3rd Person POV

"Alex! Come down! Mom had made breakfast and you're going to be late for school! " A young girl with bright blue eyes and long, pale-yellow blonde hair tied in a ponytail yelled as a young boy with dishevelled dirty blonde hair and the same bright blue eyes groaned, trying to get up amidst the annoying yelling from his younger sister.

"Fine, Alice! I'm up! I'm up! " Alex groaned again as he tried and managed to get up, shooing his annoying younger sister out of his room before rolling out of his bed.

Being the older brother in his family, his parents naturally have high expectations for him as once he graduates from high school, he is expected to go to some of the prestigious universities and academies that are in the different districts in Astraea depending on what he wanted to be in the future. His parents wanted him to be an engineer at least and be a scientist at most and Alex knew that very well with the way how his parents push him to study subjects that he never learned in school and many of his classmates had suggested him to be an idol after seeing many students drooling at his good looks although he wears his glasses and his way of speaking which is in a soft-spoken way even his best friend, the energetic and kind-hearted Meave teased him that he could get a girlfriend in a month but not her that could get a boyfriend, but deep inside, he never wanted to be a scientist, engineer and an idol, he wanted to be just a famous author at least or being a famous lawyer but he knew his friends and parents never approve. He just wanted to escape this hellhole of expectations.

He just wanted to be free, like a bird.

Alex felt it was so unfair that Nathaniel, or his preferred nickname, Nate, could just live his life so freely, always going to after-school parties, even he is invited to the cheerleading parties and after game parties where Alex got invited, yes, but instead, he had to miss the parties because he had to study for exams to get good results to satisfy his parent's expectations and that it had crushed him under the pressure of it until he couldn't breathe.

It's so unfair!

That's what he always said to his parents, but they never bothered, even if he complained about Nate bullied him, from dropping his food on him, slamming him to the locker and there was even once that he had been hit till black and blue just because he didn't even do what Nate asked him to do. He felt so sick that he wanted to die, but thinking of the teary look of his younger sister if he had died, he decided to live but never once did he felt he understood.

That he is worth more than he thought.

So, he tried to run out of school, but he was always caught and being scolded by his parents. He understood that his parents were nobles, and not only normal nobles, but they were also advisers to the royal family, which is Nate's family, but he never felt happiness in his home, that his home always felt so cold and distant, as if it was flooded with ice-cold vapor that makes the hair of his hands stood up every time he went home. Even in school, he never had that much of friends. Yes, he had his classmates and peers that he feels are friends and he always friend-zone them, but never once he thought of them as his best friends and only a few of his classmates and peers were his best-friends but even so he felt that he was talking about behind their backs.

Alex took off his pyjamas, walked into the bathroom, and glanced at the mirror, his eyes baggy from continuous nightmares, their shine of hope and happiness dulled by the constant late night studying and his parent scolding and hitting, and his lips chapped for not drinking enough water because of his punishment. Alex took his petroleum jelly jar, took out some of the jelly and applied it to his lips as he thought of his nightmare.

"It felt so real...." Alex mumbled as he stared at the mirror, trying to ignore the tightening of his chest as he thought of his nightmare.

"Why is it that I always have this nightmare? What is the meaning of it? " Alex murmured as he glanced at the clock beside the wash basin.

"Uh-oh, it's almost 8! I'm gonna be late! " Alex quickly brushed his teeth and changed into his school uniform as he rushed down the stairs to the kitchen. His mother was leaning on the support pillar near the foot of the stairs, hands crossed, fingers tapping her arms as her face retorts into an impassive face.

"Uh.... H-hi mom. " Alex's stepmother came to Alex and glared seriously at him.

"Alexandro Agnostus Allaband! How many times had I told you not to be late?! " Alex took a step back as Alex's stepmother loomed over him, slapping his face a few times. Alex inched backwards to the railing of the stairs in fear until his younger sister's shout of fear stopped his stepmother from slapping him any further.

"I'll let you go this time because your younger sister is here, but remember that if you do that again, not even your younger sister could save you." Alex nodded in fear as his stepmother grinned ferally.

"Now go and take your lunch box with you." Alex took his lunchbox and ran to school, tears dripping from his face as he went.

On the way to school, he bumped into one of his friends, Maeve, and she caught him before he fell.

"Oh Alex! Are you- "Maeve stopped when she saw the tears still sliding down Alex's face and helped him up as he tried to stand. Alex thanked Maeve and she smiled softly, placing Alex's hand on her shoulders, and hauled him up. Together, they both hobbled their way to the school gate, neither of them said a word and neither of them need to.