Dead or Alive: Makes No Difference-Ch. 8

Jess lay on the floor and he couldn’t tell if she was unconscious or worse, he saw Luke about a foot away from her, in the same condition. There was one slight difference though, a pool of blood was slowly gathering around Luke. He quickly made his way over to him first. Kneeling down he put two fingers on Luke’s neck, he felt for a pulse. Within seconds he found one.1

“Luke, come on, wake up.” He said, trying to revive his friend. Luke’s eyes fluttered open; glazed blue eyes met clear brown ones.2

“Jess.” He breathed3

“She’s over there.” He said nodding over to her.4

“He killed her, she was dead when I got here.” He said; his voice pained.5

“Who, Luke, who killed her, did he hurt you too?” Milo asked, wanting answers.6

“I-I don’t know.” His breath was coming out in gasps now as he spoke.7

“Alright, it’s ok. Just take it easy.” Milo said. Deep down he knew that even if he tried to get Luke down to the working end of the hospital he wouldn’t make it. Milo put a hand under his head, trying somewhat to relieve his pain, or at least try to comfort him.8

“I-I’m not g-gonna make it, Mi.” Luke said with a bit of difficulty9

“Shh, take it easy, it’ll be alright.” Milo said in a voice that was almost above a whisper. He could feel a stinging in his eyes as he watched Luke’s eyes slowly fall closed and his chest slowly stop.10

“Only you understood.” Milo said with a shaky voice as he continued to hold Luke’s head. There was no need to feel for a pulse, Milo knew it wasn’t there, he knew his friend was gone.11

“What’d he understand, bro?” a deep voice from behind him asked. Milo startled a little and then gently lowered Luke’s head to the floor as he turned around. As he stood he tried to get a look at the man, but with his hat over his eyes he couldn’t see him.12

“Who are and what have you done?” he demanded to know, his voice quivering with both grief and anger.13

“I think you know perfectly well who I am.” The man said as he took off his hat. Milo brought in a sharp breath as he looked at the man’s face, eyes he’d memorized as a child, a face that could never leave him no matter how much time passed.14

“B-but how, the doctor said you were dead.” Milo said with shock.15

“Do you remember who the doctor was?”16

“No, but why’s that matter?”17

“Oh, it should. Doctor Maxwell Charlt declared me dead twelve years ago, in this very room.” He said, spreading his hand around to show the room.18

“You were dead though, I went to your funeral, I’ve visited your grave. How the heck are you alive?”19

“Because I was never dead. Charlt helped me fake the entire thing. He was a brother of a friend” He said20

“You were sick though. I watched as you got sicker for four months.”21

“A simple drug he gave me. Didn’t hurt me, only made me look like I was getting sick.”22

“Why’d you do it though? Why’d you do that to us, to me?” Milo demanded to know.23

“I needed out, needed a break from life, figured that was the best way to do it.” He replied with a sort of shrug. 24

“Do you have any idea what the three of us went through? Mom fell into a depression, Dad, well dad never came home from work and I, I can barely remember anything from the first year you were dead.” He spat angrily.25

“Milo, I had to get away and start over and that meant starting a brand new life, without any of you.” He said looking directly at him.26

12 YEARS EARLIER.....27

David walked down the hospital’s corridor. People in scrubs went past him without noticing, each going on with their own job.28

“Can I help you with something?” the nurse behind the desk asked when he came up to it.29

“Yeah, I’m looking for Doctor Charlt. I’m a friend of his.” He told her.30

“Do you have an appointment or something?” she asked looking at her book of appointments.31

“No, but I’m pretty sure he’s expecting me.” He said with a slight grin.32

“I’ll call him.” She said as she picked up the phone. David watched and waited as she dialed a number. Within minutes he was on the phone with Doctor Charlt. She talked for less then a minute before hanging up.33

“He says you can go in.” David went around the corner and opened a door.34

“Hey, David, Kyle said you might be stopping by.” Doctor Charlt said as he got up from his desk and walked over to him. Kyle was his younger brother, David’s age and the two were roommates at John Carroll. 35

“Yeah, was wondering if I could talk to you about something.”36

“Sure, as long as it’s medical related, other than that I’m lost.” He said with a chuckle, David laughed too.37

“I guess you could say it’s medical related. Is there anyway to make it look like I’m dying, without me dying?” he asked slowly38

“Close that door.” He told David. David closed the door and looked at him, waiting expectantly for an answer.39

“Possibly, but first question, why do you want to do this. People usually just want to die.”40

“I don’t know, want a new life and decided I want to let go of the people I know. Only way that works is dying, or at least pretending to die. That way they won’t try to find me, they’ll think they know where I am, in the ground.” He said. He was proud of himself for coming up with such a plan.41

“You’ve really thought about this.” David’s only reply was a shrug.42

"Alright then I think I’ve got something.”43

NOW44

“Why’d you do all of this though, the body, the blood on the wall and why the heck was it my blood?”45

“Because you were trying to bring a dead person back to life and the blood on the wall was just to try and scare you away.”46

“Why my blood?”47

“Because it was easy for Charlt to get and I knew it’d freak you out.” He said with a bit of a grin. Milo rushed at him with rage. With one arm pinning David against the wall, Milo spoke with rage.48

“That body was because I didn’t want others to die like you and those people you killed were my friends.” He said, pushing hard up against David’s chest with his arm, David was pinned against the wall.49

“Nice friends, too bad neither one is strong enough.” He said with a grin as he grabbed Milo’s free arm and brought it around him, pulling Milo off his chest. He flipped around and pinned Milo onto the wall. 50

“What are you going to do, kill me?” Milo asked as he looked into his brother’s face.51

“No, we’ll just wait a couple more minutes, I’m sure someone’ll come looking for you.” He said with a wicked grin.52

“Don’t you touch her.” Milo spat angrily. There was only one other person who would come up to the room, looking for him. 53

“We’ll see ‘bout that Little Bro.” He said and just as he said it she showed up. 54

“Milo, what’s going on?” she demanded to know. He could hear the bit of fear in her voice as she looked at the two bodies of her friends on the floor and Milo pinned against the wall.55

“Caitlyn, get out, now. Get help.” He shouted. David pressed his arm hard against Milo’s throat and then dropped him to the floor as he moved quickly over to Caitlyn.56

“Hello, Caitlyn.” He said in a low voice.57

“Who are you?” she demanded, trying to keep the quiver out of her voice.58

“Aww, your girlfriend doesn’t know me, Mi, I’m disappointed.” He said, looking slightly over his shoulder at Milo who was on the ground, trying to catch his breath from the hold David had had on his throat.59

“First off, don’t call me Mi, second, she’s not my girlfriend, and third leave her alone.” He said looking up at him, his eyes filled with anger.60

“I will, when I’m done with her.” He said as he moved to bring his hands around her throat. She tried to fight him, but she just wasn’t strong enough. Realizing his brother’s focus was on Caitlyn, Milo stealthily moved over and picked up a scalpel from the steel table that held all the instruments the group would use. Trying to be as quiet as possible, he moved over to the back of his brother, tightly gripping the handle of the sharp instrument. He could feel a tremble pass through him as he thought about what he was getting ready to do. There was no way he could let him kill another friend of his though.61

“Don’t think I don’t see you.” David said as he knocked Caitlyn to the ground, knocking her unconscious. He whipped around to face Milo. Using the two-inch difference in height, he attempted to put some fear into his younger brother. Milo swallowed back the fear and stood his ground.62

“What are you going to do with that?” he asked, pointing to the scalpel in Milo’s hand. Without breaking eye contact he responded.63

“Doing what I need to.”64

“And I’m doing what I need to do.” He said as he reached for Milo. Using all his strength he tried to grab the tool out of Milo’s hand. Knowing how his brother fought though, Milo didn’t go for it. He fought back. Although merely seconds the fight seemed to last forever, until finally Milo felt the scalpel cutting through flesh and warm blood spilled unto his clothes. Swallowing hard he stepped away from his brother, taking the now bloodied scalpel with him. He watched as David fell hard to the floor, it seemed as if everything was moving in slow motion.65

He didn’t dare move to his brother’s side as the direct injury he’d placed into his heart allotted to an impending, almost immediate death. His brother had already died once and the person dying in front of him was just another person, a person who had killed the ones he truly cared about. 66

A groan alerted him to Caitlyn who was on the ground. Removing his eyes from the gruesome scene he’d caused, he moved quickly over to her.67

“Who was that?” she asked, her voice pained as she tried to sit up. Milo helped her as he eyes drifted over to the now dead body.68

“No one.” He replied with finality as he turned his attention back on her and checked her over. He knew she didn’t believe him, but for now, she’d have to accept that.69