Manic

Chapter 27.

Upon arriving back to the car, we change into a new pair of clothes. Rivers fashioned his all too famous black t-shirt and black jeans, and I, wearing a pink floyd shirt and tan jeans. Rivers wraps a warm blanket around me, and opens the door for me to get in.

"I had no idea you were such a gentleman." I tease.

Rivers smiles at me, "There's still so much for you to learn about me." He says.

He goes around the car to the other side and gets in the driver's seat. "I plan to learn it all." I say.

Rivers looks at me and smiles. "Good." He says.

As we leave the beautiful park, I can't help but feel sad. Such a wonderful place, and yet I'm filled with the feeling that I will never get to go there again.

I look at Rivers and see the same expression on his face. He must be thinking the same thing I was.

He turns on his music, and we ride in silence, a smile forming on each of our faces as we recall the events from the pool. Talking with Rivers, I couldn't help but to feel normal. Like the underlying factors that made me a freak, my voices didn't exist.

But alas, things can only be going so well for so long.

"Someone needs to catch this boy because he is FALLING!" Danny says.

"God forbid." Reid says.

"I'm so happy for you Elijah." Saraphina chimes, "You belong with Rivers."

A smile comes to my lips, Saraphina always had that calming effect on me. And Danny, on the other hand, had always had the opposite effect.

"Just wait until he finds out you have multiple personalities and he picks up his things and leaves you. That will really crush you." He says.

"He wouldn't do that," Saraphina argues.

"I would." Reid says. "Anyone with half a brain would."

"You don't even have a brain, you're a stigmant of Elijah's imagination." Danny says.

"In that case, so are you." Reid says to Danny.

"Both of you, be quiet. Rivers is talking." Saraphina snaps me back into the moment. I turn to Rivers who is in the middle of a conversation.

"Right, Elijah?" He asks me.

"Uhh... yeah." I agree, though I have no idea what he is talking about.

He smiles, "I knew you'd feel the same." He says. "Say, what was that book you were reading this morning?"

I grin, "The book I was trying to read was Harry Potter." I reply.

Rivers mouth hangs open. "You haven't read Harry Potter?"

"Oh, I've read it. The first sentence over and over again." I reply.

Rivers looks as if I had just slapped him in the face. "By the gods, Jude. How have you not read one of the greatest pieces of literature in all time?"

I put my hands up in mock defense, "I told you, I've tried!" I chuckle, "There just always seems to be something else on my mind." Or someone else, I think to myself.

Rivers laughs, "This is a serious problem."

"What, a red flag?"

"It's like it is waving right in front of my eyes and I just have been so blinded by your perfect face this whole time that I couldn't see it waving." He teases.

I laugh. It's hard to explain, but Rivers seemed to have me enchanted. In a trance where no matter what was going on in my mind, he could make me feel better.

We reach the house in less time than it took us to get to the falls. Rivers tells me to meet him in the garden, saying he has to grab something from his room and will be right there.

I'm sitting in the grass, crossed legged when I hear footsteps behind me. A smile creeps on my lips and I turn around, expecting to see Rivers, but I see Arden instead. Arden acknowledges me as if I were less than him. He's wearing a leather jacket and a white t-shirt with black jeans. His hair is slicked back like always, and his eyes have something that resembles sadness in them.

He stops beside me, no longer looking at me, but staring at the sky in all its glory. "You aren't anything special, you know." he says to me.

I felt as if I had just been punched in the gut. When in my life have I ever thought that I was anything special to anyone? Never. I never have. Where was this coming from?

"What?" I ask, because I wasn't sure I had heard him correctly.

"You think you are, because Rivers is giving you all his attention and showing you his favorite places. You think you're the first boy he's taken to Buttermilk falls?" He asks me.

I hadn't even thought of that. Was I? I couldn't be.

I don't have a response, but Arden continues anyway. "You're nothing special, Elijah. And soon, Rivers is going to break your heart, just like he has with every boy he's ever made his conquest."

I look up at Arden now, completely shocked at the words that were leaving his mouth. He looks down at me with anger in his eyes, and turns and leaves me alone in the garden.

A few minutes later, Rivers appears beside me. He's holding a book, but I'm still too shocked to pay any attention to what book it was. "What happened to you?" he asks. "You look like you've seen a ghost!" He says and laughs.

When I don't join in on the laughter, he gets serious. "Are you okay, Elijah?" He asks me.

I look up from the grass and into his eyes. His eyes that I realize for the first time might be the same eyes that many others have looked into, and felt at home. "Am I just a conquest to you, Rivers?" I ask him.

His expression is one of shock, "What are you talking about?" He asks.

"Am I?" I repeat.

"My god Elijah, no. Why do you say that?" he asks, concern evident in his voice. Rivers looks up and sees Arden standing on the back porch and rage rises in his expression. "Oh." he says.

Tears come to my eyes. Stupid, injured, tears that I can't keep from falling. I look up and meet Rivers' gaze. "Am I special to you?" I ask him.

His voice is soft when he responds, "Of course you are, Elijah." He says. "Don't think for a second that you aren't."

I look back at the ground.

Rivers stands up, "Did Arden say something to you?" he asks.

My silence answers his question.

"Wait right here." He says, dropping a book on the ground beside me.

Rivers marches away, and I hear the distant sound of a door closing.

I look to the ground by my legs, and see an old, beaten up, copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone lying on the ground.

More tears fall.