Confessions of a Teenage Zombie

He pulled away after a good three minutes. He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and sniffled.

“So are you hanging out in a cemetery or something?” he asked. “I’m surprised you’re not trying to eat people right now.”

“Sometimes I want to, but the guy who’s taking care of me says I can’t, and that I should try and control my urge,” I explained. Brent bit his bottom lip, almost as if he wanted to start laughing. “I live in a house with a few other… special people.”

“Really?” Brent sounded intrigued, not that I was surprised. The guy’s parents lived and breathed supernatural; it was only natural that Brent would not only believe me, but find this interesting. He looked around before leaning in close to me. “Can I see where you live?”

“Maybe,” I said. I wondered if Art would mind me telling someone. He kind of made it seem like he wanted to keep this all hush-hush. I’m sure people would question him basically keeping the undead in his place. Although Brent wasn’t someone who would tell anyone. I guess it wouldn't be as bad as I thought it would just a few minutes ago. “Okay. Just promise you won’t tell anyone about me or my housemates, okay?”

“Your secret’s safe, Brendon.” Brent smiled as we both got up. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders as we made our way back to my house. He smiled at me the whole time, which I guess made sense; I was basically his only friend. Sure, he was also friend’s with Jon, but it’s not like Jon would even know him if it weren’t for me.

We got to my place ten minutes later, and I opened the door. I heard sobbing from the living room, and I rolled my eyes before I could even think of doing anything else. Brent let go of me and looked around.

“Is someone crying?” he whispered. I slowly nodded my head, leading him into the living room. Ryan was on the couch, staring at the television, which was off. I guess he was sad he couldn't watch TV or something. He turned to me, frowning. He then looked at Brent, and suddenly his expression changed. His eyes widened and he quickly jumped behind the couch.

“Ryan, it’s okay!” I walked to the couch, leaning over it to look at him. He looked up at me. “He’s my friend; he believes in this weird dead shit.”

“Art will be really mad,” Ryan mumbled. I stared at him, contemplating just leaving the room and showing Brent the rest of the house. I sighed instead. “I mean it; he said no one can know, remember?”

“I know, but Brent is used to this kind of stuff. He won’t tell anyone,” I explained. Brent walked over to me, stopping next to where I was. He looked down at Ryan, cocking his head a bit.

“You a ghost?” he inquired. Ryan simply stared at him. I wondered if maybe Brent and Ryan ever met at all; maybe they both got cokes at the corner store on the same day or something.

Although if Brent had known Ryan, I probably would’ve met him before.

“Yeah,” Ryan mumbled. He went through the couch and left the room. Brent turned to me.

“He’s angst-ridden.” I shrugged my shoulders. Brent furrowed his eyebrows. “I have no idea what his deal is, and I know close to nothing about him. He likes writing, and he’s a drama queen.”

“That’s kind of mean,” Brent said.

“You haven’t lived with the guy at all. Anything can set off a full blown crying fit,” I explained. I sighed. “So, wanna see my room? Ooh, and I can introduce you to my vampire friend!”

“A cardboard cut-out of Edward Cullen does not constitute as a friend,” Brent mumbled. I slapped his arm before leading him out of the living room and up the stairs. I stopped when I saw Ryan and Art talking in the hallway.

“Brendon,” Art called. I stared at him, wondering how decent my chances were at running downstairs and hiding. Yes, I was a coward. “You have a friend over.”

“I know you said we shouldn’t. Sorry.” I actually wanted to use some super hip, super cool sarcastic response, but I didn’t want to get Art upset. The quiet ones are usually scary when you catch them on their bad side. I turned to Ryan. I felt kind of betrayed. Did he just tattle on me?

“I asked if he could show me where he was living now.” Brent pushed past me and walked over to Art. Art looked up at him and smiled. “Ryan said something about you not wanting outsiders here, but I just want to know that my friend is doing okay.”

“All right.” Art sounded so calm. “But you know if anyone finds out, you’re dead?”

I gulped as Art walked past me and down the stairs, laughing. I went up the rest of the stairs, grabbing Brent’s arm to drag him into my room. If I wanted to be especially bratty, I could’ve glared at Ryan, but I didn’t.

I didn’t want to deal with his wailing.

“He seems nice, was that Art?” Brent questioned when we got to my room. I nodded my head and shut the door. “He was cute, too. Also, kinda small. Ryan seemed afraid of him. He doesn’t seem scary at all.”

“Ryan’s afraid of lint on the wrong day,” I said, sitting down on my bed. Brent sat across from me. “But besides that, Art is, I’m assuming, scary when he’s mad.”

“Hulk smash!” Brent punched my comforter before laughing. I giggled nervously, which sounded horrendous. When guys giggle, it just sounds wrong. “Brendon, never giggle again.”

“I know it sounds weird. I was just thinking about it,” I mumbled. There was an awkward silence for a few minutes. “I saw Jon yesterday; he works at Starbucks now.”

“Yeah, I talk to him there sometimes when I get coffee before going to school,” Brent replied. He twitched an eyebrow before looking at me. “Wait, how did he react?”

“He stared at me. I pretended I was just some guy who had no idea why he was acting so weird,” I explained. “I left pretty soon after; seeing Jon freaked me out for some reason. The fact that he was pointing me out to someone, I'm assuming a friend of his, was kind of weird.”

“He talks about you a lot; he was probably just pointing out that there was a customer that looked just like you.” Brent scratched his neck. “Either that, or maybe he thought you were cute.”

“Well, I am a looker,” I ran my fingers through my hair and batted my eyelashes. Brent rolled his eyes and slapped my hand playfully.

He then screamed and passed out when my fourth finger fell off.