The wanted murderer L.S.

Death By A Friend.

Louis sat on the picnic tables outside of his school, eating a sandwich with a variety of fillings, none of which were acceptable together.

Liam was somewhere in the carpark opposite, trying desperately to parallel park his car into a gap too small for it. Louis had told him before that he'd been banned from the property since he himself was a student, but that only caused Liam to feel a need for rebellion. He now spent a large amount of time outside the gates, smoking and doing all of the things that had got him banned for life in the first place. The students were quite afraid of him and his friends, and Louis had definitely heard false rumours about his brother, one of which was that he was after the school girls. He wasn't, and in fact, had his own girlfriend who happened to be older than him by two years.

Zayn, however —who st by Louis' side—was also banned from the premises for life, and encouraged strongly by the police to not step foot on the street itself.

The latter had no interest in children certainly, much like Liam, but he had interests in many other things which he didn't like to mention yet everyone knew about nonetheless. He'd been through an interesting sexual endeavour during his school years-one that had cut him off from his family-and that was where the matter was left.

"I haven't slept.. since Tuesday." Zayn said, peering out to the void while he smoked his blunt. "That's quite a while ago."

"Yeah that's.. A really long time ago." Louis replied,
"Why not?"

"Tough world. No time to sleep. If you sleep, you die.

"I don't. Once, I slept for fourteen hours."

Zayn turned to smile at Louis before looking at the ground in a dejected manner. "Lucky bastard."

There was a short silence, briefly interrupted by Liam yelling from his car window that he was going to find elsewhere to park. After a moment where the on-growing silence began to weigh on them, Louis said,

"Why do you die if you sleep? If you stay awake too long, you die as well."

"Mn." Zayn said mournfully, "Given the options, I'd prefer the slow death of sleep-deprivation, rather than the alternative."

"Which is?

"Death by a friend."

Louis waited for the next part of the conversation, but no more came. He opened his mouth to speak, closed it again, re-played the sentence in his mind a few times, and finally said, "Huh?"

"I have this friend, you'd get along quite well." Zayn said. Louis had observed that sleep-deprived people had a tendency to stare into nothingness, which Zayn was doing, but he wasn't out of it. Louis could feel that he was stuck in some cold and vivid memory, and couldn't snap himself out of it.

"This friend," the man continued, "he's a good man. A bit misunderstood, like you, a bit eccentric; did ballet once. Told me he wanted to be a poet..
He grew up and got himself into big trouble. He's made a name for himself, that's for sure."

Louis looked at Zayn. There was something about what Zayn was saying that sparked something in him. A tiny flame, and it burned a little.

"Why.. So why will he kill you? Good people don't kill." Louis said,

"Good people can hold a gun just like a bad person can. It's who they point it at that makes the difference."

"And would he point it at you? You haven't done anything." Louis said, "Unless you have. You're a bit sus' sometimes. I wouldn't be surprised if you murdered someone."

Zayn's face turned to Louis sharply before relaxing and going back to the ground.

"That's why I'm awake. If I go to sleep-as much as I want to—I'll get killed by my friend."