It took two hours for L'Erena to find out. They'd been hanging out the washing, Even tucked safely up in Lumaira's mother's room, and Lumaira was convinced that things were going to be okay when he sent L'Erena inside to fetch more pegs and didn't return.

Curious, and in need of pegs, Lumaira followed her to find her in the hallway, shaking a little and as white as a sheet.

"Fucking hell," She managed to spit after a few horrible moments of staring. "Fucking hell, Lumaira, what the fuck is Even's dead body doing on your stairs?"

Lumaira swallowed thickly and glanced between Even, who had presumably passed out at the top of the stairs and fallen down, and L'Erena who was wide-eyed and slack-jawed in utter horror.

"And why is he wearing your pyjamas?!"

L'Erena's shriek snapped him out of his horrified reverie and he quickly shuffled her out of Even's sight.

"I- I can explain."

"That's even more worrying!"

Lumaira felt tears press at his eyes.

"Please, stop screaming!"

"Why do you have Even's body?!"

"Stop screaming!"

They stood, eyeing each other up in silence, for a few minutes.

"Right." Lumaira said after a moment, running his hand though his hair.

"Yes?"

L'Erena's voice was strangled.

"Right. I'll be right back."

"L-Lumaira?"

"Yeah?"

"You... you're not a necrophiliac, are you?"

"What? No!"

L'Erena seemed to relax a little, although admittedly that wasn't much.

"Okay. Good. Just thought I'd check."

Lumaira tiptoed back over to the stairwell and gently shook Even awake. He was looking worse again, a crumpled heap of bones and pale, blotchy skin.

"Even," Lumaira said as quietly as he could, hoping that L'Erena wouldn't hear. "Even, you need to get back upstairs right now."

"I took a wrong step," Even replied carefully, inspecting his body for any new injuries. "I can hardly see a thing."

Lumaira shushed him and helped him to his feet.

"You need to get back to bed."

Even seemed to sense Lumaira's concern, frowning and trying to glance around the corner in case anybody was there. Lumaira was quick to tug him back.

"What happened?"

"L'Erena saw you."

"What?"

"She thinks you're dead. Come on!"

"Why would you have my dead body?" Even replied with a frown, mind lost to some place else as step by painfully slow step, Lumaira helped him up to the landing.

"That's what I'm trying to work out so I can explain to her."

They reached the top of the stairs and in through the doorway to tuck Even back up in bed.

"I'll get you a drink."

"How are you going to explain that?"

Lumaira shrugged as he worked with rearranging Even's limbs into some sort of comfortable-looking arrangement.

"How about you tell me the truth."

Fuck.

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Lumaira slowly turned to see L'Erena in the doorway. She was scowling as she stomped in to plonk herself on the bed where Even lay.

"Well? When were you planning to tell me that this whole thing was a joke?"

"It's not a-"

"Seriously, I know you and your guy friends can be stupid, but seriously? Making out that Even committed suicide? What kind of stupid prank is that supposed to be? Even faking a bloody funeral, you could have told me..."

Even had rolled over and hidden himself under the duvet, and it didn't take a genius to realise that he was crying. Lumaira closed his eyes for a moment, trying to work to how to deal with a suicidal boy and a snarky best friend without any of the three of them dying.

The best thing, he figured, was talk to L'Erena in private. So he stood, grabbed her arm, and tugged her out of the door, closing it with a neat click behind him.

"L'Erena." He said.

"You're sick, you know that? Sure, Even's a cock, but-"

"L'Erena."

"What?"

Lumaira took a deep breath, and looked right into L'Erena's eyes.

"Listen to me. Listen to me very carefully, because what I'm about to tell you is true. It sounds completely unbelievable, but I swear that it's true."

L'Erena sought dishonesty in Lumaira's eyes and found none.

"Even was dead," Lumaira began to explain. "Even was dead; I know he was because I saw him. I checked for a pulse, and there wasn't one. Believe me. I ran through every sign of life they teach you in health class and there was no way he could be alive. Even the paramedics agreed, and they'd know if he was. But... last night, after the funeral, I stayed by the grave. They didn't fill it in because it was raining. And Even broke out of the coffin. I know it sounds stupid, and I wouldn't believe you if you were telling me, but it's true. Even came back to life."

It was obvious that L'Erena didn't. She tutted a little, hand on a hip, and rolled her eyes.

"That has to be the worst lie you have ever come up with."

"I'm not lying!" Lumaira screamed. "For God's sake, L'Erena, for once I'm actually telling the truth. He rose from the dead. I don't know how, but he did."

"How about with the power of bull shit?" L'Erena muttered sarcastically.

Lumaira burst into tears.

"It doesn't even matter," He managed through his sobs. "It doesn't matter, the point is he's alive and- and he needs us. There's nothing in between him and suicide, again."

L'Erena sighed, a little awkwardly reaching out to pull her taller friend into a hug because if Lumaira was crying that meant he was upset, whether he'd gone completely out of his mind or not.

"If there's nothing left for him then why don't you let him do it?"

This time Lumaira actually howled, clinging to L'Erena as if with a vengeance against her ribcage.

"It's not fair!" He insisted. "He shouldn't have to die. We shouldn't have made his life so shit that he thought it would be better to have no life at all,"

L'Erena didn't reply, breathing slowly in and out and in and out, Lumaira's chin resting on her head and his arms wrapped securely around her chest.

"Think about it," Lumaira eventually said. "Imagine what it must have been like for him. He's never had a friend before. I couldn't live without my friends, and he hasn't got any. And his parents never gave a shit about him either."

"So what can you do?"

Lumaira considered this at great length, then pulled away from L'Erena, mind made up.
"I'm going to be his friend." He said with renewed vigour. "I'm going to be his friend whether either of us like it or not. I'm going to help him, and I'm going to tell mum-"

"What are you going to tell her? That you found a zombie and thought it would be a jolly good show to bring him home?"

Lumaira distractedly waved his hand.

"I'll say he's miserable and ran away from home. And's a different Even."

"Who happens to look and act exactly like the supposedly dead Even?" L'Erena asked incredulously.

"My mum won't exactly jump to the conclusion that Even came back to life, will she?" Lumaira replied. "I could call him something else."

"You'll slip," L'Erena said. "Just face it, Lu, it's not going to work. The best thing we can do for Even is either post him home and let his parents deal with the mess, or kill him and dump him back in his grave where he ought to be."

"That's murder!" Lumaira howled, sobs racking his body once again. "You'd kill him? How could you say that?!"

"He murdered himself," L'Erena pointed out quietly.

"That's because he was miserable!" Lumaira yelled.

Then he stopped.

"Wait. You believe me?"

They both looked at each other in silence and considered this.

"Yeah, well, we're all fucked anyway. We've either got Jesus Number Two in there, or the start of a zombie invasion. Might as well play along with the joke." L'Erena eventually admitted. Lumaira felt himself smile a little through his muggy-reddened face, quickly wiping tears away before daring to lay a hand on the doorknob to return to Even.

"Right. So you have to be nice to him, you got that? It's absolutely imperative."

L'Erena scoffed.

"Do you even know what imperative means?"

"I'm being serious, L'Erena," Lumaira huffed. "You can't do anything mean. He's really, really unhappy at the moment."

L'Erena, for once, sensed the seriousness of the situation and nodded a little, allowing Lumaira to lead her into his mother's room.

"Hey. Even?"

Even was still huddled up in the thick duvet, and Lumaira scooted around to the opposite side of the bed to gently lift up the covers and look underneath. Two round, bright green eyes peered woefully up at him and the thin mouth that accompanied the eyes said nothing.

"L'Erena's here," Lumaira said as if Even didn't know; but his brain was struggling to cope and he wanted to pretend as hard as he could that things were normal. "Why don't you get up and we can go watch a movie downstairs?"

Even huffed a little, looked away, and still said nothing.

"We'll order in a pizza," Lumaira offered hopefully. Even looked back. "And popcorn."

"L'Erena won't laugh at me?"

"Of course not," Lumaira instantly promised. "Well. If she does, I'll kick her. How does that sound?"

To his immense surprise, Even actually spat out a sound that, with a forgiving imagination, could have been a chuckle.

"Okay."

Lumaira grinned.

"D'you need help?"

"Tell me where the stairs start this time and I'll be fine."

"Okay. Rennie, you go round up all the bedding."

"What do you want bedding for?" Even asked incredulously as he climbed, unsteadily, out of the bed.

"To make a den," L'Erena replied. "Since Lulu's sofa is falling apart and all."

"Why don't you just stay in bed?"

"Because the big telly's downstairs."

"Oh. Okay. Fine."

The two of them plus Even got there in the end; duvets and blankets and pillowcases were piled up to made a huge fort on the floor, popcorn was popped, pizza was delivered, and in amongst all the chaos and laughter sat Even, looking a little out of place and more than a little confused, and faintly miserable about the whole affair.

As L'Erena slid the DVD in and pressed play on the remote, Lumaira felt compelled to wrap a friendly arm around Even and tug a blanket over them both.

"Cheer up," He murmured. "It's not so bad. You have us now."

Even looked up at him and Lumaira offered him a comforting smile. Then, slowly, Even's face wrinkled with pent-up emotion and he began to sob. Lumaira held him close until the credits rolled.

Lumaira's mother returned just over half an hour after L'Erena had gone home (with strict instructions to keep Even's existence as an absolute secret) to find Lumaira and Even talking quietly on the sofa.

"Hullo, Lulu. Who's your friend?"

"Hullo, Mum. This is Even."

"Hullo, Even. How are you?"

"Hullo, Ms Arkenstone. I'm okay."

Formalities over, Lumaira hesitantly stepped forwards.

"Mum, Even needs to stay here for a while."

"Does he now."

"He ran away from home."

"Did he, indeed."

"He's very miserable."

Ms Arkenstone looked over at the boy who was trying to look a little less awkward around the place.

"He looks like he could do with a trip to the doctor."

"He's very miserable," Lumaira assured his mother earnestly. Ms Arkenstone looked again at Even.

"I think we need to call your parents, young man."

Even vehemently shook his head.

"Oh, no. They won't be missing me much."

"He's got some cuts," Lumaira quickly interrupted before his mother could say anything about that. "I want you to have a look at them. So they don't get infected or anything. Please."

They were led up to the bathroom, Even a little reluctantly.

"Okay. Let's have a look."

Lumaira glared meaningfully at Even and when he didn't immediately pull away his sleeves, did it for him, peeling away the makeshift bandages around Even's arms.

"Oh my-"

Lumaira's mother looked away for a moment before turning back to the gaudy red slashes running like tracks along Even's skin. She closed her eyes briefly, and took a deep breath.

"I see." She said eventually. "You're lucky that you got these bandaged in time. Cuts this deep could have killed you."

Lumaira and Even glanced at each other, and said nothing. Ms Arkenstone sat Even down on the edge of the bath, tied up her shoulder-length blonde hair, and began, quietly, to work. Being a nurse, Lumaira supposed that she saw a lot of things like this, but he didn't miss the pain that flickered behind her eyes. He wanted to cry too.

Once she was finished, Lumaira's mother gestured for Lumaira to follow her outside.

"I think we need to have a little talk."

"Kay."

His mother let her hair down again so it flopped like it always did over one shoulder, and leaned with a sigh against the railing of the stairs.

"You haven't mentioned another Even." She said after a moment, pinching the bridge of her nose. Lumaira stiffened a little.

"What does that mean?"

"You know what I'm talking about," She replied evenly. "You were very upset about it. It just seems like a strange coincidence."

"He needs my help," Lumaira insisted helplessly.

"Yes," His mother said. "Yes, I can see that. I just... want to know if there's something you aren't telling me."

"Don't you believe me?" Lumaira, who didn't like how his mother was being so mysterious about everything that he couldn't tell what she really thought, whispered, not trusting his voice to be louder without breaking.

"Of course I do," His mother replied. "I'm not saying that I don't believe you. I just want to know if there's anything I'm... not aware of."

"It's a different Even," Lumaira lied desperately. He hated being dishonest with his mother, who meant the world to him, but it would be even worse if she came to some other conclusion and wouldn't let Even stay.

There was a long silence until his mother slowly spoke.

"Lumaira, what makes you think I would assume that they weren't?"

Lumaira realised a lot of things very quickly, but mainly that he really ought to have come up with a convincing story to tell his mother before she was standing face to her in the hallway.
"I just thought I'd check," He replied lamely instead. His mother nodded a little, and then began to walk downstairs.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to call the social services."

Lumaira started.

"You can't do that-!"

His mother turned, sadness in her blue eyes, so similar to her son's.

"That boy needs a lot of help," She said softly. "I know you want to help him out all by yourself, but this is something that needs to be dealt with by the authorities."

You don't understand! Lumaira thought helplessly while his oh-so-brilliant mind supplied his mouth with a horrified "You can't!"

"Lumaira."

"You can't!" Lumaira insisted again. "You can't, they were involved before, it didn't work, mum, please. Just let him stay here for a few days. I'll find him someplace else. He has a really abusive family, and-"

"Then we ought to be calling the police,"

"He's really scared of the authorities and stuff like that," Lumaira lied desperately. The untruths just kept pouring out of his mouth now, and he battled to remember them all to avoid contradicting himself later. "He just needs a place to stay. Just for a few days. He can sleep on the sofa. I'll take care of him and everything. Please."

His mother shook her head a little, returning to the landing to wrap one arm around Lumaira's shoulders. She'd never been very tall; Lumaira had already surpassed her in height and he was still growing. She was a small sort of person who wore pale, plain clothes with a pale, plain hairstyle... she was so timid, Lumaira often thought. Timid and kind. And people took advantage of that too much.

But anyway.

"Lumaira," She said gently. "I know you care about this Even a great deal, and I respect that. But I don't think it's something you or I can handle alone."

Lumaira shook his head helplessly.

"Mum... you can't. Please, just trust me on this. It'll just make everything awful. At least wait until tomorrow."

She looked into his eyes, his desperate, pleading eyes. Then, as mothers are wont to do, she changed the subject.

"Have you two eaten dinner?"

"Yeah. L'Erena came round. We had pizza in front of the telly."

"Okay. I'm going to go to bed, and then I've got work, so..."

"So?"

Lumaira's mother pinched the bridge of her nose, sighing softly.

"Just for the love of all things good and kind, don't do anything stupid. And don't let Even do anything stupid, either."

Lumaira nodded earnestly.

"I promise, mum."