Running From Death

5: Helping

"Lazarus, what are you talking about?" His eyes snapped to mine and his pupils dilated as he stared at me. "What are you looking at? Did I grow a third eye? Tell me what just happend and why are you in my room?!" I said more stern.

He opened and closed his mouth multiple times. His face contorted in pain and his eyes shifts to his bleeding arm. It's like he forgot to talk all he did was raise his arm asking silently for help. I freaked out remembering that he had sliced his arm; I jump up and run for a bath towel.

As I enter the restroom I hear faint sobs from my room. Grabbing a towel quickly I run back into my bedroom to assist Lazarus. When I re-enter he had rapped his unharmed arm around his knees and was crying. I sit in front of him and press the towel firmly on his arm. "I'm going to call for help, okay?" I ask. His head frantically shakes from side to side. "Well, you need to talk to me. I don't know how to help this." Referring to his bloody arm "Lazarus, I'm being serious here. This is a seriously injury and-I-but-" my stuttering had been cut off my a pressure around my upper body. It took a second to realize he was hugging me. Flashes from my nightmares had made its way through my head. I quickly pulled away.

"You need to say something!"

"I-you-ah" He gave up as soon as he started. Looking at me he breathed the word "can't". My heart hurt for him. I pick up my phone and start dialing 911. "No, no, no. Please no!" He says quickly and takes my phone from me. My face starts to shift to confusion when he tries to speak again.

"It hurts. I only want you to help me, please."

"And I want you to tell me what is going on".

We are sitting across from each other only a few feet away. Lazarus lowers his head to lay it on my shoulder. He starts to cry harder than before. "I'm scared!" Lazarus says in between sobs. I don't know what to do. I settle to hug him despite my dream I had earlier.

We spent at least fifteen minutes in this position. I'm afraid to move because I believe he has fallen asleep. I take this time to study his breathing. It's slow and deep, inhaling every seven seconds. I count aloud when he inhales. "Alex?" His sudden word catches me off guard and I jump. "Yeah? Everything alright?"

"Thank you, for helping me. I don't know what came over me. I-"

"You what?"

"I'm sorry, for coming in your house. Making you help me. I should've just left." I could hear the guilt in his voice and it only made me more confused. "Lazarus. How did you end up in my house, let alone my room?" His eyes widened and I thought they were going to pop out of his head. "Alex, I told you I don't know "

"What was your point of view in all of this?" I'm eager for an answer. "It's not easy to explain and I'm going to sound crazy!" My silence encouraging him to go on. "Well, I was in my house. Normal things that a kid like me would do. Someone came into my room and dragged me into a room and from there I lost control of my body." I studied how his eyes moved frantically over my dark room. His hands twitching every other word. The sweat forming over his brows.

"When you're not going to lie to me you can tell me. If all you're going to do is lie, I don't want to hear it." I say flatly. My biggest pet peeve is when people lie to me, expecially bad liers. He gaped at my flat expression, I'm not going to fake that I believe him. Lazarus lifts his head to look at me.

"You don't believe me? I think you should rethink that. Alex, you wouldn't survive one day in my shoes. My life is an off-brand version of Hell. Let me tell you one thing; Hell doesn't like you specifically." Lazarus quickly shuts his mouth like he said something he wasn't supposed to. He scrambled to a standing position and held his hands up in defense. "Forget I said that, I never said that." I stood to match him. "Hell doesn't like me in particular, huh? Tell me something then. Why bees?"

"It's wasn't bees, it just would be easier to say it was bees." He looked like he wanted to say something else. "And....." I urge him on.

"Death is after you."