Dead But Breathing

“Alex wait!” Max shouted as he reached Alex. Alex didn’t turn around, he just swung the front door open and left the house, leaving Max to slam the door behind them as he made his way down the street, Max following silently behind.

“Alex” Max called after Alex as they both rushed down the street, Max desperately trying to keep up. Alex didn’t want Max to catch up with him, he didn’t want Max to see him cry. He quickly blinked away the tears before slowing down a little, allowing and breathless Max to catch up with him.

“Im sorry” Alex said, sighing slightly and turning to face Max.

“Why are you sorry?” Max questioned, “You stood up for me Alex, im gratefull, not angry.” Alex shook his head as they carried on walking.

“I shouldn’t have pushed Josh” Alex said, still shaking his head, “I shouldn’t have been able to push Josh” Max looked at him questioningly.

“What do you mean?” He asked.

“I-I” Alex started, he couldn’t tell Max the truth, he didn’t even really know what was going on himself yet, “Hes just a lot bigger and stronger than me,” Alex shrugged, looking down at his shoes.
“He may be bigger, but I don’t think he’s stronger,” Max winked and smiled at Alex, “Anyway, where are we going?” Alex smiled at that before they turned the corner.

“Bus stop” He explained, “I have a friend to see, Lisa, you can meet her too, she’s great”

“A girlfriend?” Max winked and elbowed Alex in the rib slightly. Alex let out a small laugh and shook his head.

“No, just a friend” He said, and Max shrugged.

“Whatever you say Alex” He laughed, and they stopped at the bus stop they had reached and sat down on the cold, uncomfortable plastic chairs to wait for the bus to arrive.

“Hey! It’s true, if I had a girlfriend I would be telling you all about it dude.” Alex argued.

“When was your last relationship, Alex?” Max asked out of curiosity. Alex shrugged and looked at his shoes, his feet kicking a small stone around on the floor.

“Long time ago” Alex stated, but Max continued to glare at him, “Ok, ok, I guess you could say I’ve never been in a proper relationship” Alex laughed nervously and shrugged, moving his gaze up to Max again.

“No biggie” Max said softly, “I’ve never had a girlfriend either” He shrugged.

“You’ve never been in a relationship either?” Alex asked, surprised.

“Hey, I never said I hadn’t been in a relationship” Max laughed, “I just said I hadn’t had a girlfriend” Alex stared at him, shocked. He hadn’t expected that at all.

“So you like-“Alex started, waving his hand in the air as he chose his words.

“I bat for the other team or whatever the saying is” Max laughed again, “I’m gay”

“Right, um cool I guess” Alex shrugged, smiling, “I mean I have nothing against being gay, I just didn’t expect you to be gay if you get what I mean” Max shrugged and smiled, pulling the sleeves on his hoodie further down over his hands.

“Yeah I get it, its fine” He smiled, and Alex stood up then, tugging Max up with him as the bus appeared. The bus stopped and Alex payed for the tickets, and they both sat down in the back corner. The bus ride was nice, they chatted about everything, getting to know eachother a bit more. Alex told Max about his favourite bands, and how some day he wanted to tour the world. Max told Alex about his favourite foods and how he used to be in a band with some friends before he moved into the childrens home. Alex looked out the window and noticed where they were, and quickly pressed the ‘stop’ button infront of him. The bus came to a standstill and they both got off, and headed down the street towards Lisa’s house. Alex was excited to see Lisa, and he was practically bouncing as he walked. They reached Lisa’s front door and Alex rang the doorbell, and they stood silently as they waited for it to be answered.

“Alex!” A girls voice squealed, as Alex was pulled into a warm, tight hug. Max stood on the doorstep, smiling awkwardly until Lisa noticed him as well.

“And you’re Max!” She said and Max nodded, and she gestured for them both to come inside. The house was still the same as it had always been, and it made Alex feel warm inside.

“Hasn’t changed at all” Alex smiled at Lisa.

“Yeah, mum and dad still won’t paint it even though it looks so shit” Lisa laughed, leading the way upstairs. Alex laughed, he disagreed with Lisa, he loved the mint green and lavender walls, it made the house feel homely and warm.

“I don’t think it looks shit” Alex disagreed, glancing behind him to check Max was still following, he was.

“I was thinking we could hang for a while and watch movies?” Lisa suggested, gesturing towards a pile of DVDs on the floor next to her bed, “And when my parents are home we could order pizza.”

“Yeah sounds good” Alex smiled, “Sound okay Max”

“Yeah,” Max said, a massive grin on his face, “That would be cool”

They all settled down on Lisa’s big king sized bed, Alex in the middle and Max and Lisa either side. The movie started and they chatted casually about what had happened since Alex had gone back to the childrens home. Alex left out everything to do with Matt though, and he was doing well to forget about all of that until then, and the slight ache in his mouth and burning in his throat returned, but Alex shrugged it away. He was going to enjoy his time with Lisa, he deserved too.

The movie carried on and everyone started to get sleepy, even though it was only about 3pm. Lisa was curled into Alex’s side with her head on his stomach, and Max was curled in on himself with his eyes closed slightly. Alex glanced down at Lisa, at her perfect cheekbones and soft blonde hair. He had never noticed before how pretty she was, and all the small details about her that made her so perfect. He softly rain one hand up the side of her face, her skin was perfectly soft. She smiled at the contact, leaning into Alex more, pushing all her hair to one side of her head and revealing her perfect, pale kneck. Alex couldn’t stop staring at it, it was weird, as if he could almost see all the veins clearly through her skin. He blinked and looked away, shaking away the thoughts. Lisa turned her head to look up at him questioningly.

“Are you okay?” She asked, running one finger along Alex’s stomach. Alex nodded and smiled.

“Yeah, I’m great” He replied, sinking further down into the bed.

“Good” She smiled, before sitting up a bit and resting her head on Alex’s shoulder. They stayed like that for a while, watching the movie. Alex was getting more and more tired, and he turned his head to the left, forgetting that Lisa was leaning her head on his shoulder. They were face to face, noses almost touching, and Alex breathed out shakily.

“Sorry” He started but Lisa laughed a little, interrupting him.

“Hey, it’s okay” She said, leaning forwards and removing the gap between their lips, sealing them together. Alex knew he should probably pull away, but the kiss was gentle and soft, no teeth, just soft lips pressed together. After a few seconds, Alex felt Lisa’s tongue licking his bottom lip, asking for entrance. He contemplated pulling away before changing his mind, this felt too nice, and opened his mouth slightly, allowing Lisa’s tongue to slip inside and explore his mouth. They carried on kissing like that for a few minutes, before Lisa pulled away.

“Let’s lie down” She suggested, and Alex nodded, lying down next to Lisa. Lisa pressed her body against Alex’s and he wrapped his arms tightly around her waist before they started kissing again, this time more passionately. They could hear snuffling noises coming from Max, signalling that he was asleep, so they carried on. Lisa was running her hand up Alex’s body, reaching underneath his t-shirt to touch the bare skin on his stomach. Alex got goosebumps at the contact, and moaned slightly into Lisa’s mouth. They rolled over slightly, the kiss getting more and more passionate as they continued. Alex began to run his hands up Lisa’s sides and over her hips, pulling her top up slightly so their skin was touching. Alex had never felt romantically attracted to Lisa before, ever. He never saw her like that, so why was he so desperate to be kissing and touching her right then? He didn’t know, and it was worrying him, but he didn’t want to stop.

Alex pulled away from Lisa, and started planting small kisses down the side of her head, and then down her kneck, stopping when he reached the place that her kneck met her shoulder. He left his lips lingering on her skin. He could feel her pulse through his lips, and he wanted nothing more at that minute than to break the oh-so-thin pale skin on her kneck. He widened his eyes, suddenly realising what he was thinking about doing. No. What was happening to him? He pulled away quickly, shaking his head.

“I can’t” He said, voice shaky ad breathless. Lisa looked at him, confused.

“Why not? Come on baby its fine, I promise” And she leant in, reconnecting the kiss. Alex pushed against her again, suddenly he wanted to feel her pushed against him. His gaze immediately glanced back to the skin on her kneck, and he swore he could see her pulse in her veins, veins that pumped fresh, warm blood around her body. Alex was too lost in the kiss to make any kind of sensible decision, so he leaned over and began to kiss her kneck again, this time sucking hard on the skin. He wanted to break it. He wanted to taste the blood that was pumping underneath. He pulled back slightly, before pushing back down onto her, biting her kneck. She immediately tensed, pushing Alex off her with all her strength. Alex sat, wide eyed and shocked when he realised what he had just tried to do, relaxing slightly when he saw that he hadn’t broken the surface of the skin, instead leaving a blood blister on Lisa’s kneck. She was touching the area as she looked at Alex angrily.

“What the fuck was that Alex?” She shouted, sounding angry and confused. Alex shook his head and off the bed, backing into the middle of the room much like he had done in the children’s home. Max was starting to wake up now.

“I-I don’t know, f-fuck I’m sorry” Alex choked out, shaking his head. He felt even worse when he met Lisa’s eyes and noticed they were glazed over with tears.

“Just go please Alex” She said quietly, still clutching her kneck. “I don’t know what the fuck that was, but I want you to go”

“I’m so f-fucking s-sorry” Alex tried again.

“Just fucking LEAVE Alex” Lisa shouted at him. Alex nodded slightly, as Max sat up in the bed, looking confused.

“What’s going on?” He asked, stretching.

“We’re leaving” Alex said, tugging Max up and out of the door before Lisa got a chance to see him cry. He jogged down the stairs and opened the front door, leaving the house and slamming in behind him. What the fuck had he just done. He had just lost his only real friend, and more scarily, he had just tried to drink his best friends fucking blood. He shook his head, not being able to believe what he was thinking. He really was turning into a vampire, and there really was nothing he could do. Tears spilled down his cheeks as he ran down the street, Max trying his hardest to keep up. Alex suddenly stopped as a figure appeared in front of him, barely realising his presence before a fist swung round and hit him in the side of his head and everything went black.