Death's Companion

Chapter 3

He sulked on the corner of the white room. His sandy hair framed his pale face, and his eyes were surrounded by black circles. The redness on his amber eyes and nose were a signal he had been crying for a long time. The guy played with a razor he had managed to sneak in to the mental hospital. It was as if he was playing hot potato with himself. He passed it from his left hand to his right hand. In occasions he moved it dangerously close to his wrist in a vertical way but then pulled it away almost as soon as he put it. His wrists already had a few scars, but nothing to deep. Some were fresh, some were old. He bit his lip and moved the rusty razor near his wrist applying some pressure when he noticed something across the room. The sandy haired boy looked from the corner of his eye to meet a girl around her early twenties sitting on his bed with her legs crossed. Her brown mane was slightly tousled and her piercing golden eyes were hidden behind black rimmed glasses. He looked back at his razor and then back at her, trying to dissimulate. She didn't look like a patient. She wore a long black coat and skinny jeans. She tapped her knee high combat boot's heel against the flooring showing some desperation. Was it one of his hallucinations? He shook his head and looked down once again. "What do you say...vertical or horizontal?" He asked her trying to decide a side. She exalted herself a bit and her eyes widened.

"You can see me?" She asked in stupefaction. He chuckled awkwardly still not turning to her. "I'm crazy not blind." He said acknowledging this wasn't some illusion. "I didn't hear you come in." He stated. "The nurses didn't say you would come. Felix is in some therapy if you came to visit him." he told her believing she was related to his roommate. She raised an eyebrow looking at how his hand trembled as he held the razor. "You seem familiar. What's your name?" She asked looking at her cellphone's screen, showing no interest in the fact he was just about to commit bloody suicide. He put the razor away for a second and looked at her inquisitively. Her eyes were strange; they were like the ones a cat would own. "Noah Harrison, you?" She nodded confirmating this was him.

"Arina Jones." She said giving him a fake last name. She punctuated the last word by shutting her maroon phone. He looked at her with funny eyes. It was odd to see someone still own such an old model. Even if it didn't have a brand, it looked like a Sony Ericsson, the one that had play buttons on the front. She walked towards the boy and sat down beside him. She eyed the razor showing a glint of interest now and then traced upward to his scars. He hid them under his sleeves and looked at her ashamed. He knew what she was thinking. It was disgusting. She eyed the pocket watch she kept in her coat and then looked back at him. "So why are you doing this?" She asked noticing there was plenty of time. He looked down not able to meet her gaze and kept silent. "Come on tell." She insisted curiously. Noah felt uncomfortable about talking to a stranger. In fact, he felt uncomfortable near anyone. But this individual just made him shiver.

"Life." He answered clean and simple. Arina nodded a bit in understandment and then slouched back on her shoulders. They remained silent making Arina feel pity for him. He looked so confused and depressed. Even though she was pretty much Death's missionary...it was still hard. Specially this time which was her first case of 'suicide'. Arina peeked at him finding a necklace made of beads. "Nice necklace." She said noticing the many colors it had. He pulled it a bit forgetting he was still wearing that detail and let out an oh in acknowledgement.

"Yeah, it...my younger brother gave it to me when he was small. He's now fourteen." He said lowly. For a moment Arina stayed in shock remembering she once had an elder one to whom she handed gifts of such kind. Once more she eyed the razor with a tad of rage.

"You are taking your life away when you have a little brother who loves you?" She asked rhetorically with disgust rising on her tone. He turned to her now making the question to himself. Arina looked away and scoffed in disapproval. "Fucking idiot." She spat in anger.