BEING ALIVE

OPEN WINDOW(UNLOCKED DOOR)

While Leo sat on the couch, staring into space, Foggy Nelson sat in an armchair with a manila folder, a pen, and a highlighter. Every so often, he'd glance up to ensure the wayward teen hadn't disappeared. Though into the small hours of the night, the young man stayed deadly still. At around 1 AM, Foggy raised an eyebrow and finally spoke. "Planning an escape?"

"Don't need to," Leo said without looking up. "I'm closer to the window than you are."

"Then what have you been thinking about for the past four hours?"

Leo shrugged. "Just wondering how boring your life must be to take up a babysitting gig."

"Y'know, I should've expected the trademark teenage cruelty," Foggy said. "It's not all bad though, brings me right back to high school." Leo didn't say anything else, he just nodded and resumed staring at the floor. "Seriously though, are you okay? Should I be worried?"

"No. I'm fine, just... working something out in my head, I guess." Leo said, fidgeting with his hands and bouncing his left leg up and down. For a moment there was no sound except the soft tapping of a sneaker on wood.

"Need any help?" The teenage boy didn't say anything. "Look, I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I'm pretty smart."

Finally, he sighed and sat up straight, looking Foggy in the eyes. "I need to figure out what's wrong with me. And then I need to fix it, cause I... Madeline, my sister, she's thirteen. I'm all she has. I can't take care of her like this, I- I'm dangerous." The lawyer didn't say anything, just nodded slowly. "So, to figure this shit out, I need a doctor, but I can't go to a hospital because I'm on the run from some ancient death cult. Therefore, I just need to find someone really fucking smart. Someone on a medical track, preparing to study biology and chemical engineering."

"Sounds like you've got someone in mind already."

"I do. The problem is, not only does he think I'm dead, but if I let him into all of this shit, I don't know if he's gonna walk out. Or, I don't know if he's gonna wanna walk out, at least."

Foggy scoffed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"He's kind of... inquisitive. Like, dangerously inquisitive." Leo said, adjusting his position on the couch and ultimately crossing his legs. "I mean, I'm surprised he hasn't gone the mad scientist route yet. He'd be pretty good at it."

"Sounds like quite the character," The lawyer finally closed the manilla folder. "Wanna call him?"

Leo looked at him, slightly surprised. "I- really?"

"Yeah, if you think he'll help fix this whole mess so I don't have to babysit again, go ahead," Foggy took his cell phone out of his pocket and tossed it to the young man.

Leo caught it with one hand and immediately dialed the number. He wasn't sure how he remembered it like it was etched into his brain, but he did. He suspected it was like one of those sequences that if you repeated them enough, they'd never leave. Like the alphabet. It rang for a moment before he heard a voice on the other side.

"Hello?"

Leo grinned. "Peter?"

There was a long pause. "Who is this?"

"It's me, it's Leo." He said. "Leo Pryor."

"That's not... I don't know who this is, but that's not possible."

"Peter, you have to-"

Suddenly gunshots and a loud voice that sounded like a subway announcement could be heard from the other end of the call. "Shit," Peter muttered before hanging up the phone.