Running From Death

2: The boy next door

I drop onto the seat holding the letter with a loss of words. Why the hell is Us? It's only 5.23 and I just got the s*it scared out of me. Opening the door I slowly walk down the stairs; the creaks setting the mood even more. Just as I finish my decent I stop. "Stop being stupid, Alex. It's probably a joke." I read the letter once again. "Okay, maybe not. If not I seriously cannot tell me parents either."

I have to stop talking to myself, I'm going insane. Just as I turn to retreat back to my room I hear faint whispers from my mother "Evan, we can't keep this from her forever". Me? "She is eighteen, she has to know!"

"Not, not yet. I just feel it will tear her up knowing it was her fault. Why can't we just hold onto our little girl for a little bit longer?" My mother sighs in defeat and that would be my question to scramble back to my new room.

****

My mind keeps shifting back to what my parents were discussing this morning. What was my fault? What did I do? Do I remember it? No, of course not. All my overwhelming questions made it hard to breathe. I creep back down the steps and slide out the back door.

Our backyard had a single maple tree, the green leaves liftng my mood a sliver. The grass was a lush dark green that made me want to walk barefoot. I walked over to the tree and started climbing.

I was about half way up when a nice gap held a view of everything behind our house. After a few minutes of enjoying myself I had heard yelling from the house directly behind ours. A fusterated teenager around my age walks out and runs his hand through his dark brown hair. He sits down so quickly you would've thought he fell.

I crawl to another branch to get a closers look. Oh dear, he is about to cry.

I'm going to regret this.

"Hey-um-maybe nows not a good time, but if you need someone to talk to I'm going to be in this tree for a short while." I finish with a sympathetic smile. We both exchange awkward glances and after a few more he starts to climb the fence. He stands at the base of the tree and looks up with a contorted face "Am I supposed to climb this?"

"I don't see why not."

He starts climbing and I retreat back to my original spot. I hear some fusterated grunts and then someone sit by me so I look over at him. His brown eyes bloodshot, my guess from crying.

"I'm Alex, welcome to my tree." I say extending my hand. He eyes it cautiously. "Lazarus." He shook my hand. "Is Alex short for anything?" When he asked this I smiled. "Yea, actually, Alexandra." His eyes got a happy appearance. There was a small hint of red in Lazarus' eyes giving it a beautiful color. When I noticed I was staring I cleared my throat "Do you want to talk about it? I understand if you don't, but you can."

"It's just stupid family stuff, it's going to end up alright but it's hard to stay sane."

"Is it alright if I know what is going on?" His eye widen and he throws his hands up as in defense. "No! No way in Hell would-could tell you!"

"Hey, it's fine. I'm okay with just a no." I said in my best joking voice; that actually freaked me out. "Alex, does your family do anything diffrent?"

"No, not really. Just move a lot."

"Hey! Same!" Lazarus starts laughing now.

After our short conversation I noticed he kept an extremely close eye on his house, or how it looked like he was chewing on his cheek. Also his hands kept twitching, I understand if it's because of a strange person sharing a tree with him, but I feel like it's not that reason. I follow his gaze towards his house and see a woman, assuming his mother, glaring right at me. She looked like she wanted to kill me. That's my que. "I should pro-"

"HOLY SH*T, DUCK!!!" I was cut short by Lazarus cursing and covering his head. Soon sounds of a monstrous bat filled the air, the screeching made my ears sting. Just as I was going to ask what that was I felt weight on the branch I was currently on. The sight would've made anyone sh*t bricks. The figure looked like black smoke, but at the same time looked solid. I slowly lower my arms and as I did my eyes grew at this hideous sight. It had the ugliest face I had ever seen; pitch black eyes and a jaw that hung down to it's chest. The creature was more than six feet tall with a skin and bone figure. The picture from Hell made me freeze. My eyes grew even wider with every heavy step it took towards me.

It was directly in front of me when I realized I was crying. The creature let out a horrid scream then it started to reach at me. That's when I lost all control. I freaked out started kicking in every direction and then I lost balance and felt myself fall.

The morning air wishing through my hair as I got closer to the ground. After I registered I was falling I started yelling. I may not have been high up, but this was going to hurt. Better than staying up there with whater the hell that was. When I hit the hard ground I layer on my back to see if it was still after me, when it wasn't I let out a groan. It disappeared. When I tried to stand a pain shot through my body. I just needed to skywatch for a bit.

I saw Lazarus climb down, not shaking. How? He ran over to me and picked me up and whispered "What ever I say just go with it". And he walked me towards my back door.

I was more than confused.