Dead But Breathing

When Alex woke up again, he was sat on the floor slumped against a wall in a room he recognised. He audibly groaned when he realised where he was; Matt’s house or what he assumed was Matt’s house, as this was where Matt had brought him last time they had run into each other. Although it didn’t look much like a house that someone actually lived in, the room Alex was it now had no furniture in it, the wooden floors where completely empty and the wallpaper was starting to peel off the walls. Alex stretched his arms and rolled his kneck before glancing around, realising that Matt wasn’t even in the room at all. Alex got to his feel and stumbled in the direction of an open door at the end of the room. When he looked inside, he noticed Matt sat at a table in what looked like a kitchen. He had his hands wrapped around a cup of thick crimson liquid, and glanced up when he heard Alex enter the room.
“You’re finally awake then” Matt said, raising an eyebrow as he took a sip of the liquid.

“Well I’m sorry for being knocked out” Alex uttered, “By the way, please stop doing that, it hurts”

“Yeah, well I didn’t really have a choice did I, after what you almost did at that girls’ house” Matt pointed out,

“Where’s Max?” Alex asked, suddenly realising that Max wasn’t in the house with them.

“I took him back to the children’s home, he won’t remember anything, don’t worry” Matt shrugged “Sit down for god’s sake” Alex shrugged and pulled out a chair next to Matt at the table, sitting down slowly. As soon as he sat down at the table, he could smell the stuff Matt was drinking; it was so strong it made Alex’s throat burn and his nose wrinkle up.

“What is that?” Alex asked, gesturing towards the cup.

“Blood” Matt stated, before sipping it a little. Alex felt his stomach churn, and had to try and stop himself from throwing up; not just at the fact that it was blood in the cup, but also at that fact that it smelt so fucking good.

“Alex, calm down” Matt said, noticing the way Alex tensed up and grabbed his stomach, the colour draining from his face. Alex lost it then; all the anger he had held up inside him finally bursting free.
“Matt, how the FUCK can I be calm? You turned me into a fucking vampire, a monster, I tried to drink my fucking best friends blood, and now im finding the smell of that,” Alex gestured towards the cup with disgust “appealing.”

Alex shouted at Matt, who just sat there, staring at Alex and Alex though he could actually see guilt and regret on Matts face, like he actually felt bad.

“Im sorry Alex” Matt whispered, softly, “I honestly am, really sorry, I just didn’t know what do do, I didn’t want to lose you” Alex was confused, why did Matt even care about him so much?

“What?” Alex enquired, he was still angry but he wanted to understand what Matt meant.

“I’ve been following you for ages Alex, even when you were with your old foster parents. I saw something in you that I haven’t seen in any of the other people the vampires I run with have been after, You’re completely innocent, completely obliviant, and I honestly didn’t want to take that away from you. But you have no idea how much I hate running with these vampires Alex, and I would have hated myself if I had let them kill you, because you don’t deserve to die. Call me selfish if you want, but I don’t care, I wanted to keep you for myself, I wanted to turn you so I can’t get away from them, so I could take you with me and we could go somewhere far away from here. Sometimes, as a vampire, you forget that other people actually have feeling sometimes, its just a part of it, and I never meant to hurt you Alex, but I just need you so badly.”

When Matt was done explaining, Alex just stared at him wide eyed, trying to take in what he had said.

“I.. I-“ Alex started, but he couldn’t find words, he didn’t know what to think. A small part of him actually felt sorry for Matt, Alex knew what it felt like to be alone surrounded by people you hate, it was horrible.

“Look, Alex, this isn’t all as bad as it seems. I can help you, I can help you through your transition between human and vampire, I can help you survive without hurting people, I can help you try and build a bit of a life for yourself somewhere new” Matt rushed through his words, trying to convince Alex.

“But I don’t want to be a vampire Matt” Alex muttered. Almost in audibly,

“Neither does I, Alex, but there’s nothing you can do now. You can either run away and have to deal with this on your own, and it will be painful, and you will end up hurting people you care about, or you can stay with me, and I’ll help you through it, I promise”

Alex shook his head and closed his eyes, “Ive just found people that actually accept me, who want to talk to me, I don’t want to have to leave them again.”

“Please Alex, I cant do this on my own” Matt pleaded, looking up at Alex with big sad eyes, “I’ve been on my own for too long, and I know you have too.”

Alex sighed. He knew he didn’t really have a choice. He didn’t want to be a vampire, he didn’t want to have to do any of this, he wanted to go back to the childrens home and argue with Josh and play guitar with Max and text Lisa, but he couldn’t. There was nothing he could do.

“I guess I don’t really have a choice, do I” Alex muttered, trying to force a smile. Matt nodded, sadly.

“We need to get away from here Alex, before the others find you. The next few days will be hard, painfull, but I know you can get through it and then things will be ok, I promise. Please trust me” Matt explained, sighing as he pushed his empty cup away from him. Alex nodded, even though he didn’t fully understand what Matt meant about the next few days being ‘painful’

“Where are we going?” Alex asked.

“America” Matt stated, and Alex widened his eyes, “Its where I used to live, I know people there, I guess you could say I have friends there, human friends.” Matt explained, “Its far away and the others won’t know,”

“What about all my things?” Alex asked.

“Don’t worry, I can buy you clothes and stuff, it’s not safe for you to go back now,”

Alex nodded, even though the prospect of going somewhere as far away as America with Matt without any personal belongings scared him a bit.

“We need to go now, I have plane tickets, I’ve had them for ages, I knew that even if you didn’t come with me I would go back there alone” Alex nodded, he didn’t really have anything to say. Matt stood up and made his way to the door.

“Let’s go, I’ll explain more on the way” And they both headed out of the door and round the back of the house where there was a white van sat on a small driveway. They both got in and Matt started driving, down the street and towards the airport.