There was a word that described the unmeasurable sadness that infected the beating heart. It was something that was powerful enough to explain the wounds that inflicted the soul. One could never know how much it hurts unless they too have experienced it for their selves, to suffer in that hole of depression with no one to hold a hand out to them to lead them out.

The word was loneliness and Alex felt that sensation more than anyone else.

A lonely heart was what she was to everyone and they felt sorry for her and yet, they didn't care. She was like a child brought out into an unfamiliar, foreign world. No one wanted her nor needed her and now, her caretakers could barely afford her. All she was now, all she had ever been was a nuisance. It was her strength that kept her going. How long she survived proved how strong she was, both physically and mentally. But it was a tough world she had been brought into and it was a world she knew she would never be able to escape.

"Hit her as hard as you can!"

Alex sucked in a sharp breath as she was struck in the stomach once again, trying to hold back the blood and bile threatening to sputter from her mouth.

"She stopped moving..." one of her attackers remarked, kicking her in the stomach again to make certain.

"You think she's dead? We did hit her pretty hard..."

"Too hard."

"Shit. Michael's gonna be pissed! He told us not to be too hard on her!"

"Maybe he won't find out. We can just give him some excuse why she's like this."

"Like say that some other boys beat her up? Think, Reese! Think! Have you ever tried that?!"

"It was just a suggestion..."

"Then let's make a decision. We'll just take her to the nurse."

"And tell her what? That we all just so happened to find her on the ground and have her blood splattered on our clothes? Are you nuts?!"

"Shut it, Randy! You got any better ideas?"

"I do. How about we just bring her to Michael and ask him what we should-?!"

A yell from a short distance away interjected and struck the tension in the air and the sound of pounding feet hurriedly drawing closer instantly and hastily followed after. Alex could just dimly make out the sound.

"Shit!" one of the boys cried.

"Let's get outta here!"

The group of boys that had been tormenting Alex showed no hesitation as they fled the scene, leaving Alex alone on the ground. Alex's head was spinning at that moment and the colors of the sky seemed to distort all around her, making the area twist and whirl around her. She finally let her eyes shut but simply refused to fall into unconsciousness.

"Hey. Wake up..."

The voice drifted across Alex's plane of consciousness, moving quite sluggishly. She heard it and knew without a doubt that it was a voice speaking to her but nothing more than that seemed to register in her mind. The speaker might as well had spoken in a foreign language. Alex couldn't seem to understand either way.

"You still there?"

The sound of another voice was absolutely stimulating. Even though Alex couldn't understand it well, she still wanted to. Gently, she pushed her mind forward, trying to make effort by moving toward that voice but she felt so exhausted, so utterly and achingly exhausted and her body simply refused to obey her. Progress was slow but it was certainly working and in fact, improving. Alex managed to gain enough control over herself to move, if only an inch.

"That's it. Keep going. You're almost there."

The voice was comforting, full of warmth and life. It didn't have that cold disposition Michael's voice possessed or the malign of those Alex knew. This voice was reassuring, almost compassionate. At that moment, Alex desperately wanted to see the owner of the wonderful voice.

She opened her eyes and the darkness no longer blinded her.

Kneeling before her was a boy, a few years her elder with lively, sapphire eyes. The gleaming gold on his letterman brought out his golden blonde hair. The resemblance compared to her assaulters were uncanny but his presence was much warmer than theirs. Even his skin seemed to have been kissed by the morning sun, shining a healthy tan, a beautiful shade that belonged to a swimsuit model.

"Who are you?" Alex croaked, feeling ashamed to the way her voice cracked when she spoke. She was suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to vomit and the color in her face flushed inconsiderably.

"Bruno Carver. You?"

Alex stared expectantly at the ground as if she were waiting for it to give her an answer. She didn't want to have to say something and end up puking on him. She didn't want to degrade herself any further than she already was.

"Alex Avery..." she murmured under her breath, still unable to look the boy in the face.

"Cool." He rose himself off the ground. "Need help getting up?"

"No. I'm fine. You've helped me enough. I don't want you embarrassing yourself..." Cringing, she struggled to her feet, surprised to the fact that her knees didn't buckle from beneath her.

"What do you mean by that?" Bruno asked quirking a brow.

"I'm a commoner and what are you? An heir to the throne, right? Practically everyone at this school is. No one at this school is equal to me. I'm lower than everybody here. I don't want you embarrassing yourself because I'm a commoner. All I would do is..." she swallowed hard, "...taint your reputation. People would end up shunning you and maybe even bully you like they do to me. Maybe worst. I can't let you risk that."

Bruno remained silent as she said this and he didn't respond to her statement but only stared.

"Just because you don't have much money," he began softly, "it doesn't mean that every other wealthy person would be ashamed of you."

Alex's heart swelled with hope at the remark and she wished she wasn't such a judgmental person. She was too ashamed of her misjudgment to even apologize to him.

He noticed that she wasn't attempting to respond and continued, "Maybe you should try getting to know the person before you judge them."

With that, he walked off. Alex wanted to stop him but all the words she wanted to speak had already died in her throat. She wanted to say many things to him, two words in particular...

I'm sorry...

"Decent availability... References are in check..." The murmuring man continued to drone on and on as he scanned over her resume with no inflection in his tone or the slightest twitch of emotion which gave Alex all the more reason to worry. Not only was it nerve-wrecking enough that it was her first job interview in her fifteen years of living in this life but fate was cruel enough to throw her in front of a monotonous man who barely even registered her mere presence.

To her startle, her interviewer abruptly drew himself from his chair and carelessly tossed her resume amongst a pile of others, "I hope you know the way out."

She felt her shoulders slump with dismay, "Yes sir. I do. Thank you for your time Mr. Hobbs."

She rose off her chair and held a trembling hand out to him and she watched in horror as he eyed her hand before giving it a firm pump.

"Same for you, Miss Avery. You start your job at three tomorrow."

Alex's heart swelled with joy and it took every fiber of her being to restrain herself from embracing him.

"Thank you so much, Mr. Hobbs. I won't let you down."

"I'm sure you won't."

Alex had left the room with a bounce in her step and a broad grin plastered on her face. She couldn't believe that he had given her the job. She felt guilty for lying about her age though but she only increased it by one. It wasn't as if she said that she was eighteen when in reality she was fifteen. She had to be eligible somehow.

What a great day this turning out to be!

As Alex was leaving the store, she froze once she noticed a girl in possession of a bag of oranges and as she pranced, she swung the bag back and forth with the rhythm of her bouncy strides. She couldn't believe she hadn't noticed this before. This was the same exact store Michael and his friends had cornered her, the same one where they had played the cruel game of kicking and stomping the oranges her aunt had asked her to purchase.

Alex held her face in her hands as she felt an upcoming headache pound in her head. It was all to painful for her to remember this but the memory flashed relentlessly in her mind. She remembered the nightmare she had had, when Michael and his friends were stomping on the multiple tiny heads that had her face plastered on the front of each one. It made her stomach churn with nauseation and she felt as if she were about to throw up right then and there but she held it in for her sake.

She should have been happy. She just got a new job right on the spot but somehow, without him even being there, Michael had ruined that for her all because of a painful memory she continued to relive in her head over and over again.

He's not even here and I already feel like he just beat me up!

Sighing heavily, she spun on the heel of her shoes and started for home.

To Alex's dismay, Mr. Hobbs made no hesitation when he assigned her as a cashier, considering that she was great at numbers and knew how to handle customers' complaints even when she was stressed out. Not that she was upset about it or anything but even with an easy job such as this, scanning and passing, it pained her to move. Just because she had a job and was in a severe financial situation, it didn't mean that Michael's beatings lessened and it didn't mean that the soreness in her body healed.

Alex slowly picked up a can of fruit and ran it across the scanner, wincing once a knife of pain shot up her arm. She risked a glimpse over at the clock and groaned inwardly once she realized that she still had thirty minutes left until she was free from work. She then tossed a package of toilet paper down the register and totaled the price so that it was displayed for her customer to see.

"Will that be all, miss?" Alex questioned, her voice barely reaching a pitch due to her utter exhaustion.

It was amazing to her how exhausted this job made her. It wasn't as if she were bagging groceries, constantly lifting heavy bags of dog food from the bottom of the shopping carts, or worst of all, lugging carts from one end of the store to the other. Compared to the other employees, she had it easy but boy did working put her in a foul mood.

"How much did that toilet paper ring up?" the woman asked in a haughty tone, an obnoxious tone that said, "Since I am on this side of the register and you are on that side, you must answer me because I am of higher authority." Alex received that tone of voice from her peers at school countless times and the last place she would ever want to hear that tone was at her job.

Alex fought off the urge to roll her eyes, "Four dollars and sixty five cents."

"Four dollars and sixty five cents!" the woman exclaimed, "That's highway robbery!"

Alex sighed, "I don't make the prices here. I just tell you what they are. Anyways, the price was on the shelf."

The woman harrumphed, "Well, I certainly didn't see it. Even if it were there, I would have seen it."

Alex groaned inwardly but outwardly, she put on a tight smile and turned to the man who was currently tossing the groceries into a plastic bag.

"Aisle eight, please," Alex said and the man nodded in affirmation and hurried off to the given aisle. Apparently, he had grown accustomed to doing these sort of things on a daily basis.

While he was gone, Alex took over his job by resuming the sacking with more care, with more sense that is. She rearranged the bag the man had done where the bread was under the bottom of several canned vegetables. The man returned several moments later, holding the price of the bread that was in fact $4.65.

The woman merely harrumphed once more, "Well, how was anyone supposed to see that? You should have put it in a proper place where everybody else can see it!"

You mean right under the display wasn't good enough for you? Maybe you'd like it if I stapled it to your head! Would you see it then?!

Alex let the thought roll in her head but instead of voicing her thoughts aloud, she feigned the most courteous tone she could manage, "So, do you still want it or would like me to void it off?"

"Void it off. I'm not going to let this rundown store be the end of my money."

It proves just how rundown this place is with you here.

"Alright then," Alex sighed as she voided off the toilet paper.

"What was the price again?" the woman asked rummaging through her purse but before Alex could reply, the woman was leaning over the counter and narrowing her gaze at the screen. Alex scowled at the putrid odor of the woman's cheap perfume and restrained herself from gagging.

The woman murmured something about highway robbery as she swiped her credit card across the scanner. As soon as Alex handed her her receipt, the woman snatched it away and pushed her cart out the exit.

Alex inwardly groaned, "Have a nice day!"

Once her shift was over, Alex gathered her things and left the store. It was a painful task for her to depart, considering that the oranges were close to the exit and every single day that she left for home, she would remember the time Michael had humiliated her, laughed at her, mocked her. She had to see those oranges everyday and she could just imagine multiple tiny heads just sitting there on display, horrified expressions plastered on the front of each one, waiting for their tormentor to arrive. She imagined Kirk's head amongst them and Ross walking in with Michael's smirk playing on his lips and then him snatching his head off the shelf and pelting it against the wall, staining it with blood. The thought made her cringe.

The crisp air outside was just what Alex needed at this time of night. The navy blue sheet of the heavens were glistening with the scattered diamond pinpricks spread across the expanse of sky. The captivating stars seemed to dance around the moon and seemed to bring life out of Alex's gray eyes. It amazed Alex to how far away the stars were and yet, she was able to see them so clearly. She wished she could admire this serene setting forever but nothing lasted forever.

Besides, Alex thought smiling, there will be plenty of other nights to gaze at the stars.

She gritted her teeth and endured the pain shooting up her muscles, positive that she could somehow bore her pain by ignoring it. But as she sauntered down the sidewalk, she felt her blood run cold.

Michael was there, standing, waiting for her with that smug smirk playing on his lips.

Alex forced her legs to continue to move. She wanted to get off and away from his side of the street. She could take another beating but if he gave her a beat down, she would be good enough to be put in a hospital. She had already past Michael when he closed the distance in between them and sank his fist in her stomach.

Pain seemed to explode inside her stomach and blossom throughout her body. She felt her stomach give a nauseating lurch and before she could restrain herself, she retched inconsiderably, missing Michael's shoes by a few inches. She collapsed to her knees, gasping, panting, a foul taste pricking her mouth and her insides churning with growing nauseation.

"Your gonna pay for that!" Michael shouted.

Alex felt a hand close around her neck and before she could process what was happening, her body was hoisted into the air, the tip of her toes barely touching the ground. She stared at Michael with glazed over eyes and stared wearily into them. His eyes resembled the night that moment, full of sheer vengeance and rage. It frightened her to how much hate he felt towards her after all she had done to obey his every command.

"You filthy bitch," he snarled, his grip on her throat growing tighter.

He's going to kill me! Alex suddenly realized with horror.

Alex struggled weakly, her fingertips lightly caressing his wrist in order to ease the tension of his anger. For a brief moment, his eyes flickered down to her fingers and he gazed silently at the way they caressed his wrist so tenderly, as if she were reassuring him about something and not trying to escape death. She could have sworn she saw a flicker of emotion flash in his eyes but it was too brief to tell.

Abruptly, Michael shifted his body and hurled her against the brick wall.

Alex's spine collided with the cold wall and for a moment, all she felt was agonizing pain and once her head slammed against the wall, her vision swam. She was aware to the fact that she had been sliding down the wall into a crumpled sitting position, upper back against the wall and shoulders hunched over, her head lazily lolling to the side onto her shoulder but what she didn't notice was that Michael was slowly approaching her. She was soon fully aware once she felt a sharp kick to her ribs.

For a moment, she couldn't breathe properly. She collapsed onto her side in an attempt to block out the throbbing pain but it didn't become useful to her advantage. In fact, it worsened the pain. She would have screamed to the top of her lungs if she had the will but all she was able to manage was a low moan. Every single bone in her body seemed to be broken at the moment and her bleary vision proved her case. Even seeing the condition that she was in, Michael still didn't seem as if he were about to give her mercy.

She was then roughly yanked up and brutally hurled back to the ground with ultimate force. She skidded across the cold pavement, limbs awkwardly flailing in the air and her grunts muffled in the cement. Grazes appeared along her body but the hurt she was feeling then was nothing in comparison to the pain wracking her body in great waves.

Once she finally slid to a stop, she laid limply on the ground on her side, bloody, broken, motionless. She waited for Michael to come over to her to finish her off with one of his famous kicks. Although she could barely move, she fought to remain in consciousness as the edges of her vision blurred.

And then, someone stepped over her.

As her consciousness ebbed, she forced her eyes to look upon the person who currently stood in between herself and Michael. It was a young man, tall and lean wearing a black and gold letterman with finely written words running across the back.

Who is that?

Then, there were voices shouting, calling out to her, hands encircling her body and then she knew no more.