I focused on breathing, my feet pushing against the dirt as I ran, cold air filling my lungs. My heart pounded and my blood pumped, sweat ran down my skin, but still, I ran. I was close to my goal, until finally, I crossed the line.

"Time!" Our teacher shouted, blowing his whistle. "Mr. Howle wins once again!"

They were on the last day of the year, so their teacher decided to hold a physical activity day. Which in their class meant; 'How fast is Alex going to beat us?' I didn't usually mean to show off, but I loved running. The wind against me, the cold breeze I feel whenever I speed up, the way the world slows down around me... it felt like I could take off and fly.

"My man, you gotta slow down and leave some fun for the rest of us." Jackson, or Jack, ran up and slugged me in the shoulder playfully. "If I didn't know your dream was to be a nerd, I would think that you were aiming to become a track star."

Jack had been my best friend ever since our family moved to Oregon, away from the hounding of relatives asking for money. We were both ten-year-old boys with too much energy and an interest in fantasy. While I was more into historical fantasy, Jack was quick to jump in with science fiction.

"Don't be a jackass, Jacks." My lips quirked into an amused smirk while wiping some of my sweat off by the towel thrown at me by him, "I want to go into mythology and the study of older creatures. It's fascinating when you think about the effect that some myths had in shaping the foundation of—oomph!"

Jack threw another towel at me, hitting my face. "Don't be a nerd, Alex."

I stuck my tongue out as he started running ahead toward the changing room. It was my final day as a middle schooler, and once the year starts again, I'll be going to his grandfather's high school. If I was completely honest with myself, I was more nervous than excited.

The memory of expectant, animal-like gazes always lingered in the back of my head, sneaking forward with each year that passed.

I shook my head, chasing away the eerie image, and finished washing up.

"Mr. Howle, let me steal you away for a minute." Coach Agres called out before I could leave, "It won't take long."

Coach Agres was one of the few teachers that didn't mind my excessive energy or nervous tics, in fact she encouraged me to turn that energy into some kind of sport or exercise. Feeling anxious? Take a jog. Feeling angry? Go practice making shots into the soccer goal or basketball hoops. Most of my other teachers had already given up on trying to manage my anxiety.

"What's up, coach?" I wasn't in any official sport; I didn't get along well enough with teammates and would probably butcher the whole process and efforts of everyone else. I still liked to call her coach, though, it was our little inside joke since she had helped me through some of my 'episodes'. "Don't tell me I'm gonna be benched."

"Haha, laugh it up sprout, one of these days someone is going to get you into a team activity." She rolled her eyes and waved away Jackson, "I'll hand him back in a bit, Velius, all in one piece too."

Jack shot two finger guns toward us as he walked backwards out of the room, nearly whacking himself against the door frame, "You got it, I find one hair missing and I'm claiming friendship privileges and coming in with the calvary!"

Coach Agres shook her head, "That boy... he's definitely going to walk into trouble one of these days with that carefree attitude of his." She motioned for me to follow as she opened her office door, "It really won't take long, bud, promise."

"It's no problem, Coach, I don't have to be anywhere soon. We just have a dinner planned with someone from my new school." I shrugged as I felt goosebumps gather on my arms as the cold AC blew against my still damp skin.

She nodded, "About that, kiddo, I know you won't be in our district anymore; but we have this summer program starting up this year." She reached into one of her drawers, handing me a pamphlet. "It's this whole camp in Raz Bear, lots of other kids with anxiety, ADHD, ADD, and a whole bunch of other disorders and challenges in life or studies. I know you don't really like talking about your anxiety..."

Raz Bear was a decently sized campground that was recently acquired by the state once the owners died a year back. It was revitalized, apparently, into something for kids with learning disabilities and behavioral problems. It was a distance away, some odd couple hours out of town, so it was secluded.

I frowned, already seeing where this conversation was heading.

"However, you don't really have to. That's not the focus of this camp, it's for people with those sorts of issues to come together and be able to experience activities that will help tackle some of the problems you'll come into. I know you may not attend this year, but keep an eye out for next time, alright?"

The pamphlet was brightly colored with a funky looking font that was supposed to catch someone's attention, it described different activities, and the dates that they were open for registration. "I don't know... I'll have to talk to my parents about it."

Coach Agres nodded, an understanding smile in her eyes as she patted my shoulder, "Give it some thought, I know Jackson has already signed up so if you do go, then at least you'll be with each other."

I shoved the paper booklet into my pocket and hurried off. I hated having my anxiety called an issue or problem. I understood that it was a problem, but that didn't mean I liked it being discussed as if it was some sort of math homework that will eventually be solved if people dissected it. It wasn't like I was going to attack someone, my brain just... kept it as an option.

I let out a soft exhale as I shook off the water droplets on my body and hair that still clung on to me from earlier, there was no use worrying about it now. I was just going to work myself up even more. I pushed a hand through his curled hair, the strands hugging the bottom of his neck and hung just above my eyes with a few ends curling around them.

Jack was already playing with one of those rubber, stretchy hands that they got from one of those gacha things that took a quarter. He's had it for barely a week, and it already looked torn and ragged. The blonde hair was unmistakable, darkened slightly to give it a dirty blonde, and sticking up at all ends. Green eyes glanced up and smiled brightly as they caught sight of me.

"Dude, I was gonna call the police if you didn't appear soon. Did you know that the forty-eight-hour waiting time for a missing person's report doesn't apply to children? Like, I guess it makes sense, but why do police wait forty-eight hours for an adult? Why not twenty-four?" Jack skipped into step with me, shoving his hand in his pocket while kicking at some stones, his other hand was messing with one of those fidgety things that his mom had gotten for him.

"Coach wanted to talk about that summer camp thing." I felt my tension melt away as Jack rambled, the distraction helping to lessen the lingering feelings of shame.

"Really?" The blonde boy reached into his backpack to pull out a piece of gum, offering one to me but putting it away at the shake of my head, "I signed up for it since she said it would help with the ADHD, I didn't really listen too much, but my ma liked the idea of it."

That sounded like Ms. Velius, she was all for doing anything that supported her kids ever since Mr. Velius took off. She took it hard as he was their only source of income and she never really finished high school, but she got it together soon after with my parents' help and got a job in town as the assistant manager at the record shop downtown. It was close to all the arcades, bookstores, and comic stores, so all of us usually just hung around there after school and had her drive them home.

They lived near the outskirts of town, in a little cul-de-sac that usually kept to themselves. Though the Velius' and our family liked to join each other so much that not many people talked about one without the other.

"Jacks, Alex, there you are!"

Nicole, Nicky, ran up to them as they approached the elementary school. It wasn't too far, thankfully, but Nicky wasn't allowed to leave without an older sibling or adult until she was in middle school, and even then, they were only allowed to go to Ms. Velius work street. She was Jackson's younger sister, and loved to hang out with us as much as she could. She looked very similar to Ms. Velius, instead of their father like Jack, with brunet hair that fell into waves, brown eyes that lit up with laughter, and freckles dotted onto her tan skin.

I had to help Jackson quite a bit whenever some boy mentioned his sister, though, I hardly ever held my friend back for the first punch whenever someone mentioned anything inappropriate; you don't get in the way of a sibling protecting their family.

"Hey Nicky," I caught the girl as she threw her arms around then both, squeezing them as tight as a little girl could. "How was school?"

"Soo boring!" She pouted as she took Jack's hand and his in the other, swinging them back and forth. She was only nine, so her childish behavior didn't really bother me as much as it did some. "Mr. Jun brought in this historical document about this mystical tribe that watches over the land or something, I know you like that stuff, so I asked if I could have a copy. Let me get it."

Nicky fully stopped in the sidewalk before letting their hands go, then she slid her bag off her shoulders and set it on the ground, opening it up.

"Come on, Nicole." Jackson grumbled after a few moments of the girl searching through her stuff.

"Just a minute..." She blew a stray strand out of her face, "Found it! Here you go Alex!"

I smiled, accepting the folded paper and slipping it into his own bag, "Thanks Nicky, now let's go before your brother decides to commit a war crime due to boredom."

"Jesus Christ, Nicky." Ian panted as he ran up to them, "I said to wait for me at the entrance, not run ahead and drag them here!"

My brother had grown taller than me, towering over my five-foot-six at an even five-ten. He was also the one that never let me forget who was the tallest between us, proudly mentioning it whenever our growth was brought up and smirking arrogantly at my disgruntled face.

...No, I wasn't upset about my height, it was perfectly average!

Ian, however, was also the more outgoing of the two of them. He stood at the front of the family, ready to bite anyone who even showed a displeased frown, but also looking after each of them and making sure everyone was alright. He took that role from my shoulders, wearing it like it was natural for him to function as the older sibling.

"Ian, how was your day?" I smiled, pushing my bitter feelings away. "Why were you at the elementary instead of your club?"

"Oh!" Nicky interrupted before Ian could speak, "Ian got into a fiiiiight!"

My heart skipped a beat, "What? Are you okay? What happened?"

It wasn't like my younger brother to be starting fights, well—actually, it was completely like Ian to fight someone. If teachers were annoyed with me due to my need to constantly view someone as a threat, then they would consider retirement whenever Ian was brought up. He had trouble controlling his anger, and it didn't help when others felt the need to gossip about their family or to talk crap about someone he cares about. Or the fact that everyone aired it out like some sort of pet project on who could get him to snap first.

It wasn't exactly something he could hold back or push down, and our parents didn't understand. Not completely at least.

It was probably better that we were going into a private high school.

"Some asshole was running his mouth, so I blocked it with my fist."

I sighed; my mind jumping around as I came up with a plan to deal with the issues that were to arise. "Okay."

"I'm sorry, Alex..."

Jackson snorted, "Bro, you did the right thing. If anyone was running their mouth about Nicks here, I would've shoved my foot up their ass."

I reached up to ruffle my younger brother's hair, his puppy dog-like eyes staring down at me. "Trust me, you're not nearly as troublesome as this little shit, claims he's my best friend but I think he's just latching onto me because I can talk him out of prison one of these days."

Besides, it wasn't like Ian was the one that went looking for people who kept gossiping, they fully say it to his face. I witnessed it enough times to know that kids were taunting and shoving him around to get him to lose control, to finally hit them so they could get him into even more trouble. It wasn't like this was the first time the school decided to target our problems, we were too different with how our brains processed things.

Jackson let out a faux gasp, sniffing exaggeratingly and wiping his fake tears away.

"Jacks says he likes how smart you are, and that your hair is nice. That's what he said when ma asked, when you guys first met." Nicole giggled, especially at the way Jackson's face flared red and his incoherent spluttering.

Ian's head snapped at the older boy, glowering at him as we finally made it to Mrs. Velius' workplace.

"Ma! Nicky's telling tales!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

Mrs. Velius, a tall woman with a slightly plump figure, sighed. Her cheeks had a natural blush on them, complimenting her eyes that seemed to sparkle whenever she looked at her children, no matter how upset or angry she was at them. Her love was obvious as she treasured her family above all else.

"Alex, as you're the responsible one of the four of you, could you watch them for a little longer? Mr. Jerkel placed an order and still hasn't come to pick it up, and Kelley left due to a family emergency, so I'm the only one here." She looked guiltily toward her two, still bickering, children before reaching into her pocket for her wallet, "Here's a twenty for now, and I'll get ya a monster cookie before we leave, one for your brother too."

"Just the cookie is fine, Aunt Lily. You're practically just asking me to hang-out with my friends," I shoved the money back toward her, shaking my head frantically. Like hell I was going to take twenty dollars from this woman, she was family at this point. "Besides, you let us listen to music for free all the time here, I think that's more expensive than any sort of charge I would give to someone for looking after their kids."

Ian rested his arm over my shoulder, nodding silently in agreement. It was a well-known fact that Lily Velius was a generous woman, far too generous in their town. Many people had taken advantage of her, and our family was not willing to come even close to that sort of line.

"How come they're getting a cookie and we're not?" Nicky whined, pouting her lips in a way that every child makes look natural.

Mrs. Velius smiled patiently at her daughter, "Because they don't come into my work screaming their heads off instead of waiting until your Ma's done with work. Off to busy your minds now, I have a few papers to sort while we wait."

It was well past closing time before Mr. Jerkel came by for his order, two hours to be exact, and the man didn't show an ounce of remorse. Instead, he wailed about having to wait as the computer logged his payment, and his card showed up declined. He got so red in the face that I was briefly wondering if he was related to a tomato before he finally just paid with a check and stormed out of the building.

My fingers twiddled with the necklace that our grandfather had left in my care, imagining the man tripping due to karma.

To my surprise, a familiar shout brought my attention to look outside the shop's window, seeing the man being smacked in the face with a stray newspaper, then a plastic bag, somebody's lost jacket, and finally another piece of paper until he fell onto his backside.

"Oh my!" Aunt Lily gasped as she, too, witnessed what happened to the man. "How strange, I didn't see anything about strong winds on the forecast this morning."

We tactically avoided the cursing man as we loaded into her car and drove home.

My heart squeezed nervously, twisting in a way that filled my stomach with nausea, the day was finally coming, and I could no longer avoid thinking about it. We waved goodbye to the Velius', Ian wrapping his arm around my shoulders in comfort.

His green eyes stared into mine. "You'll be okay."

It was like he felt it too, the lingering feeling that once I leave, something was going to happen. I know that nothing stays the same, but it felt different, as if this change could fundamentally destroy the person I am and replace it with something else. It was scary.

"Mom, dad," I breathed out, trying to calm my heart as a strange but familiar smell hit my nose, "We're home! Sorry that we're back late, but there was..."

My heart quickened as amber eyes, with slit pupils stared into mine.

"It's been a long time, Alex." Kyle grinned, sharp canines poking out as his teeth showed, "Your dad is just in the kitchen, putting on some coffee and your mom is in the restroom."