Non-stop •Mute Alex•

John Laurens

A/N: Co-written by OwlWithAHat

TW: References to suicidal thoughts or actions.

John's P.O.V
Today was a great day. Alexander got out of the hospital, we all hung out as a group, and Alexander looked like he was actually having fun.

Alex decided to go home after bowling and skating. Which kind of sucked, because after that we went and played laser tag. Hercules and I vs. Lafayette and James. Lafayette was pretty confused, but James made up for it x2. They beat us, even with Herc's skillz. Man, there were two floors plus a bunch of crawl spaces and places to shoot for extra points. It was more fun than I thought it would be.

There was decent a/c in the laser tag area, so I didn't come out insanely sweaty. Afterwards, James gave us each $5 to go check out some of the arcade games just outside the laser tag area. I only got to play a few games being that it was 2 quarters per game. I forgot how much fun pinball was.

Time went by faster than usual in the arcade. Before we all knew it, it was 12:30 AM and time to go home. Because Alexander needed to gain strength in his legs, the cars were still at the hospital. Luckily, it wasn't too bad of a walk from the arcade to the hospital. We had fun no doubt, but my legs were happy to have me sit down in the car when we got to the hospital.

Hercules decided we should all just sleep over at his house since he was too tired to actually drive anywhere but straight home, which was fine with all of us. Lafayette fell asleep in the car and we had to haul his ass into the house. I had forgotten what a heavy sleeper he is. If he was any heavier I wouldn't be able to lift him.

Once we got Lafayette into the house, we poked him until he woke up. He was kinda confused but other than that he was fine. Sunday night, no homework, best friendos.. lets get lit.

We called Alex a few times to see if he wanted to come over and hang out. There were a lot of long pauses when he finally answered the phone. "Hey, we're sleeping over Herc's house, wanna join?"

"Um.. well, uh. I mean, I'm not in the mood." He stuttered. It was obvious we had woken him up, but none of us cared too much. He eventually agreed to hang out with us and came over. Since Alexander had never stayed up past 12 am for reasons other than school, he was really out of it.

"Hey man, are you okay?" I asked him after a while of goofing around. His cheeks were quite clearly tear stained but I didn't want to bring it up unless he was going to openly talk about it.

He thought about the question carefully, searching for an answer in that brilliant mind, "Yeah, I've never been better!" He responds. He paints on a fake smile and joins in on the mindless conversation Hercules and Lafayette are having. That kid has got to learn how to trust people.

After a while of doing nothing but telling awful puns, we decided we should prank call some people. The first one was easily the hardest, because we were all so nervous. No reason, just because we never did anything like it before.

"Guys I got one." I said. I dialed a random number and waited for them to pick up. I put them on speaker. "Hello is this Gilbert?" I asked immediately.

"No? You have the wrong number." They said hesitantly.

"Well, call me if there are any messages for me." I said and hit the End key.

I gave the phone to Lafayette and told him exactly what to say in his ear. He then proceeded to dial the number and put it on speaker yet again. The person answered almost immediately this time. "Hello?!" They answered.

"Oui? Monsieur John?" He asked. "This is Gilbert."

"There was someone here earlier that called me asking for you."

"Oh no, did they say anything about the body?" He asked nervously. The guy on the other end hung up immediately, and we were all laughing on the ground. Sure, it wasn't that funny, but it was almost one in the morning and we were slap happy.

After a while of the same few things over and over again, Hercules spoke up. "I just thought of the cheesiest one ever, hand me your phone."

I handed him my phone and dialed a random number. He put it on speaker and waited for it to pick up. "Yes hello, did you hear about the dead judge?" He asked. We all raised an eyebrow at him.

"Um, no?" She said confused.

"She committed Sue-icide." He yelled and pushed the End key. We were crying on the floor, one of the greatest one's ever. Once we all settled down we decided we would be done for the night.

I looked up and notice Alexander is gone. "Have y'all seen Alexander." I asked. They both shook their head. His clothes were still neatly folded on the couch where he had put them when he arrived. Bathroom, I thought.

After a half an hour of waiting for the bathroom, I walked over. "What's taking so long, Alex?" I asked frustrated and frantic, I had to piss like a racehorse and this was the only bathroom in Hercules's damn house. I walked over to Hercules, "Man I gotta piss what's taking Alex so long?"

"Maybe he fell in, he is tiny after all." He laughed and highfived Lafayette, who was just about ready to pass out. I shook it off and knocked on the bathroom door. Nothing. I try opening the door but it's locked.

"Alex?" I asked, but no sound came out. "Alex!" I tried again, but still nothing.

"What's going on, John?" Hercules asked.

"Alex isn't responding to me." I said frantically.

"Calm down John, he probably collapsed in exhaustion, he had a long day." Hercules said.

I wasn't buying it though, he looked so depressed. "Alex! Are you okay?!" I said, banging at the door. After I tired myself out I laid my ear against the door, trying to hear something.

Maybe I would have left it alone if I had heard his breathing, but you could hear a pin drop from the bathroom. "Hercules we have to break the door down." I said panicky.

"John, take it easy. Like I said he's probably just asleep." He tried.

"We don't know that for sure, Hercules. Break down the door!"

"People pass out in the bathroom all the time at parties, and that's basically what this was, so just relax."

I'd had enough bullshit for one night. "I swear to God if you don't plant your foot into this door I will slam your face into it so hard that it will disintegrate! BREAK DOWN THE FUCKING DOOR!"

With all of the hysterical screaming going on, neither of us had noticed Lafayette was on his way to opening the door by picking the lock.

Opening the door did nothing, there was no one in there, just an empty razor on the ground. It's not like he could've jumped through the window, there were none in there. We looked in the small room. He should be easy to spot. Not behind the toilet, not underneath the sink.

Lafayette was seen kneeling at the bathtub, looking at whatever the sight that lay in the small porcelain container was. There, a pale body covered in dried brown blood was found, silently sobbing. His arm was still bleeding slightly. An audible gasp escaped my mouth, while Lafayette still looked at him in complete shock while Hercules kept his hand over his mouth.

The pitiful scene before us could have taken place anywhere between the prank calls and now. He opened his eyes to see the three of us surrounding him and started to sob uncontrollably.