STP

Secrets Kept, Lies Told

Secrets Kept, Lies Told
©1999-2000
By Sarah
Chapter 34

    "Where did Brian go?"
    "Where's my book bag?!"
    "Where's AJ, he has my CD case!"
    "Can we go yet?"
    "Hey, no, that goes in the back of the van, not in front!"
    Alexa placed her bag next to her on the curb as she sat down, putting her chin in her hands. She'd been waiting the last half-hour to get on the van that was going to take them all to the airport. But so far, the farthest she'd gotten was outside to the curb.
    "Where did Brian go? He has to bring all his luggage down and return his room key!" Alexa's mother exclaimed, walking back up the path towards the hotel.
    Alexa sighed and sat back, resting her weight on her hands. It had been a week and a half since New Years and everyone's family had left a week ago. She was slightly tired, the night before had been really quiet, but she had spent it alone. She didn't know why, but lately she craved alone time. She was starting to feel slightly crowded with the guys and her mother around all the time, she wanted to get out on her own, she needed to be alone for a while.
    "Can we go yet?" Alexa asked again as her mother walked by, dragging a suitcase.
    "Almost ready, Lexy, you can get in the van, sweetie," her mother replied, stopping next to the van.
    Alexa nodded and stood up. She carried her bag over to the van and got in the first seat, shoving her bag underneath the seat. She pulled her legs up, hugging them, and looked out the window to the snow covered trees. The snow was slowly melting, but the sky threatened another storm.
    "Ok, that's it, let's go, everybody get in!"
    Alexa ignored the guys as they piled in the van, following her mother's instructions. She didn't even notice when Kevin sat next to her and Nick sat behind her.
    "What's wrong, Alexa?" Kevin asked quietly as the chauffeur pulled the van out of the hotel parking lot.
    "Nothing," Alexa answered quietly, still looking out the window. She ignored everyone around her, trying to not let Brian and Nick's fight over the game boy annoy her.
    "Are you sure?"
    Alexa diverted her attention from the passing scenery and looked up at Kevin. She could only see concern in his eyes and she shook her head, holding back tears. She leaned her head on his shoulder and cried silently as the long ride to the airport commenced.

    "Hey, Kev, what are you so occupied with?"
    Kevin looked up at AJ as he sat down next to him. They were waiting for the plane to take off and take them to Sweden, but only Kevin was incredibly quiet.
    "I'm not too sure, AJ," Kevin replied, ignoring the stewardess in the front of the plane as she demonstrated the 'in case of an emergency' procedures.
    "Feel like trying to explain?" AJ asked, buckling his belt as the plane engines started.
    "Well, you see, I don't think I should," Kevin started.
    "Why not?"
    "Because I don't think Alexa would like it."
    "If it has to do with Alexa, tell me. She's my sister, Kev, if something has to do with her, I ought to know," AJ insisted, suddenly getting an edge in his voice.
    "Calm down, AJ, I'm not even too sure what's going on myself. All I know is that during the ride to the airport, Alexa couldn't stop crying. Maybe she's just homesick for Orlando, maybe she is physically sick, or maybe she just needed to cry. She was really upset, though, Bone, I've never seen her that upset," Kevin said, admitting what he knew. He'd tried the entire ride to get Alexa to talk, but she refused to say anything. He just let her cry on his shoulder, knowing that if she wanted to, she would talk. He felt awfully bad for her, though. 'Alexa's like my sister, I hate seeing her upset,' Kevin thought. 'But what can I do if she won't tell me what's wrong?'
    "I have to find out why, maybe she and Nick got in a fight or something," AJ said, trying to stand up.
    Kevin stopped him. "AJ, leave her alone. She'll tell us when she's ready to," he said with a bit of a warning tone. He saw AJ nod and get comfortable in his seat. Kevin looked back out the window, watching the clouds rush towards them and the whitish scenery below him get smaller and smaller.

    Alexa looked next to her at Nick, who was finally asleep. She knew that he was scared to fly, but she didn't know that he freaked to the degree that he did. She got him to calm down, holding his hand and singing to him and letting him listen to some music. He was finally asleep and Alexa was actually happy that he was.
    She looked around her at the rest of the group. Kevin, AJ, and Howie were asleep, along with her mother, and Brian was playing a game boy game and listening to music at the same time. Alexa carefully got out of her chair and walked towards the back of the plane to the bathrooms. She locked herself in one and looked in the mirror.
    She was getting thin, drastically thinner than what she was a week and a half ago. She wasn't hungry, though, she hadn't been hungry since New Years. She never ate anything, she couldn't sleep, and she was lonely. Nick cheered her up a lot, but at night, when everyone else was asleep, Alexa couldn't sleep. She often grew so restless as to walk around the city or the hotel at all hours, trying to keep herself occupied. That morning, she'd been walking around the hotel and was joined by a young boy. His name, he'd said, was Josh. He was only about ten or eleven and said he was there with his parents on vacation. He explained that he traveled everywhere with his parents because of their busy job. He wanted to know why Alexa was up and walking around and she told him the truth, which was she didn't know. Josh was such a sweet child and, right before his parents came to find him to tell him that it was time for him to go upstairs with them, he told her that maybe the reason she was restless because she wasn't used to what she was doing. He explained that he was restless a lot because of the constant change of scenery and constant moving. He had been to fourteen different countries in the last month and had only gotten a total of about fifty hours of sleep overall. Josh left Alexa with a piece of advice, to tell someone how she was feeling.
    'How can I tell anyone what I'm feeling if I don't know myself what I'm feeling?' Alexa asked herself, leaning over. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to shut out the awful feeling in her stomach and head. She took a few deep breaths and straightened her back, looking at her reflection. 'I need to just get some sleep, then I'll be fine,' she thought. She reached for the handle of the bathroom door and pushed it open with difficulty. She walked slowly back to her seat next to Nick and sat. She leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes, trying to block out the headache she felt.

    "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking, we're now landing in Stockholm, Sweden. The current time is eight o'clock p.m., thank you for flying Delta International and enjoy your stay in Sweden."
    Denise yawned and stretched her arms over her head as she felt a jolt of the wheels touching the runway. She waited another ten minutes while people scrambled around, then stood up and looked around the plane.
    "Ok, Kevin, wake up AJ, Howie, grab your bag, and Brian, wake Alexa and Nick up, please," she ordered, stepping out into the aisle. She checked each person's overhead compartments before walking to the exit, making sure no one had left anything.
    "Hey, Denise, Alexa's not waking up," Brian called.
    Denise frowned and placed her bag in the seat across from Alexa's aisle seat and shook her daughter's shoulder. Alexa didn't flinch and Denise knelt down next to her daughter. She smoothed back her hair as Nick woke up.
    "Alexa? Denise? What's going on, why isn't Alexa awake?" Nick asked, panic seeping in his voice.
    Denise could hear alarms going off in her head and put her hand on her daughter's forehead and cheeks. She was relatively warm. Denise reached forward and touched Alexa's neck and gasped.
    "She's not breathing, AJ, get an attendant!" Denise exclaimed, unbuckling her daughter's belt. She dragged her daughter to the floor and straightened out her body as people rushed around her, calling for doctors and help.
    "Lexy, baby, please wake up," Denise begged quietly, backing up as Brian and Kevin started CPR. Back   Next