ALEX'S BAD DREAMS
Disclaimer: I do not own The Mummy, or TMR. They, and any reference to the movies belong to Stephen Sommers and Universal Studios.
Chapter 3: A Very Bad Day
After another night of bad sleeping, Alex, who was already awake when the sun began to rise, decided it was time to go back to school. He really didn't want to go back, but then again, staying at home meant possible having to talk about his dream last night. He got up, got dressed, and went downstairs to the kitchen, where Marie was making breakfast. It was her day to be here, and when she was, she did practically everything.
"Goodmorning Alex," she greeted. She was a short woman, sort of heavy set with dark blue eyes, and graying hair. She was nice, and Alex had always found a great fondness for her.
"Goodmorning Marie." She set down a plate for him, toast, eggs, and bacon, all his favorite things to eat. This morning, however, he didn't eat much and scooted things around on his plate.
"Alex, are you not feeling well?" She asked coming to sit beside him.
"I'm all right," he reassured her, " just not very hungry." She nodded and got back up.
"Would you like me to make you something else to eat? He shook his head, and walked out down the hall to the parlor School wouldn't start for another hour, so he went over the checker board, and challenged himself to a game. That's where Rick and Evelyn found him, when they came downstairs a few minutes later. He looked up as they walked down the steps.
"Goodmorning," Evelyn said, surprised to see him dressed in his school uniform.
"Hi, I decided I wanted to go back to school today." Rick came over and gave him a hug, which Alex returned.
"Are you sure?" Alex nodded. Rick got his coat on, and after Alex said goodbye to his mum and Marie, took him to the School. It was an all boys school, close to the Museum, which was convenient, because he would go there after his classes were out. When they arrived, a few of the boys he didn't like were standing near the entry.
"Do you have everything?" Alex nodded, and got out of the car. Rick watched him go up the steps, and once he was safe in the school, drove home. The day was a typical one, minus the fact that Alex had a hard time staying awake.
When school let out, Alex packed his Rucksack, and headed for the bus stop. Usually he went to the museum, but since Ahm-Shere, he had no desire to go there. That's when trouble began. A few of the older boys, Doug, and Victor followed him, making fun of him as they always did.
"Look its the Pharaoh," Doug sneered. Alex kept walking. His dad, who had taught him a few basic moves, told him that he should never start a fight, and always find another way out. This day, however, the boys kept on teasing him, calling him names.
"I bet his mum still gets him dressed," Victor said. That struck a nerve with Alex. He stopped and turned around to face his two tormentors.
"If you don't have anything nice to say then go away," he said. Both boys snickered.
"Why don't you make us." Victor challenged.
"Because I have better things to do." He turned back around, but one of the boys shoved him down. He fell ,and skinned his knees. It hurt, but Alex didn't cry, he had done too much of that as it was. Bravely, Alex got back up.
"Come on O'Connell lets see what you have. Punch me." Alex reasoned this through for a moment. Doug was asking him to do it, so why not. He punched him in a very sensitive spot, which caught Doug off guard. He coughed, and leaned forward, so Alex kicked him in the face, and that was all there was. Victor was laughing hard, and Alex turned and ran for dear life.
"Don't just stand there get that little jerk," Alex cut into the park, trying to find a place to hide, but both boys were gaining on him. He ran around a vender, and the two boys branched out. Alex didn't like his odds, but kept going, and he was almost to safety, when Victor grabbed him by the back of his coat.
"Let go of me," Alex said.
"Oh no, now we get our turn." Victor held Alex, as Doug delivered a punch to his stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Alex didn't cry as the two boys took turns punching him in the stomach, and the face, then they let him go.
"You breath one word about this, and we will do far worse than this." Doug told him. They left Alex alone in a secluded area of the park., and for a little bit Alex lay there catching his breath. He knew he was a mess, and too embarrassed to go anywhere while it was still day light, he crawled into some bushes and stayed there, letting it get dark, knowing his parents would be worried, but his pride was at stake here. When it was finally dark, he came out of the bushes,
and made his way to the museum. He knew his mom wouldn't be there, or at least shouldn't be, but he knew a way in and could call them to come and get him.
Worried didn't even begin to describe things at the O'Connell house. Rick had called the Constable, who had come and taken a report, and had a picture of Alex, and he and his men would search the city for him. Evelyn hadn't said very much sitting on the couch holding Alex's Bear.
"Hey." Rick said. He came and sat down beside her, and hugged her.
"Where could he be? I've got all these fears going through my head. If he was taken again...." The phone rang, and Jonathan picked it up.
"Alex." Both parents ran to the phone.
"It's okay buddy, just stay where you are." Jonathan hung up.
"He's at the museum. He said some of the boys from school were picking on him, and he picked a fight with both of them, and got the worst end of the deal." Rick grabbed his coat, and Evy's, and helped her put it on, then they got in the car and sped to the Museum to get their son.
It was spooky here at night. Even in his mum's office, Alex didn't feel all that safe. He had gotten a good look at his face, which wasn't all that bad, considering how many times it got used as a punching bag. His lip was split open, and his right eye was probably going to be bruised by morning. His knees hurt most of all, both skinned up pretty good, and his stomach hurt if he breathed in too deep. He looked up as he heard running foot steps heading in his
direction, and being paranoid, he hid under the big desk. The door opened.
"Alex," his mom said panicked. He crawled out, and Evelyn was horrified to find him so beat up. She came and hugged him, and he sighed hugging back. He was tired, and hurt, and wanted to crawl under a rock and disappear.
"Can you walk.?" She asked.
"Yes." They all left the Museum and headed home.
Much later that night, Alex's cuts and bruises had been tended too, and he lay in bed playing cards. Someone knocked at his door, which he ignored. He hadn't gotten lectured yet, but he felt that it was coming.
"Alex?" It was mum.
"Come in." Evelyn did, and pulled his desk chair up beside his bed.
"Alex, look at me," she said softly. He looked up, and she could see the hurt in his eyes.
"Do you know the boys who did this to you?" He looked away.
"They're just stupid boys mum, and I should of just kept walking." She sat on the side of his bed and hugged him.
"But you didn't and thats not like you." He sighed. How could he explain to her how frustrating it was, to be picked on day in and day out by the same two guys.
Alex wanted to take care of himself.
"I had to try to get them to leave me alone, my way. If I told you and dad who did this to me, then you would go tell the head master, and it would make things worse." Evelyn didn't agree with him on that.
"Your father and I only want to see you happy, and you haven't made that very easy." He pulled away from her then.
"Alex, your still learning about life, and you won't have all the answers, even I don't have them all, but there is no shame in excepting help from those who love you the most." She reached out to rub his back and he pulled away.
"I'll be downstairs if you want to talk." She got up and gave him one last look, then left. Alex took the deck of cards in his hands and threw them across the room. As he was getting up something hit his window. He looked down and saw a small figure, Megan. Alex opened the Window.
"What's wrong?"
"I'm running away." she told him. That gave him and idea.
"Go hide out in back by the tool shed." She ran off, and Alex got his Rucksack out and packed two of everything. Then he got his Piggy bank, and put a blanket around it, and broke it. He had close to 100 dollars in it, or the equivalent there of. After putting the money in a small sack, and putting that in his rucksack, Alex climbed out the Window and inched around the roof until he got to a trellis and used that to climb down. When he got to her, Megan had been crying.
"Whats wrong?" he asked. She sniffed.
"My father's getting married to a French woman and taking us to France in a month." Alex considered that disloyal, and didn't blame her for wanting to run away.
"Are you running away too?" She asked.
"I have to face my problems, my fears, so I'm going back to Egypt, and back to Ahm-Shere." Megan looked at him like he was nuts.
"And just how do you intend to get there?"
"Well there are ships leaving the port everyday, almost, to go there, so I'm just going to sneak on.
"Thats dangerous," she said interested.
"Yeah, but I'm never going to stop having these dreams unless I face what scares me the most. I want to go back and see if its really gone." She nodded
"Then I'll come too. I took some of my dads money." Together they had over 400 dollars worth of money, and after putting that in his Rucksack, and taking hers, they left for the port.
Note: More to come, keep checking back.
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