Hailey

15

The sun rose and everything fell. All of Alex’s plans to escape down the drain again. Alex balled his fists and waited. Alex knows how to be patient. Alex is a teenager that was stuck in a mental ward. Alex had been wrongly put there. Alex is mad at the world for this. Alex is mad at the world for a lot of things. Alex was surrounded by crazies just like him. Haha, crazies. Crazies is a nice word. Just like Alex is a nice boy. Except when he’s naughty. Alex was naughty a year ago from today. Shhhh, we don’t talk about that. We have to keep it hush hush. Alex is not proud of what he did. That is what they said Alex should feel anyway. But Alex is secretly pleased of what he did. Now the whole world knows who Alex is. Alex is me.
Alex does not deserve to be here. All Alex did was want to be known. Want to be wanted. Because Alex did not have very good parents. No, Alex did not. His parents did not want Alex. Alex bares his teeth and growls whenever he thinks of what his parents did to him. Uh oh, that’s another hush hush secret. No one must know. Alex keeps this secret inside of him. Alex keeps it locked up, just like the voice inside his head. No one must know. The last person who discovered his secret is now dead. That person had realized Alex was abused by his parents. She threatened to take Alex away to child services or a foster home or something like that. The parents did not really care. But Alex did. Alex wants no one to know his secret. So Alex killed her. That is the price to pay. No one must know who Alex really is and what life he really had. The voice inside Alex’s head told Alex to kill her. Alex had no choice. Alex followed her home and waited until she stepped outside again. That is when Alex pounced. Like a tiger. Yes, yes, exactly like a tiger with sharp claws and deadly teeth. Like a predator on its prey. Alex hit her in the head with a baseball bat. Alex then dragged her into the trees and pulled out his precious baby. Alex had pulled out his knife, his most prized thing in the whole wide world. Alex loved his knife. Alex would carry his knife everywhere. They took the knife from him when he was forced into this awful, awful place. They will pay. Alex does not want to say what happened next with the woman. That is another secret. Alex smiles just thinking about what he did.
The next morning, another person had arrived at his door. This person was not happy. He demanded to know if Alex had anything to do with the death of a policewoman. Alex said no. Alex was lying. His voice told him to lie. The policeman growled some more and then left. Alex was not happy. No one ever treats him that way. No one. Except his father. He had beaten Alex enough times with a belt for Alex to accept that he is prey only to his father. But Alex is no prey to other people. Alex is the predator. Alex had no choice, really. His voice told him what to do again. Alex had seen where this policeman lives a while ago because Alex likes to follow people when he’s bored. Alex still remembers. Alex still remembers where a lot of people live. Alex finds his precious baby and hides it in his pocket. Alex eventually finds him and waits until he takes out the trash. That is when Alex becomes the tiger and pounces once again. That is the price to pay for his secret to be hush hush. His secret did not stay hush hush for long. They had found out that Alex is not a regular boy. They had taken him away and forced him into this mental facility. They took away his precious baby. Alex felt empty without his knife. Alex misses his knife. Alex spends his time planning his way out. Every night, Alex tries to escape with no success. But Alex is patient. He can wait. And when no one is expecting it, he will pounce once again.
Finally, when the sun falls and less people watch him, Alex rose slowly from the bed and walked over to his toilet. Inside the toilet were a key and a match. Alex had painstakingly positioned the match so that it stayed dry. Alex was very good at pickpocketing. Alex had stolen the key from one of his guards when he pretended to have a melt-down. Alex had cried and flailed his arms everywhere. Alex is very proud of his performance. The guard had come up to him and hugged him. That is when Alex stole the key. Haha, nice people are suckers. They never win. That is why Alex is never nice. Alex was nice one time to his father. His father knocked him unconscious. Alex learned his lesson. The match was harder to get. Alex had discovered that one of his guards smoked. Alex smelled it on the guard whenever he came to deliver Alex’s meal to Alex. So one time when the guard came with Alex’s meal, Alex had pretended to spill it on the floor. The guard kneeled down to pick it up, giving Alex just enough time to sneak one match from the box inside his uniform pocket. See? Alex told you nice people are suckers. Alex swiped the match against his bed’s wooden frame and it lit. Alex smiled and played with the fire. Stop it! Alex must focus. Alex held the match under the sprinkler and it ignited. Alarms blared and lights blinked. Water fell down from the sprinkler. Screams soon filled the air. Alex laughed in joy. Alex loves panic. Alex loves chaos. This was Alex’s moment to shine. Soon, he turned serious. Alex cannot mess this up. Alex will run away and make everybody here pay. Alex will find his precious beauty when he returns back here and he will become the predator once again. But for now, all he has to do is step outside this room and reclaim the glory what once was his. Alex slid the key into the hole and locked it into place. Alex stared at the door handle and slowly turned the knob.