TheLilyinBloom5963

  Tuesday morning started as it had the previous week, as Eli arrived early for css to talk with Rachel.

  “Good morning Rachel.” Eli said as he sat down beside him.

  Eli had just taken his seat when he was smacked upside the head by a gauntleted hand. “So Amy told me exactly what has been going on over the st couple of days, you are one stubborn dumbass, you know that?”

  Eli rubbed the back of his head. “What was that for?”

  “For making Amy worry about you so much, seriously Eli, there is nothing wrong with asking for help. Barricading yourself in your room so that you can’t sleep, are you stupid?”

  “It was working I’ll have you know.”

  Rachel could just stare at Eli. “Oh and how long do you think you could st for? The human body can only go so long without sleep and just trying to shut Amy out entirely was mean, she cares about you Eli.”

  “Yeah, I know that now. But I still don’t understand why? She barely knows me and yet she cares about me way too much.”

  Rachel smiled in response. “Yeah, that sounds like Amy. She is just a gem.”

  After that little exchange, the morning css passed as normal. This week it seemed that the teacher had gotten the harassment out of his system and left Eli alone. He still insisted on using Eli’s full name for role call, but Eli didn’t make a fuss this time. At the end of css Eli quickly rose from his chair as he tried to head for his next css before a firm armoured hand nded on his shoulder. “Eli, you’re going to that blood appointment after school right?”

  Eli turned to look at Rachel in surprise. “Did Amy not tell you anything?”

  “Nope she told me everything, always does. That’s why she’s the best.”

  Eli sighed in defeat. He could not weasel his way out of his appointment this afternoon. “Yes, I am pnning on going.”

  “You know I was your age once too, right? I can tell you are lying.”

  “What? I’m telling the truth, I was pnning on going to that appointment… eventually.”

  “And there it is. You know Amy was right, you are really cute when you try to lie. You start staring at the floor and it seems that if you get called out you start getting all blushy too.”

  Eli quickly turned away as he tried to hide the blush that had settled over his face. Why were these girls so good at reading him? Why couldn’t they just ignore him like his parents did?

  Rachel leaned over while Eli had his back turned and whispered in his ear. “Amy also said that you were really fun and easy to pick up.”

  Eli quickly leapt away while spinning around as his foot caught on a table leg and fell over. Rachel was quick however, and quickly snatched him up to prevent him from hitting his head.

  “Looks like Amy was right. You are fun to treat like a princess.” Rachel stared down at Eli, only a few inches taller compared to how Amy towered over Eli.

  Eli blushed intensely at finding him in this same situation once more. What was wrong with the girls in this school? Why did they insist on carrying him all the time? Why did he enjoy it so much? Why did his heart race so much when Rachel referred to him as a princess? Thoughts swirled in Eli’s head as he tried to figure out the situation. “Um… uh… thansks.” As Rachel pced him back on his feet, Eli could barely put words together.

  Rachel smiled down at Eli, a glint in her warm brown eyes. “This is just too easy, I can’t wait for you to figure things out.”

  Eli could only stare at Rachel in confusion. “Figure things out? What do you mean?”

  Rachel only smiled in return as she walked away, waving back at him. “You’ll figure it out… eventually.”

  And then she was gone. Eli stood there dumbfounded for a minute before he quickly left for his next css.

  The rest of the day passed as normal as Eli tried to get his thoughts in order. Why did all these girls keep saying these weird things to him? Why did his heart flutter when they did? These thoughts raced through Eli’s brain as he exited his st css of the day and headed towards the apartment. Eli had walked about five steps when two hands nded on his shoulder, stopping him in his tracks. One hand was slender with purple nails and fair blue skin. The other was covered in yers of armour. Eli recognized these hands. Slowly he turned around to see the two people he wanted to avoid the most right now, Amy and Rachel. They stood there in light clothing, Amy wearing a crop top and bck workout shorts while Rachel wore her signature jeans and red pid button-up over a bck tank top.

  “Where do you think that you are going Eli?” Amy smiled down at him. Her emerald eyes seemed to catch and reflect the sunlight as they glowed slightly, and her tail had snaked over and wrapped around his ankle.

  “Did you really think that you could dodge your appointment after school today?” Rachel was now standing there with her arms crossed and covered in armour.

  “Um…uh… I was just heading back to the apartment to drop my stuff off and then I was going to head over to the hospital…haha.” Eli looked nervously back and forth between the girls. He hoped that they bought his story and leave him alone.

  Amy’s smile grew rger on her face. “Likely story, and how did you pn on getting there?”

  “Um… the bus.”

  It was Rachel’s turn now as she poked him in the cheek. “Eli do you even know where the bus stop is? Let alone the bus routes to get to the hospital. Also if you had bothered to follow up with your doctor you would know that you aren’t going to the hospital, you’re going to the nearby blood clinic.”

  “Yeah the blood clinic, that’s where I was headed. It slipped my mind.”

  Amy looked at Rachel and then back to Eli. “The one over on Memorial street?”

  Eli quickly piped up. “Yeah that one. That’s the one I was going to catch a bus to.”

  Amy and Rachel were staring intensely at Eli now. Rachel shook her head slowly. “Eli, there is no blood clinic on Memorial street. The closest Memorial street is on the other side of the GMTA.”

  “Oh…” Eli quickly looked at the ground as he dragged his feet in circles against the ground, Eli started to blush as he tried to think of a way out of this situation.

  Amy looked at Rachel and back to Eli. “Alright looks like we are taking my car.”

  Eli looked up. “What? No, there’s no need for you to do that. I promise I can get there on my own.”

  Rachel stood back a bit with a smug grin on her face. “Eli, just give up, your not weaseling your way out of this one. We are here to make sure that you get to that appointment.”

  Eli looked back and forth between the two girls with exasperation. “But why? Why do you two care about me so much?”

  Rachel’s smile softened. “Cause we are your friends Eli and friends take care of one another.”

  “How am I your friend? You barely know me, you have had five csses with me and only hung out with me once outside of school.”

  “So?” Amy responded. “There are no minimum requirements for us to consider you a friend, Eli. You don’t need to have done a certain amount of things with us for us to care about you. We care about you because we want to, and we know some of the things you are going through and want to help you through them.”

  Eli looked back and forth between the two girls as tears started to form in his eyes. Eli tried hard to wipe them away desperately. He was a man, after all, and men don’t cry. Men can’t cry. “I don’t understand. How can you be so nice to me? I have done nothing to deserve such kindness. I am always being such a burden on others, so why? What have I possibly done to deserve this?”

  Amy and Rachel both acted this time as they wrapped Eli in a hug. Rachel whispered to Eli, “Eli, you don’t need to earn love, everyone deserves it. You shouldn’t have to work to deserve kindness from others.”

  Eli couldn’t hold it back any longer as tears streamed down his face. Why were they so nice to him? How could he ever pay them back for this? Why weren’t they pushing him away? Why did they insist on looking out for him when he had only known them for a week? It didn’t make sense to Eli. Compared to everyone else he knew, this didn’t seem right. He hadn’t earned their kindness yet, so why did they so freely give it? Eli felt two armoured hands wrap around him once more as he was carried away. He could hear both of the girls talking to him, but he heard none of them. He was too lost in his head as his thoughts swirled round and round as he tried to make sense of the situation.

  Eventually, Eli was pced in the backseat of a car as Rachel climbed in beside him. Eli felt wrapped in warmth. It was just too much for him to handle as his mind slowly faded.

  ______________________________________________________________________________

  Eli awoke to someone slowly shaking him. As he opened his eyes, he saw Rachel looking down at him. Eli didn’t know why, but he really liked it when he saw Rachel smile, Amy too.

  “Feeling any better?” Rachel said softly.

  Eli scrambled to sit up as he realized he was lying on Rachel's p. “So…sorry Rachel, I didn’t mean to impose like that. You shouldn’t have had to deal with me acting so poorly.”

  Rachel could only sigh as the door beside Eli popped open, and Amy stuck her head in. “Seriously Eli, you need to get some therapy. You shouldn’t be so focused on whether you deserve something or not. It’s not healthy.”

  Eli tried to get out of the car, but Amy blocked the way. “I’m fine really, it’s nothing.”

  Amy stood there, staring at him before she turned around and walked away, fishing her phone out of her pocket. “I’m going to make a call. Do you mind taking Eli inside, Rach?”

  “Not at all.” Rachel got out of the car and grabbed Eli’s hand. She began to pull him towards the building's door. Eli tried to resist, trying to pnt his feet so that he wouldn’t move. It did not work. Eli succeeded in falling over and being plucked into the air instead by Rachel. “If you wanted me to carry you inside, you should have just asked my little prince.”

  Eli winced at that. Why did it sound so wrong? When he had imagined it st time, the ball, the dancing, the music, it all felt so amazing, but this time, it just felt so wrong. Eli imagined himself walking down the stairs, wearing a pressed suit and taking a dy's hand for a dance, but it was just not right. The whole scene made him feel weird. Why did he not like that? It didn’t make any sense. He was a man. He was supposed to like this stuff.

  As she walked towards the building, Rachel noticed Eli squirming in her arms. “What’s wrong Eli?”

  “I don’t know. Something about what you just said just rubs me the wrong way, but I don’t know why.”

  Rachel only smirked in return as she continued to walk towards the building. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

  Once Eli and Rachel were signed in, they waited only five minutes before Amy joined them in the waiting room. Eli tapped his feet repeatedly against the stone floor. He was nervous. Why was he so nervous? Rachel and Amy continued to talk with each other. Eli was stuck between them as they talked about school and other things. Eli was preoccupied. His thoughts spun as he looked around the room. The white walls and faint music reminded him of something, but what?

  Ten minutes passed before a nurse escorted the three of them to another room with a rge chair in the center. Eli sat in the center chair. His nerves were getting to him, and he couldn’t sit still as he fidgeted incessantly. Finally, the nurse arrived.

  “Alright Eli, this is all standard procedure, just a regur blood draw, should only take three minutes at the most.”

  Eli looked around the room. He felt faint. The lights, the walls, everything seemed so familiar and wrong. Eli didn’t want to be here, but he persevered.

  Amy noticed that Eli was on edge. “Eli, what’s wrong? I can tell that something is bugging you.”

  “...” Eli continued to look around the room. At this point, he wanted out of there, and he hoped this would be over soon.

  Rachel walked over to Eli and gave him a shake. “Eli… Eli what’s wrong, your shaking.”

  The nurse pulled up a stool beside Eli. “Can I see your arm please.”

  Eli obliged as he looked around the room warily.

  The nurse proceeded to clean the area around his elbow with some rubbing alcohol. “Make a fist please”

  Once again Eli obliged while gncing around the room. He needed to get out of here. He shouldn’t be here. Why was he here?

  The nurse proceeded to bandage Eli’s arm so that the needle could collect a sufficient amount of blood. When the nurse pulled out a needle to draw blood, Eli saw it.

  Eli freaked out. He started thrashing wildly, he needed out of here, he needed to escape. Not again, he couldn’t be here again. Eli’s eyes gzed over as fshes of a dark room with his father standing over him. He could hear his ughter, hear his voice again. “Remember, your high school bully did it but you don’t hold it against him. Your eye was damaged in the school incident.” Eli saw it once more. A jagged point approached his eye. Tears streamed down his face as he thrashed and screamed and cried. He tried everything to escape. The pain coursed through him. He couldn’t see as bandages were wrapped around his eye. He panicked. He needed to escape. He tried to tear away the bandages, but his arms were strapped to the chair.

  Eli was thrashing in the chair as Rachel and Amy held him down. He was screaming and crying as he tried to cw at his face, trying to grab at his false eye. The two of them had to hold him down as the nurse backed away.

  The nurse had her back against the wall. “What’s wrong? Why didn’t you say that he had a phobia of needles.”

  Amy looked over to the nurse as Eli continued to thrash about. His eyes were gzed over. ”If we had known we would have told you, this is new to us as well. He has never reacted like this as long as we have known him.”

  Rachel looked over to the nurse. “Well don’t just stand there, do you have anything to help him?”

  The nurse just shook her head. “I’m sorry, I’m not authorized to administer any form of non-prescribed medication, let alone any form of tranquilizer.”

  Amy looked over to Rachel before she swung her leg over the chair, sat down on Eli’s p, and pinned his arms against the chair. “Rach, I need you to hold his head in pce. I’m going to try to calm him down.”

  Rachel looked at Amy’s determination before nodding. “Alright, I can do that. But please be careful. What are you going to do anyway?”

  “I’m going to attempt to force and emotional connection to try and calm him down.”

  “Have you ever done this before?”

  “No, but something has him so worked up and we need to calm him down before he hurts himself.”

  “Alright. Best of luck.”

  Amy proceeded to lower her forehead against Eli’s as he continued to struggle against Rachel’s iron grip. Her eyes glowed green as she concentrated on forming a connection between herself and Eli. Her eyes grew brighter as they illuminated the room in an emerald glow. She could feel it, like a tendril that she was slowly extending toward Eli’s mind. The closer she got to her goal, the more terror and pain she could feel radiating from inside him. Finally, she managed to touch upon Eli’s conscience. She tried to push for the connection to form, but her tendril found no resistance the second she touched. With a fsh, the room around her disappeared.

  Amy found herself standing in a dimly lit room with dingy white walls and old white ceiling lights. In the middle of the room was a rge chair that looked like it belonged in a dentist's office or something simir. The chair had flopped onto its side, and a child still strapped to the chair struggled to break free. The child was thrashing back and forth as blood and tears stained their face. They only looked to be around 13 or 14. Their wrists and ankles had been strapped down to the chair. Beside the chair on the floor, a tray with a variety of instruments y scattered everywhere. Amy ran over to the chair and tried to undo the restraints, holding the kid down. It was a struggle as the kid continued to move back and forth, pulling at the restraints as hard as they could. Amy tried to talk to the kid, but it was of no use. Suddenly, a man’s voice boomed through the air.

  “What do you think you are doing to my son?” He was a tall man, though his appearance was cast in shadow. Amy could make out his eyes. They were hollow brown eyes that seemed to gaze through you and into the distance. They were filled with apathy and hatred as the man slowly stomped his way over.

  Amy took a defensive stance in front of the kid. “Who are you, what do you think you are doing to Eli.”

  “I am the boys father. His name is Elliot, to think he would continue to talk about this girly crap with a complete stranger, I knew I should have disciplined him harder.” The man slowly pulled his belt from his waist as he made his way towards Amy. His left eye seemed to change colour until it was yellow and the iris seemed to swirl into a spiral pattern. “He is nothing but an ungrateful piece of garbage, he doesn’t deserve the kindness that we give him, I must drive these bad habits from his mind so that he can become a real man and stop acting like a little girl. He is lucky we haven’t thrown him out already.”

  Amy’s eyes started to glow, like fshlights in the dimly lit room. Her tail whipped back and forth as her wings unfurled. She was furious. This was the man who had hurt Eli. This was the level that he had stooped to. No wonder Eli was so fragile and hurt. Amy slowly made her way towards the man.

  “That is enough, you have terrified Eli for too long, you have stolen his happiness, You have stolen his sight, you have taken his mobility and worst you have taken away his self worth.” Each sentence was punctuated by Amy punching the man in the face as he was driven backwards before Amy picked the man up by his throat and smmed him into the wall. “You have caused enough damage to Eli and I will not allow you to go any further.” Amy started to crush the man’s throat, her grip getting tighter and tighter until the man crumbled into shadows.

  Amy rushed back over to Eli, standing the chair up as she worked desperately at the restraints before she finally managed to free him.

  Eli got up out of the chair. He managed to take a single step before he colpsed into Amy’s arms. Tears continued to stream down his face, mixing with the blood from his recent injury. “It’s alright Eli, I’m here. Your father’s gone, he can’t hurt you anymore.”

  Eli continued to sob into Amy’s chest. “Are you sure, I can’t see. Maybe he is just waiting for me to leave the room. What if he takes my other eye this time?”

  Amy could feel the terror that radiated off of Eli as she held him close and whispered into his ear, letting him know that he was safe and that the man was never coming back. Slowly but surely, Eli quieted down until he was quietly sobbing in her arms.

  The boy looked up at Amy as he wrapped her in a hug. “Is he gone for real? Am I finally free?”

  Amy held Eli close. “Yes Eli, he is gone. Gone forever, you are free.”

  Eli slowly wiped at his nose while he smiled up at Amy. “Thank you miss, but Eli isn’t my name.”

  Amy could feel the connection that she shared with Eli starting to fade as the surroundings started to disappear. “Wait, what do you mean?”

  The connection grew fainter as she was dragged further and further away. Eli was now standing with the bandages missing from their head, revealing long shoulder-length hair and blue eyes. Standing there in a white shirt and a light blue skirt, Eli called out to Amy. Their voice grew distant as a rge smile was pstered on their face. “My name is Emi-”

  The connection cut off as Amy slowly returned to reality.

  ______________________________________________________________________________

  Eli awoke to find Amy pressed against him in the dentist’s chair in the nurse’s office. Her emerald green eyes seemed to be staring intensely at him as tears streamed down her face.

  “You're okay, thanks gods you’re okay Eli, I was so worried.”

  “What, what happened?” Eli tried to look around but couldn’t as his head was still being held in pce by two strong armoured hands. Eli looked upwards to see Rachel standing there, concern written on her face.

  Rachel turned her head towards Amy. “Are you alright Ames?”

  Amy slowly rose up so that she was no longer slumped against his chest. “Yeah, I’m fine, I’ve never had to force an emotional connection before, ended up in Eli’s brain, had to save him from his dad. Not going to lie, I am completely worn out mentally.”

  Rachel looked back and forth between Amy and Eli. “Holy shit. That is some deep seated trauma. What the hell happened.”

  Amy looked at Rachel before she looked back into Eli’s dark brown eyes, still looking distant. “Eli, how did you lose you eye?”

  Eli looked deep into Amy’s eyes. “I told you before, I lost it during the school inci….dent. No, that’s not right. That’s not right at all. I lost my eye after the school incident. My father got extremely intoxicated and dragged me down into the basement and then he strapped me into a chair and gouged my left eye out.”

  Rachel took a step back, her eyes growing to the size of saucers. “What. The. Fuck. Eli why didn’t you say that before?”

  “I…I don’t know…I just knew that every time it came up, there was only one answer, and I should repeat that answer.”

  Amy sighed while looking at Eli. “Well, it's a good thing you are scheduled for therapy next week.”

  “I’m WHAT!”