the entrance, they parted ways.

"See ya!" Alex said before running off to catch up to her friends that just walked inside. Justin smiled as he watched her go. Half way she suddenly stopped as if she had remembered something. Alex ran back and gave him a hug that lasted almost a minute before leaving.

They no longer took life for granted and knew how bad it could truly get.

So, what do you guys think of this?