5. A BIT CRAZY.

Alex stared at the book in front of him. This time around, he wasn't wearing any hoodie or clothing that could cover his face. He was just plain. His long shiny black hair was tied up into his favorite hair position - the ponytail. His sharp jawline could be seen clearly just fell a side view.

In front of him were different books from different authors and at first, he looked like someone who didn't a get a thing that he was doing. He picked up the pen and got closer to the small table that was about his size - the sitting position and proceeded to read something.

He tore a sheet of paper and wrote a few things but then stopped. He stared at it and squeezed the paper into a ball before throwing it away. He tore another one and tried to write a few words again but it proved abortive. Nothing was happening and he clenched his fist line and closed his eyes as many memories flood in, words from different individual greeted his brain.

"You are nothing without me... without us. Nothing is going to work out for you. You are nothing but a useless vessel in terms of something like this!"

"Come back and learn something tangible, all of these makes no sense."

"Oh, what do you think you are going to do? You really you are going to make history by doing this? You are only wasting your time, ha ha ha." The voice burst into a terrible laughter inside his head.

Alex's body started to shake and he could hardly control his breathing. He screamed and scattered the table, throwing all the books away. He lifted the table and smashed it against the wall, breathing hard. It felt as if something in him kept building up inside his brain and he couldn't control himself.

He kept tearing the things that he saw and yelled with all his might. He was trying to stop himself from breaking any more things so he fell to the ground instead and curled up crying hard, he folded and held his legs to stop them from creating more mess.

Alex kept sobbing and reached for his head instead to hold it.

The door was opened.

"Hey, Alex, you wouldn't believe.. Alex! Alex, what's wrong?" A young man quickly threw the things that he had brought with him and rushed to the unstable boy.

"Hey, Alex, hang on there. Hold on."

He quickly rushed into and brought out a box. He filled the syringe just like he had been instructed before injecting Alex with it, that seemed to calm him down after a few minutes later because he stopped crying and only sobbed gently. The man went back to the kitchen to bring a glass of clean water. He put it down beside him and tried lifting Alex up a bit so he would be able to rest his back against the couch.

"Hey, just relax. Don't force yourself to think anything. Relax...breathe in... breathe out. That's it. Here, take your medications. That should be enough for now. We can go to the hospital if..."

"Jonathan, I am fine. Thanks." Alex stopped him as he collected the medications from him and used them. He closed his eyes afterwards, placing his palm on his eyes as he relaxed.

Jonathan looked at the smashed table and the books before he sighed. He changed his sitting position to the same as Alex, he then stared at him.

"What happened this time around?"

Alex took his time in answering the question. He sniffed.

"Nothing."

"You don't expect me to believe that when I can see the mess that you have created."

Alex then removed his palm from his eyes and looked everywhere.

"I am sorry. I just overstressed my brain and the usual happened." He whispered. Jonathan nodded and touched his shoulder as a way of comforting him.

"Nothing seems to be entering. Everything is not going great at all. Sometimes I wonder how I got to this grade in school when I hardly remember anything or know anything." Alex confessed.

"Hmm, I have been longing to say this before but I just felt like it might not work out for you however I am going to say it. Try mingling with others."

"No!" Alex didn't let him finish his sentence before he jumped in.

"Hold on, I mean only a person. Someone who is brilliant and can encourage you to read. Perhaps someone who can understand you." Jonathan proposed.

"Who? I hardly know anyone there nor does anyone know anything about me."

"Listen, Alex, if you really want to work according to your new plan, you have to start making arrangements about that. You can't just lock yourself in because of something so trivial like that. I am certain that there is someone there that cares about you and nothing else. Just take the opportunity and let's see how things turn out, okay? Be it both genders - male or female. Just a friend is enough. Trust me when I say this, it will work a lot." Jonathan advised him.

Alex didn't agree or disagree with what he said, instead he continued staring at the television with the glass of water in his hand. He stood up after a while and picked up the pieces on the ground.

"I am sorry for this."

"It's fine, bro. Go in and have a rest. I will let you know when dinner is ready, I will make something really quickly for the both of us, okay?"

Alex walked away and shut the door of his room. Jonathan exhaled heavily and shook his head. He didn't want to meddle in his affairs but seeing as things were going from bad to worse, he saw the need to interfere.

~~~~~~~~

"And as usual, the top most students are no other than the pair of friends, Ashely, Josh and Sammie. "

The students clapped as the teacher distributed their scripts. Ashley happily collected hers and did a 'high five' with her friends. The test was so easy for them to crush and nothing more.

The teacher looked at the only paper in her hands before raising her head.

"The last paper belongs to Alex." She didn't say his score, instead she went over to him and presented the script to him. Others knew that he could have failed the test because his name was always the only one not being mentioned whenever scripts were shared in class.

Sometimes, the students would always feel that the teachers knew more than them about the issue.

"I wish to see the improvements in your studies, Alex. This isn't satisfying." The teacher whispered and walked to the front of the class.

"Alright, students. Listen up." She clapped.

Ashley looked behind her, Alex was simply staring at the window again after dipping the scripting into his bag. She sighed and stared at her palm. What could be wrong with him? Didn't he like schooling?

~~~~~~~

The class came to an end after forty five minutes and Alex got called to the Principal's office not quite long after the first lecture. He took his time before actually going there, not minding the curious glances sent his way.

He knocked on the door after getting there.

"Come in." The principal said and he opened the door afterwards. The plus size woman looked up from her table and smiled a bit after she saw Allen.

"Mr Allen, my boy, have your seat. I actually thought that you weren't going to honour my invitation." Alex didn't say a word but sat down with his head lowered.

The woman looked at him compassionately. She was a mother of five and her middle child had the same behavior as Alex but he was better off Alex because at least, he was associating with people because of the help of siblings. She took Alex to be her son and tried keeping her eyes on him but there was nothing suspicious about him. He had no criminal record or anything...not even parents except his brother, Jonathan, that brought him to the private school in the first place.

"I will go straight to the point then. Some of teachers talked with Mr about your academic results and how low they are. Listen here, boy, I see you as my son and I wish to help you. I understand that you don't want to open up to anybody yet but your academic...your education is your future. If you are trying your best and need help then let me know, I can help if it's about that." She paused and waited for his answer yet he didn't say anything again so she took that as a clue to continue talking.

"So, I came up with something, I will assign a student of your class with high intelligence trait to teach you and help you. Of course, that's if you are interested. It isn't mandatory but it can help because the student is open to more conversations and can help if you don't mind. So what do you say? Do you want to try this out and see how it goes?"

Alex looked up from the floor and finally gave a nod, causing the woman to open her teeth more widely.

"That's good. Get prepared then."

She winked.