Elijah

1st January

Home-

Dad was downstairs preparing dinner since it was his turn to cook. I was debating whether I should call Gwen or not. Even though I had dropped her right in front of her house, I felt the urge to check up on her at least once before heading to bed.

What if she went out with family? Or what if she didn't close her windows?

"It isn't that late, so she won't mind if I just called and asked." I told myself and called her.

She answered after a few rings. I hadn't even decided how to ask or what to ask.

"Hey." She said. I could hear loud TV noises.

"Are you home?" I asked.

"Yes, with my parents. Why?" She asked.

"Just uh...are you coming to school tomorrow?" I asked.

"I'll have to. I can't miss classes anymore. I'm already falling behind." She answered and I nodded to myself, then stopped because I was beating around the bush instead of getting to the point.

What are you doing Elijah?

I internally questioned myself before saying what I had to say," Make sure to lock your window. Good night."

I immediately hung up and threw my phone aside.

"She won't think it was weird, would she?" I asked myself," Damn, even if she does, it's for her safety. She might not know it yet...and why we've been so protective of her since the days when she was in the hospital."

"Eli!" Dad called out for dinner so I jumped out of bed and went downstairs.

I took a seat at the dining and dad served food for both of us and settled down.

Halfway through eating and discussing about life, we landed on the topic we didn't want to discuss anytime soon, since we were taking a break from everything.

"Don't leave her out alone." Dad said.

"That doesn't mean nothing will happen to you." I said.

"She's the most vulnerable and an easy target out of all three of us." Dad made a point.

"And you're main in this whole thing. If anything happens to you, Gwen and I won't be able to do anything on our own." I said, still implying that he couldn't be careless.

"I'm not saying I'm safe. At this point, anything can happen to anyone of us." He said.

"Do you think Mrs. Frost will be alright?" I asked.

"She's the least involved. Besides, she's moved houses so I don't think so." He said, taking the last bite of his pasta.

"Dad."

"Yeah? What?" He asked.

"Will we ever be able to go back to our normal life?" I asked.

"Don't tell me you regret now." He sighed.

"I don't. I'm just wondering when we'll be able to put an end to this." I said.

"Hopefully, soon. Seeing how the media is influencing public, the public's on our side. Yet, in order to win a case, we need valid evidences and witnesses. Even if the judge won't believe the plain bullshit Howard Miler says, he cannot pass his judgement based on what he thinks is true. He needs proof."

I stayed silent. Winning the case seemed impossible. The proof that we had was not enough.

"Eli."

"Yes?" I asked as he looked at me seriously.

"You're going to school tomorrow after a long break. Don't answer anyone's questions regarding the investigation and take care of Gwen. She must never cross paths with Edwin in school. You too, don't speak to Edwin, got it?" He asked and I nodded attentively.

I couldn't believe the school management had allowed Edwin to take classes, but then again, everything's easy for the rich.

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2nd January

I wasn't worried about sitting a few seats down Edwin in the classroom, but about Edwin going after Gwen. How was I to protect her? Even Ethan was gone. I was all alone. With that uncertain feeling, I left for school.

School-

I had never liked to be in the limelight, but it seems god always makes you go through shit you don't like and that's called life. But my god-forsaken life already had too much drama and I didn't expect some more.

Escaping all the eyes staring at me because I was the son of the famous detective who had sent a businessman's son behind the bars, I went to the lockers where no one bothered to come. I had Gwen on my speed dial so I called her to ask her where she was. Like dad has said, I had to make sure she never ran into Edwin all by herself. She was definitely the one most at risk, since Edwin was obsessed with her for whatever reasons.

I was sure she didn't know Edwin was already roaming outside.

I pressed the phone against my ear. It was ringing. But suddenly, someone interrupted me.

"Elijah Berryman."

I turned to my right and slowly removed the phone from against my ear, ending the call that was just answered.

Gwen

Everyone was wearing a frown on their faces. It was like the morning of 12th November, when the news about Ethan's death was out. No, it was worse than that.

I had no idea and I had no one to ask about it, so I made my way into the first class of the day- Biology.

It was reasonable for everyone to spare me a glance since I had come to school after a long break, so I wasn't surprised at that, rather the fact that I was partnered with someone else.

"Why...are you sitting here?" I asked a student I hadn't interacted with before, but I knew her name was Mira.

"Oh, we moved up seats by one. One student dropped out of school." She answered.

"Who?" I asked.

"Tyler."

I obviously found it strange. Tyler wasn't someone to lose to a girl and drop out of school just because a flower-pot fell on his head or to listen to the Dean's orders about transferring schools. He had influence over things because of his family background. Something was really off. It was almost as if someone forced him to-

That's none of my concern.

I sat down in my seat, the window one specifically. I stared out at the ground that I always used to. I remembered seeing the dark figure which seemed to be staring at me that day and realized it was Ethan. He had done a lot of weird things at first, to scare me and make me speak up about what I had seen. All the texts from unknown numbers, the sounds coming from the stairs, the whispers, auditory hallucinations, the handprint on my bedroom window and even the three words written in the hospital's washroom in red.

Wait. Wait. What the-

I shot up from my seat, scaring the shit out of my new seat partner.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"I need to step out. Move." I said hastily.

"O-Okay." She stood up and let me out immediately.

I ran out of the classroom and was unluckily spotted by the Biology teacher. She asked me where I was going when it was time for class but I didn't stop running and disappeared from her sight.

I was out of breath when I reached the washroom. I pulled my phone out to call Mrs. Frost.

"Gwen? Hi." She said as she answered.

"H-hi Mrs. Frost. I hope you and your husband are doing good, Um I needed your help. If you could just arrange a meeting with Kelly- I can come and see her at the hospital- I mean- Yeah that would be great." I spoke.

"Calm down first. Are you okay?" She asked with concern.

"I am! I'm absolutely okay. I just wanted to meet her once." I said.

"Honey the thing is, her treatment is over so she doesn't come to the hospital anymore. I could give you her home-address but her parents are really...you know...they won't allow a stranger to see her." She said.

"I-I'll see to it. Could you text me her address? Thank you so much. I'm late for class so bye!" I hung up and walked up and down the washroom, thinking about something but not being able to conclude anything.

Seeing Elijah was the only option but I figured he had classes and I couldn't just barge in and pull him out of his classroom. I had to wait.

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.

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I can't wait for another 30 minutes!

I was losing patience. It wasn't something I could tell him about on phone since he was in class. I decided to make an excuse of the dean wanting to see him and get him out of his classroom, so I went to his class which was down the corridor.

But to my surprise, he wasn't in class.

Elijah

"You and your dad think you can hide her from me?" Edwin scowled while he had pinned me against the wall in the green room on the top floor where not a soul ventured when there weren't any events being held.

"Don't go after her." I pushed him away.

"Why not? She's the reason for all of this." He smirked.

"My dad and I started this. She wasn't even a part of it." I said.

"I brought you here to talk, not blab shit. Is 'FOOL' written on my forehead?" He laughed.

"I thought you wanted to talk about surrendering and that's why I followed you here." I shrugged," So, how did it feel, Edwin? Killing the person who loved you the most?"

"Fuck you." He gritted," If you're going to talk some conscience and shit then it won't work."

"I'm aware. Otherwise you wouldn't have been so proud of yourself right now." I said.

"That's not even half of it." He said with a smug on his face," I'm going to repeat it with Gwen."

"You dare not." I frowned," She did nothing."

"I'd still do it, considering she's my girlfriend after all." He chuckled," And you know, I'm not even thinking of harming you and your dad because the person who hurt me the most is her. And I'm going to show her...how much I hate her." He took a few steps back, looking at me with a proud smug," Here's a little advice. Don't get in my way, trying to protect her, or you'll end up dead." He then turned his back at me and walked out.

"Fuck." I sighed," What do I do now, Ethan?"

Gwen

I couldn't get through Elijah until lunch, since I was caught up in classes. Everything that was being taught was going over my head. Thankfully, Mira had helped me with Biology and lent me her notes to take home, but my original seat partner Emma had been scrunching her nose every time I asked her something. She slipped a note in my textbook when the bell rang for lunch and walked out.

I flipped through the pages until I found the note she left, asking me to see her in the canteen. She even wrote 'bitch' in the end, but I didn't mind that since a lot more crazier things had happened in my life and her childish attempt of pissing me off was nothing compared to it.

Canteen-

I made my way over to the table Stace and I usually sat on. That wasn't the first time I missed her company. The furniture felt cold against my body as I settled down and spread my legs under the table. I sighed deeply when I didn't see any reply to the texts I had sent Elijah.

Me: See me during lunch at my table

Me: It's urgent.

"Look who we have here!" Someone shouted which almost made me jump out of my skin.

I looked up to see Emma and her gang towering over my table. I didn't know she could be the leader type. But she was. And I was in deep shit. I wasn't scared, but it was my first time dealing with something like that.

Well, I've dealt with a lot of stuff that's only supposed to happen in movies. This is nothing, right?

"A killer's mistress, was it?" One of the girls chuckled.

Hilarious.

"Couldn't you come up with something less cliché?" Emma asked that girl.

"It's 'cringe' babe." Another one said.

"Whatever." Emma fussed," So Gwen, did you already fuck? If you have any regrets, you could talk to us, you know?"

"Oh yeah, I did fuck. Your mom." I said and crossed my arms.

"This little bitch-" Emma ran a hand through her curls in annoyance.

"You're not good at bullying. Drop it." I said and stood up.

"But you're very much, at flirting with someone who killed his own brother!" She shrieked, frustration clear in her tone since she was unable to make me furious by her words.

"Are you that desperate to get involved?" I asked her," Because this is clearly none of your business."

"People like you infuriate me." She scowled.

"Because?" I asked, raising a brow.

"Aren't you dating Edw-" She began.

"I'm not. Get this straight. I'm not dating a murderer." I hissed. Thinking about Edwin was making my temper surge and that bitch had reached the boundary.

"Isn't that Elijah Berryman?" A girl nudged Emma from behind.

I turned back and sighed with relief to see Elijah. He walked over to my table with a stern look on his face. The last time I had seen that expression was in the hospital when he was trying to convince me to eat.

"Why is he coming here?" One girl asked.

"For Emma of course. He's totally into her!" Another girl chimed.

I internally rolled my eyes and collected my stuff from the table.

"Where do you think you're taking off to?" Emma pulled me by the arm. I shut my eyes in frustration, trying my level best to hold it in.

I firmly gripped her hand and removed it from over my arm," Emma, you're incapable." I told her very nicely," Now, don't touch me again." I warned her and turned to leave but by that time Elijah had already approached us.

"I needed to talk-" I began but he held my hand and took me out of the canteen in no time.

I could almost hear Emma and her minions sulk at the sudden twist.

I was myself surprised. He hadn't responded to me since four hours. Then he suddenly appeared and we were inside a room I'd never been to before. In fact I didn't know that room existed. It was across the ground near the boundary wall of school premises.

"Why is it so dark in here?" I asked as he shut the door behind us. I couldn't see how big the room was, not even the walls on either sides.

"I couldn't find the switch board." He answered," It's a store room."

"There's something you need to know." I went straight to the point, since it couldn't wait any longer.

"I have to tell you something too. You go first." He said.

"You remember Kelly? Oh wait you don't know her." I groaned," Well, she's a little girl whom I met in the hospital and she used to be Mrs. Frost's patient. The day I met her...she said a pretty boy was standing behind me, but I couldn't see any boy. The second time, she said the same boy wrote something on the mirror and when I asked her where she'd seen that boy, she said she saw him on T.V." I told him the whole story in one breath and I couldn't even make out whether he was getting what I was saying or not since I couldn't see his face.

"What are you implying?" He asked.

"She was talking about Ethan." I answered.

"She...saw Ethan?" He sounded shocked.

"Exactly..." I breathed out," I can't believe he lied...I feel terrible."

Every time I asked him to show himself to me, he denied to. He said he couldn't. He made it seem as if he wasn't capable of it, when he was, all along. I knew I should've been grateful that he let me hear him, but knowing that he appeared in front of a random kid instead of me made me feel so petty.

"There must've been a reason." He said, feeling my tone falter. I didn't want to break down at that moment, but I just couldn't contain myself after I told Elijah about it.

"A reason for showing himself to a kid instead of us who helped him?" I asked.

"I was desperate to see and hear him too. But he didn't let me. There was a reason and I cannot question his decision." He said.

"But I love him! I deserved to see him!" I cried out.

"Get a hold of your emotions." He placed his hands over my shoulders," Besides. he didn't know."

"Right...that's one of my biggest regrets." I said.

"More importantly, we need to confirm it with that girl." He said.

"I know. I've got her address from Mrs. Frost." I said as I calmed down.

"Do you have his picture so we can ask that kid?" He asked me and I lowered my head and bit my lip," I do. A lot of them." I mumbled.