Alexander pushed the front door open with knuckles still raw and bleeding because the adrenaline from the street fight was humming under his skin. He felt alive and untouchable but the high vanished the moment he stepped into the kitchen where his uncle Robert was standing by the counter spreading mustard on a sandwich. He heard the door close and spun around with a face instantly twisting into a sneer "Look what decided to show up" said Robert "Where the hell have you been since yesterday?"

"I was out" said Alexander.

"Out? Out where, this place isn’t a goddamn hotel, Alexander!" Robert shouted while slamming the butter knife onto the counter "You don’t just vanish for twenty-four hours without saying a word so you think you can just come and go whenever you want and eat my food and sleep under my roof and not answer to anybody?"

"I didn’t ask you to wait up for me" said Alexander. His voice was too calm while his eyes were bloodshot and hard.

"Don’t you use that tone with me, you ungrateful little shit!" Robert roared while stepping out of the kitchen to get right into his face "You’ve been a weight around my neck since the day you got here, you’re a useless lazy parasite since I swear to God it would be better if you just didn’t come back at all! It would save us a lot of trouble and a lot of money!"

"Is that what you really think?" said Alexander.

"Yes! That’s exactly what I think! You think I want you here because you’re a leech, Alexander! You contribute nothing and you’re nothing and you’ll never be anything! You’re just a parasite bleeding us dry!" Robert screamed with a face turning dark red while his spit flew onto Alexander’s cheek.

The word snapped something inside Alexander, the character he had been playing all day completely overtook his restraint. He didn’t cower but stepped forward to shove Robert back by his chest "Then fuck you, Robert!" Alexander exploded while his voice echoed off the walls "You think I want to be in this miserable house with you or you think I give a shit about your roof or your pathetic food?"

Robert stumbled back against the counter shocked by the sudden aggression "How dare you shove me in my own house, you’re a guest here—" said Robert.

"I’m not a guest and I’m damn sure not staying!" Alexander yelled with a chest heaving as he stared his uncle down "I am out of here! I am leaving right now! You can take this house and you can take your insults and you can shove them up your ass! Fuck you, Robert! You’ll never have to look at my face again!"

He didn’t wait for a reply but turned on his heel to slam his fist against the hallway wall as he stormed toward the stairs though he didn’t even go upstairs. He didn’t pack a single shirt but marched straight down the hallway to grab the brass doorknob and yanked the front door open "Fuck you!" Alexander roared back into the house.

He took one step out but stopped dead in his tracks, standing right on the threshold with keys dangling from her hand was his aunt Helen while his cousin stood right behind her. Both of them had their mouths half-open with faces completely pale because they had heard the entire blowout from the porch "Alex? What... what is going on and what happened?" said Helen. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

She reached out with fingers catching the rough fabric of his sleeve while her eyes were wide with a mix of panic and confusion as she tried to pull him back. Alexander didn’t say a word and didn’t even look her in the eyes, his mind was a complete war zone. All of those masks had melted together in his head to fuel an unstoppable wave of raw fury so he couldn’t play the victim anymore.

He wrenched his arm out of Helen’s grip with a violent snap to brush past his cousin and stormed down the porch steps "Alex! Wait! Please, talk to me!" Helen called out with a voice cracking as she took a step after him into the dark yard.

Alexander ignored her and kept his head down to keep walking while his heavy steps cut through the quiet street as he vanished into the night to leave the house and his past completely behind him.