Friends with Death

dont be afraid of death

The house was quiet as far as Elena knew when she went to sleep the night before right after her shower. She turned in her bed, the sheets clinging to her body. Her ears reacting to low noises coming from somewhere in the house. She tossed and turned again, awakening from her slumber. The door to her bedroom was left open ajar, she sat up, staring at the door uneasily for a moment. Elena slowly laid back down, turning onto her stomach and shutting her eyes trying to go back to sleep.

A towel rustled by movement in her bathroom. A dark-skinned man stood in the doorway, staring at Elena as she lightly slept. Any noise would wake her up. She gasped awake, jolting out of bed, once again, when she heard a door slamming shut loudly.

Elena sat up in her bed, the man disappeared from his stance in the bathroom. She pushed herself to the side of the bed and then stood up and slowly walked across her bedroom, her bare feet cooling at the touch of the chocolate brown wooden flooring. Elena walked to her door and out onto the landing, she looks around the landing for anything suspicious and quietly approaches Jeremy's room. She peered in through his barely open bedroom door.

Her eyes widened as she heard a sharp noise behind her. She spins around, letting out a gasp as she came face to face with a half-naked Alaric but thankfully he was wearing boxers or this could have ended in much needed therapy sessions. He also looked startled by Elena's unexpected appearance on the landing.

Alaric coughed trying to cover up the awkwardness they were both feeling. "Elena. Ahem." He lowered the bowl of ice cream he was holding towards his nether regions, covering them up.

"I heard something." Elena said, feeling very uncomfortable.

Alaric chuckled nervously as Elena avoided his gaze, still quite embarrassed. Jenna joined them on the landing, wearing his button up shit loosely. She ran her fingers through her hair, embarrassed as well. "That was us. I'm sorry."

In Elena's bedroom, the man pulled out a handkerchief and collected strands of her hairs from her hair brush. Alaric smiled, still full of awkwardness. "We didn't think anyone else was up." He tried to explain their actions to the young girl.

"But here you are." Jenna continued sheepishly.

Alaric looked down at the bowl of ice cream and then back at Elena. "We were just-" The two were trying the explain the situation to Elena but are completely failing in their attempts.

Alaric sighed and held out the bowl of ice cream to Elena. "Chunky monkey?" He offered. The man in Elena's room grabbed some of her jewellery and placing in it the same handkerchief that held loose strands of her hair, and shoved into the inside pocket of his jacket.

The man listened to the conversation that the three of them were having outside Elena's bedroom on the landing. "Well...I'm going to go." He chuckles and walked past Elena, and headed into Jenna's bedroom, shutting the door behind him. She started to walk back towards her room and Jenna, still embarrassed, walking up the remainder of the stairs.

"I'm really, really sorry." Jenna said.

Elena turned around to her aunt before she reached her bedroom. "It's okay, Jenna, don't worry about it."

"I know he's been staying over a lot. Are you – are you sure it's okay?" Jenna asked with her eyebrows curling up as concern for approval came into view.

She smiled. "It's seems like things are good."

"They're extremely good." Jenna said while smiling dreamily.

Elena was happy that Jenna was happy, that's all she ever wanted. "Then I'm extremely okay with it."

The man was still in Elena's bedroom, he grabbed a picture frame that held a photo of Elena in her old cheerleading uniform and shoved it in his jacket quickly – he didn't have much time left. He leaves the room quickly and quietly hid in her bathroom as Elena and Jenna smile at each other before leaving to go to their respective bedrooms. She climbed back into her bed.