It's Gonna Take A Little Time... A Little Time To Think Things Over...

Chapter 54: Lazarus

TW: NEEDLES, VIOLENCE, MENTIONS IF SUICIDE HOTLINES.

DAVID
A week later after rehab and pain filled therapy sessions, I was free to return home. They made sure I had a suicide hotline tacked on the wall in Brenda and I's now shared room, next to her fluffy pink phone mom has bought her last year. We had set up half of the room as if it was my own, how I wanted it to be. Mom promised I'd get my own room soon.

My friends had come to visit me a few times since I had returned to talk to me about life and school. I was refusing to go, staying huddled up in mounds of blankets, hugging Ziggy to my chest. I felt a bit childish, but he still had that faint scent that reminded me of Exer. Day after day I would lie in bed, staring at the ceiling and not doing much.

Mr. Harry had sent a box of some of Exer's things, and I had sat alone, digging through the long lost treasures. There were pictures of him and I, which I hung up immediately, other than one that was just him smiling with those perfect teeth, which I slid under my pillow. There were some clothes, knick-knacks, and a record. A record? I pulled it out and looked at it, heart dropping slightly.

It was Foreigner. But it wasn't just a Foreigner record, it was the record I gave him when he was thirteen. I had written a note on the inside of the cover.

'I love you Exer! I hope we're best friends forever!'

It was scrawled in a curvy blue ink. I was about to shut the cover, a watery smile leaking onto my face, when I noticed something. Green ink. And it wasn't my handwriting, it was Exer's.

'i love you too. i Hope we'll be best friends forever too. Everything has been Lovely since I met you day. I'm so stoked to hang out with you for the years to come. Peace out!'

Huh. That's weird. Maybe he wrote it when he got it. But the thing was, Exer had his capitalization all jacked up. The 'I's were uncapitalized, while some others were, like 'Lovely'. Why'd he write it so odd?
I sighed. My ink was a bit faded, but his looked fresh, as if only a day or two old.

Maybe he's alive?! I could feel an ecstasy filled balloon in my chest, giving me hope and desire, but it popped pretty fast, causing me to want to break down crying. I was stupid. It's a pen. I'm just desperate. I just keep wishing and hoping and wanting him back. But he can't come back, he's buried six-feet under.

I groaned and yanked my golden hair that Exer loved to run his fingers through when I rarely let him. I wish I had let him do it more. Where is my fucking mind at right now?!
I let out a shout of anger, and slammed my fists down in frustration. I heard a heart stopping crack as I did so though. I looked down and saw the shattered record under my fists. I was about to burst into tears when emerald mist exploded out of the disk.

It made a shape, a form. Of a boy. A teenage boy. With brunette hair. Exer. Exer. It was Exer. I had to be hallucinating, right? But no. He opened his eyes, floating above the ground. His amber eyes had a green tinge, and a green glow seemed to project from the levitating boy.

"Exer?"
I gasped, feeling my eyes water. Exer suddenly blinked and looked around before spotting me.
"DAVID!" He jolted forward and tried to wrap me in a hug before flying straight through me, and the wall.
I whipped around looking to see where he went, and after a few seconds Exer floated back the wall with a groan. I could feel myself freezing in joy and horror. The magic creeped me out enough, but I had never been so relieved to see it.

"Day..? Is that really you?"
He asked softly, voice echoing a little. I nodded, and he floated towards me slightly, in a curious way, reminding me of a puppy. Then he tried to hold my hand. His phased right through mine, and I shuddered. He was COLD. Exer sighed and looked upset.
"David, I missed you so much. How's everyone doing..? Is Dad okay..?"

I choked out a breath, because I had apparently forgotten how to do so.
"He hasn't left his house ever since... Then. Other than for the funeral. Everyone misses you, and they have all been sad, even Jackson."

He let out a chuckle at that. But he looked sad.
"Make sure you let him know I'm okay."
I nodded, throat caked with dryness.
"Day, what was my funeral like?"
I swallowed. Hard.
"I... I'm sure it was nice."
Exer looked shocked, then wilted.
"Y-you... You didn't go..?"
He asked softly, eyes filled with hurt.
I took his hands in mine, not caring they just went through his as I shuddered with cold.

"I was in the hospital Ex. I-"
"Ah sh-sugar! I gotta go, they're coming!"
My heart dropped as he looked behind him.
"W-what?"
"The bad people, I gotta go Day. Don't find me, okay?! I want you to stay safe!"
"Exer, what?! What do you mean?! Don't go, please don't go!"
My voice cracked into a sob as the illusion of Exer began to fade.
"I can't lose you again!"
I warbled. Exer squeezed my hands, or at least he tried too. He looked me dead in the eyes, fear smeared all over his expressions.

"I'm alive. The record-"
And then he poofed out of existence, leaving me with a cold and shaky feeling as I stared at the spot that used to be Exer.
The record? Did Jackson's diary work? But he said it didn't. Who cares. Wait. He said he was alive... He's alive?!

I ran to Brenda's phone and called everyone I could to meet me here, right now. We're gonna find him. We're going to save Exer Campbell.

EXER
"Boy!"
I yanked my hands out of the machine I had used to communicate David, just as they grabbed me from behind.
"DAMNIT KID, WHAT DID YOU DO?!"
The guards whipped me around to look at them, roughly grabbing my arms. I would have used my magic, but the things on my wrists restrained me from doing so. It also provided me with a painful electrical jolt that caused me to crumple slightly.

"Nothing, I didn't do anything I swear!"
I pleaded as one grappled me into a painful hug, while the other raised a syringe. That dreaded needle.
"No, no, no! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please don't!"
I begged, squirming and trying to get out of one of the henchman's grasps, while the other stabbed the needle into my neck, injecting the red liquid into me, and causing my vision to go foggy as I felt myself go limp.

"Take him to the chamber."
I heard the voices melt and echo as all went dark.

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