Alexander, the guy who could fool anyone. One would most likely never guess that Alexander is troubled, depressed, mildly schizophrenic, although he doesn't know for sure that he has schizophrenia, since he's able to tell the difference between his mind thoughts and reality. He doesn't know what he has. No one knows. He never tells anyone that something is bothering him. That something is upsetting him. That he feels alone.
        On a typical Saturday afternoon, Alexander would ride his grass-stained white bike downtown, do some window-shopping, and go into the local music store to see if anything interests him. But lately, nothing has interested him. He can't find fun in anything anymore. Maybe it's because he's developed insomnia and getting only an average of two hours of sleep a night. Maybe it's because he can only think about having something like schizophrenia. Maybe it's because the voices in his head are always having a conversation. No one knew for sure.
        Today, the 10th of July, the weather was average, just like any other day. Calm breeze whispering to people, the sun gently beating against everything, giving the air a nice warm feel to it. The clouds were gently flowing down the river above everyone, the birds were chirping happily, and the insects buzzing around the flowers.
        But today, the 10th day of July, the 2nd Saturday of the month, the 20th day of summer, Alexander was walking on the sidewalk instead of riding his bicycle. He didn't window-shop at his normal stops, walked past the music store he always shops, and had his head down, looking at the ground. Today, the 10th day of July, Alexander could no longer fool anyone. He couldn't hide the fact that something is bothering him. Something is upsetting him. That he feels alone in this world.
        Why? Why me? Why do the voices only talk to me? Alexander pondered.
        "Oh, wait. That's right, they don't. They just have conversations in my head and ignore me." The three people passing pause, and laugh at what Alexander had just said.
        I wonder what was so funny? The voices in his head started conversing once again. "Not again..." Alexander stated with a depressed sigh.
        "Make sure you take the third right, not the second," stated the first voice.
        "Add 1 cup of flour, 3 eggs, and a teaspoon of vegetable oil, and whip together," taught the second voice.
        "I'm telling you, Communism is the best way to go. It'll help out the majority of the people in this country," exclaimed the third voice.
        "No, anarchy is the best way to go. At least, temporarily. It'll give the country a chance to start from scratch." debated the fourth voice.
        "Well, either way, you need reform! And when in doubt, sacrifice. Sacrifice, Sacrifice, Sacrifice," boomed the fifth voice. Alexander stopped, dead in his tracks, when he heard the fifth voice.
        "...Sacrifice?" Alexander became worried. He just stood there, frozen like a statue in time. He stood in the middle of the sidewalk, trying to listen to the voices, trying to figure out what they were talking about, but the voices trailed off onto another conversation that confused Alexander even more.
        "So it's a left when the stop sign turns purple, then a right when I eat a pineapple?" stated the first voice.
        "No, you have to divide everything equally," retorted the second voice.
        "Are you sure? I mean, communism is good and all, but I don't see how that will help in Solitaire," inquired the third voice.
        "What was the recipe for that banana bread again?" questioned the fourth voice.
        Alexander just shook his head and continued walking down the street, acting as if that last conversation hadn't happened. He kept walking, kept thinking, not paying attention to the roads he was about to cross. But how could he pay attention? The voices in his head were crowding his thoughts, and he couldn't focus on anything else.
        Luckily, the road he crossed had no cars on it this time. He continued walking past the local bakery and candy store, not bothering to window-shop like his usual Saturday trips.
        "Why do these voices make sense, then don't, then do? I'm so confused!" Alexander mumbled. Again, people just shot him a weird look, laughed, and continued their routine. Alexander just ignored them, and continued walking along the cement of the sidewalk.
        "I wish these voices would disappear..."
        "And now for my next act, I shall make two two's turn into one four!" announced the first voice.
        "And I shall make that one four turn back into two two's!" continued the second voice.
        "And for the finale, I shall make those two two's turn into four one's!" finished the third voice.
        "Two, two, four...four, two, two..." pondered Alexander, "two, two, one, one, one, one...or would it be two, one, one, two, one, one?"
        "And I shall take all of those numbers and turn them into one!" boomed the fourth voice.
        "And that number shall be twenty-four!" exclaimed the fifth voice.
        "Twenty-four?" Alexander asked. "What the hell do these numbers mean? Where the hell are they coming from?" The voices didn't reply to his question, and ignored him like usual. "Dammit, they're ignoring me again." He sighed, and continued walking down the sidewalk, eventually arriving at the central park.
        Central park...I haven't been here in a while...Alexander studied the surroundings of central park. Nothing has changed, he thought. Nothing... Nothing. A word Alexander hated to hear or even think about, yet he would always think about it. Why did he hate it? It was because he feared that's all he would have in life. Nothing.
        "Nothing is something because having nothing means having something because that something is nothing," retorted the first voice.
        "But nothing is still nothing," the second voice counter-retorted.
        "But nothing is something, and he explained it," stated the third voice.
        "But nothing is still nothing. Even if it can be something, it's still nothing, just like she said," debated the fourth voice.
        The four voices continued debating their opinions until they realized that they were getting nowhere fairly quickly.
        "Wait a minute..." paused the third voice. "What about him?"
        "I remain neutral in this debate," declared the fifth voice, "But if you really want to know my opinion, nothing is nothing, but nothing is something. So both sides of this argument are valid and correct."
        "But how?" inquired the second voice.
        "It's like I just said, nothing is nothing, but something is nothing. It's like in math. Your answer is zero, which would be nothing, but since it's the result, it's something, so it's both something and nothing at the same time."
        "I'm so confused," complained the first voice, "But I don't really give a damn at this point."
        "And why not?" the third voice asked.
        "Because I need to make a cake!"
        "That reminds me...I still need to play a game of Spider Solitaire." stated the second voice.
        "Time for meditation," spoke the fifth voice. "Ohm....."
        "So...what's on TV?" asked the fourth voice.
        "There is no TV, but there is a television, and it's broken," answered the third voice.
        "They're so damn confusing!" exclaimed Alexander.
        "What's so damn confusing?" asked a lady that was walking in central park.
        "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell that. It's just that, well, never mind. I'm very sorry..."
        "Oh, it's alright. Take it easy, now." The lady continued walking down the path, and Alexander let out a sigh.
        "Why me?" He looked at the ground, hoping for an answer, or at least something from the voices, like usual.
        No answer.
        "Strange..." He looked around, slightly confused. "I think this day is growing long..."
        Letting out a sigh of depression, Alexander got up and started walking back through town, but the silence of the voices really bothered him. He didn't know what to think of it, and it kept bothering him. He walked past the bakery again, not stopping to window-shop, like the last time he walked by it. He started to cross the road that he had not bothered to look for oncoming cars before, but now he decided it would be a good idea. After all, the voices aren't speaking anymore.
        No cars, again.
        "I thought there would have been cars at this time of day, especially on a Saturday during the summer." He shrugged his shoulders, and continued walking. "Maybe browsing music will help me..." Alexander stepped into the local music store, and started browsing the vinyls in back.
        "Good afternoon," spoke Myles, the store owner. "Do you need help with anything today?"
        "No thanks, just browsing today."
        "Okay, just ring if you need any help." Myles went back to counter to clean up the cash register area a bit. Alexander continued browsing.
        Hmmm...Nineteen ninety-five for Intercontinental Music Lab's Superheroes of Science album. Not bad...I think I'll get it...Alexander pulled out his wallet and looked inside. Damn. Only ten dollars. Dammit, looks like I'll have to come back.
        "Jai Guru Deva!" exclaimed voice number one.
        "Great, they're back..." mumbled Alexander.
        "Music is a good thing, am I right?" boasted voice number two.
        "Yeah, especially when you're fixing a hole to stop your mind from wandering," stated the third voice.
        "Well, that may be so, but nothing's gonna change my world," retorted the fourth voice.
        "But we're all knuckledusters and we're caught in a relapse now," claimed voice number five.
        "I'd better go before I lose it again." Alexander put down the album he was holding and calmly left the store. "Where do I go from here?" He looked around, and decided to walk towards home.
        Walking home, the voices continued crowding Alexander's thoughts again, and he couldn't focus on anything. He crossed the second street without paying attention, but lady luck was on his side again for there were no cars. He paid no attention to that fact.
        "These voices will ruin my life," Alexander complained, "and be the death of me." Alexander continued walking down the street in the direction of his house.
        "Nothing's gonna change my world," chimed the five voices in his head, "Nothing's gonna change my world."
        Actually listening to the voices, Alexander repeated the phrase the voices sang.
        "Nothing's gonna change my world..." He stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and looked up at the partly cloudy sky, and just stared at the clouds. "Nothing..." He shook his head and continued walking. "Not going to let that happen again."
        Alexander walked across the third road, not paying attention to oncoming traffic. An Aptera car was sitting at the stop sign, waiting to go when Alexander crossed the street, and started to roll forward before the driver noticed that Alexander was in the crosswalk.
        The driver honked his horn. "Watch where you're going, pal!" the driver shouted angrily. Alexander paid no attention to him and continued on his way. He wasn't looking where he was going and wasn't paying attention to his surroundings. But then again, how could he? The voices were getting to him even more so than usual.
        The voices will be the death of me, his words echoed in his head. The death of me...death of me...death...The words just bounced around his mind, along with the voices.
        "What the hell am I going to do?" Alexander mumbled. He continued walking along the long and winding road of a sidewalk. He finally reached the final crosswalk before the straight shot home, but he wasn't paying attention, just like the other three times.
        But this time is slightly different. Right before entering the crosswalk, the voices went silent. Silence, something Alexander hasn't heard in the longest while. This blinded even more from his surroundings. He walked into the crosswalk, trying to figure out why the voices are gone, why they are silent.
        Then he looked down the cross street.
        A gold G6, driving down the road, dangerously close to Alexander. He just froze. He couldn't move, he couldn't evade the oncoming car. He could just stare at the oncoming car.
        Then it all went black.
        He couldn't remember what happened after that, and he doesn't know how he ended up in the hospital, but he saw two of his friends, Michelle and George, sitting in the visitor's chairs, looking down towards the floor.
        "If I hadn't been messing with the radio, this wouldn't have happened," complained Michelle. "It's all my fault."
        "But you wouldn't have been messing with the radio if I hadn't kept changing the channels on you, and we wouldn't be here with Alexander. It's my fault."
        Alexander just laid on the bed, silent, trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together. How did he end up on the hospital? Why was he in the hospital? What are his friends here? What are they talking about? How long has this been going on? He didn't know, and he would have to wait to figure it out, for his body can't stay awake anymore. He falls into a coma-like slumber.
        Michelle started crying, and hugged George. "What if he doesn't make it?"
        "He'll make it, I promise..."
        "I hope he does, I really, really, hope he does." Michelle continued crying in George's arms. George gently rubbed her back and stared at Alexander, who was laying there, motionlessly.
        A couple of hours later, after Michelle and George had left, Alexander started to awaken from his comatose slumber. His eyes half-open, he rolled his head around to examine his surroundings.
        "Where...where am I?" he mumbled. He looked around some more and realized that he was alone. "I guess I'm alone..."
        "Nah, you're never alone," chimed a familiar voice. Alexander's eyes widened a little.
        "No. No, it can't be. I thought you were gone!" he cried.
        "We never left," said another familiar voice.
        "So how could we have been gone?" inquired yet another familiar voice.
        "But you were silent!" exclaimed Alexander.
        "Just because we went silent doesn't mean we left," spoke a fourth familiar voice.
        "We'll always be with you, Alexander," stated a familiar and fifth voice.
        "Why me?" Alexander questioned.
        "Why not?" asked the third voice.
        "Nothing's gonna change your world," quoted the first voice.
        "But I almost died!" Alexander cried out.
        "But your world wouldn't have changed," explained the fourth voice.
        Alexander just sighed. "Whatever, I don't really care, I'm just thankful I'm alive."
        "Jai Guru Deva! Jai Guru Deva!" celebrated the fifth voice.
        "What the hell does that even mean?" asked Alexander.
        "Hail the divine Guru," commented the second voice.
        "Well then, I don't know what to say to that, then," replied Alexander.
        "That's because you're a knuckleduster and you're caught in a relapse now," responded the first voice.
        Alexander opened his mouth to say something, but closed it and shook his head. "I won't ask." He closed his eyes again, but decided not to try and sleep. "Tomorrow never knows."
        "Life flows within you and without you," stated the third voice.
        "You don't say," spoke Alexander.
        "Hey, Alexander," stated the fourth voice.
        "Yeah?"
        "Turn off your mind," said the first voice.
        "Relax," continued the second voice.
        "And float down stream," stated the third voice.
        "It is not dying," responded the fourth voice.
        "It is not dying," echoed the fifth voice.
        Alexander thought about what the five voices had said, and thought some more. He smirked. "Alright. I'll listen to you, the voices five, and I shall turn off my mind."
        A few minutes passed and there was silence. Silence. Something golden to Alexander.
        A few more minutes passed. Silence.
        Alexander opened his eyes, and just stared blankly at the ceiling. "What just happened?" There was no response.
        "The voices five?"
        Silence.
        "Did I...Did I just do what I thought was impossible?"
        Again, there was no response, only silence.
        Alexander sighed a sigh of relief.
        "Well, I guess I won't be hearing voices anymore." He fell asleep calmly on his hospital bed, smiling. He was going to have a good night's rest after such a long day.
        "But we can't have happy endings, now can we?" chimed the first voice.
        Alexander opened his eyes in surprise. "What?"
        "Yeah. Happy endings are overrated," called the second voice.
        "I agree," responded the third voice.
        "Of course," replied the fourth voice.
        "The voices five have returned!" exclaimed the fifth voice.
        "God. Damn. VOICES!!" cried Alexander.
        "And the voices five are here to stay!" chanted all five voices.
        "It's going to be a long night..." complained Alexander, "and the sun is still out."