MEDICINE | alex rider

six

Alex Rider was many things but selfish wasn't one of them. It just simply wasn't in his nature, many had told him he got his kind heart from his mother, but he had like to look at it as though he had seen enough evil in the word he just wanted to do good, even if it only helped one person.

Once in the third grade, when he was traveling around the Americas with his uncle Ian, he had slipped a bracelet on his tiny wrist and forgotten to take it off. When had got back to the hotel room he cried for hours, not out of worry about going to jail, no he thought he had deserved that, but out of worry that small bracelet could make or break someone's day. That it could cause someone to go with hunger for the night.

The first thing the next morning he had made his uncle bring him all the back to the stand and gave the seller three times the amount of money for the price of the bracelet. He still thought of that moment sometimes at night, when he would stare at the wall because nightmares plagued his dreams. He never told his therapist out of fear she would render him unfit to continue to work with MI6.

He had found that over time having people rely on you was bittersweet. He liked the feeling of knowing his friends knew that they could count on him, that there wasn't anything he wouldn't do to save them, but on the flip side, he sometimes wished there was someone for him to lean on, to know that if he did one day fail, they would be there to catch him or at least fall with him.

They say that the worst part about being a hero was sacrifice, but if you were to ask Alex, he would say the worst part of being a hero was loving. It was caring for someone so deeply that failure wasn't an option, it was pushing yourself so much that you didn't know what it was like to not feel, beaten, bruised, and tired. It was looking at yourself in the mirror every morning thinking, had I gone too far?

The line between love and hate is thin, but the line between fear and bravery is even thinner.

The doorbell rang and Alex shot up from his chair "I'll get it." he yelled, already halfway to the door, leaving a confused Tom behind at the kitchen table.

Alex opened the door, "Zarah." he could feel the smile already forming on his face. Zarah was out of her normal uniform, instead wearing a pair of black joggers and a sweater. He opened the door wider "Come in."

Zarah walked in past him, he watched as her eyes scanned his living room, seeming to take in every detail. He beckoned her into the kitchen, and she followed, shoving her hands in her pockets. "Who's here-?" Tom looked up from his phone "You." he hissed out the word as though it were an insult.

"Take a seat, do you want anything to drink?" Alex asked as he opened the fridge, confused with Tom. Zarah shrugged as she slid into the seat the farthest away from Tom, though he had a feeling it was more for her sake than his.

He dug through his fridge ultimately deciding on just grabbing three juice boxes "Heads up." he called out as he threw one to Tom and Zarah.

They both caught them, Zarah looking at hers and frowning "What's this?"

"A juice box..." Tom trailed on.

"Obviously, but aren't these for children?" She looked at the two of them, eyebrows pulled together confusion still lingering on her face.

Tom got up from his seat walking over to him "Can't you ever just shut up and enjoy something?" Alex looked over to his friend surprised.

"Oh, that's rich coming from you." Zarah glared at him, Tom did the same but his result was less effective, causing him to look like an agitated puppy.

Tom whipped around to Alex, bringing his voice down into a whisper "What is she doing here?"

Alex laughed, shaking his head, he watched as she struggled to open the packaging of the straw "We were partnered up on a project together. Besides what's your problem with her? You were fine with her before, need I remind you, you were the one who spoke to her first."