Call me Lexi: A walking dead story

The Neighbours

"What you got there?" one of the neighbours said, peeking over Louise's shoulder as she sat back in her chair, reading the note again. She quickly put the note away. "Nothing, just something I found while I was packing my stuff." Louise said, pulling her legs up to her chest and sitting comfortably in the warm glow of the fireplace.

"Thank you for letting me stay with you." Louise thanked Marnix, Marnix was the good-natured neighbourhood dad. Football coach, a hard worker and always ready to help someone with yard work or a basic house problem. She had known him off and on during her childhood, she had never lived full time with her parents between the ages of 8 and 18. Her parents were spiritual floaters, moving from Ashram to Ashram in India. Rolling in and out of churches in the united states, always looking for the next best high that they could get from a sermon. When Louise hit school age, and she could not travel with her parents in their big red hippie van, she was dropped off at aunt Sylvia's house. The most pragmatic, cool-blooded and no nonsense person she had ever met in her short life.

"Where did you come from?" Marnix asked, pulling Louise out of her daze, "The government said that we should not leave."

Louise shook herself out of her day dream.

"I just got back from college, summer break before the finals, then on to the work force." She said, smiling at Marnix.

"What is your major?" Marnix asked, getting up from his seat and walking into the kitchen.

"Biology, I did a minor in Physics, though"

"Sounds cool, and complex."

"Remembering cellular structures is a doozy." Louise admitted. "But I did it." She said, sitting back in her chair.

Marnix came back with a plate and a glass of water.

"Where are your parents?" he asked her as she handed her some food.

Louise relaxed expression turned into a stare of distress, in the attic and and backyard...

"They are not here, probably having gone off to some event." She lied, "I think they'll be back by tomorrow, if they can." She said, smiling up at Marnix.

The two heard the door to the kitchen slam, Marnix's wife and youngest son walked into the room, carrying more boards and a tool kit.

"Care to help?" Claudia asked, smiling at Louise.

"It's the least I can do." She said, downing her drink and getting up from her seat.

Claudia and Louise spent the evening boarding up the door and windows, making sure no one could look into their house.

"Should we do upstairs as well?" Louise asked Claudia, checking if a board she stuck to the door post stayed if she pulled on it.

"Upstairs is already blocked off, we just stuck the curtains in front of the windows and barricaded the windows with a wardrobe." Claudia explained, stretching her arms out as she looked at her work. "You got a nice hand of work." She complimented Louise. Louise blushed, "Thanks, some friends from college and I used to build treehouses." She responded, smiling at Claudia.

Claudia nodded, "it shows." She grinned, walking off to clean up the saw dust and rusty nails that were in the old fence boards.

"You got all your stuff?" she then asked, "I saw you only brought a weekend bag." Claudia mentioned. Louise looked up at Claudia as she moved to clean up some old nails.

"I... I actually only planned to stay four days, maximum." Louise confessed.

Claudia frowned at her, before smiling with a confused smile.

"But, summer break is like, two months?" Claudia asked. "or were you planning on going out of the country?"

"I was planning on staying with a college friend, and do some house searching... plus I had a job interview next week." Louise confessed. "Guess I can forget about that now."

Claudia was quiet, watching as Louise cleaned up after herself.

"Did you even want to go to your parents?" she asked.

Louise paused, standing up straight to face Claudia.

"Yeah, of course." Louise lied. She smiled at Claudia, "We don't really celebrate Christmas or Thanksgiving, so...we only really see each other during summer break."

"And easter?" Claudia asked.

Louise shrugged, "Depends on the year."

Claudia frowned at the information, scratching the back of her head.

"I am sorry to hear that. Your parents always seemed so..."

"Loving?" Louise asked, suppressing a cynical smirk. Her eyes glowed with mirth.

"Open..." Claudia concluded, looking at Louise's face. "And, present in the neighbourhood."

Louise nodded, casting down her eyes. Looking at her dirty sneakers.

"Yeah, I don't really know what they were like outside of my homelife... I haven't been around them that much these past four years." Louise confessed, a look of guilt on her face.

Claudia nodded, nervously fidgeting before pulling up a chair to sit with Louise.

"Were things alright at home?" Claudia asked, "Like, I don't know anything, but how did you guys get along?"

Louise shrugged, "I was fed and clothed, bedtime stories... the occasional trip to Disney World."

Claudia tilted her head, nodding understandingly, "Sounds... affectionless." She remarked.

Louise felt a pang of irritation go through her gut, she shook her head.

"They did what they could... and so did I." she defended herself. "I never disappointed them. Brought in my own money, got the highest grades."

Claudia put her hand on Louise's shoulder. Calming her down.

"Let's talk about this tomorrow, you seem really tired and kind of upset." She said calmly, gently ruffling Louise's hair. "You can the use the guestroom upstairs." she said.

Claudia made sure Louise was comfortable in the upstairs room. Louise lay in the dark, hearing Marnix come upstairs.

"Good night, Louise." He said, before moving to his own bedroom.

"Good night, Marnix." She smiled, "Thanks for everything."

As Louise turned over on her side, trying to get some rest. She could not stop visualizing her mom on the attic, dying from the virus, choking to death in the summer heat. And her dad buried in the hot, damp earth of their backyard. She covered her eyes with her arm, trying to push if from her mind. She felt a sob well up in the back of her throat, she gritted her teeth against it, fighting against the tears. She clenched her jaw shut, thrashing her feet to not have to feel the emotion that coursed through her veins at the speed of light. She stopped clenching her jaw when she felt something twitch and start to hurt, she released her breath and lay in the darkness wishing for death to just take her.

Living in a world where death was now all around her, and with the knowledge of her parent's indifference to her life. She felt a numbness wash over her and her head filled with radio static, washing her head clean of her thoughts and wants. Clean from the job interview, the new house, her friends from college. She lay still in bed, finally being able to close her eyes and fall into a deep sleep. The sounds of the dead being a background noise.