Letting Him In

Chapter-6

"Unbreak the broken
Unsay these spoken words
Find hope in the hopeless
Pull me out of the train wreck"

-James Arthur, Trainwreck
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Elijah

Elijah was tired beyond measure; he had been exhausted after the whole ordeal at school, but now he was bone tired. He had spent the evening at work like he usually did, except today he'd had three more people with him, who continuously challenged him to different games. Dean and Nate may have been considered the football Gods of their school, but Elijah practically lived at the arcade. The looks of surprise on their faces every time they lost had caused Elijah and Allen to double over laughing. When he wasn't attending to a customer, he'd be playing with them. Although he had certainly enjoyed himself and had even allowed himself to forget about everything that had happened before, it was now coming back in full force.

He had just dropped the three of them off at Nate's place, as Allen and Dean would be spending the night there. But heading home meant he had to face another problem- his parents, whose phone calls he had been avoiding all day. He knew he was going to be in deep trouble when he arrived home.

Parking his car in the driveway, he slowly got out and made his was inside. As soon as he walked in, his parents came out of their bedroom, and he stood silently, waiting for the lecture to begin. When it did not, he looked at them, only to find them looking at him with sadness.

"Why're you looking at me like that? Usually, you give me that look after you're done with the yelling," he said, too drained to filter his thoughts.

His father exhaled and gestured toward the living room. "Sit down; we need to have a talk."

And the day gets longer, thought Elijah. Why can't I catch a break?

He took a seat opposite to where his parents had settled down. When he was met with silence once again, he took a deep breath, and said, "I'm sorry, okay? I know I shouldn't have skipped half the day without telling you and I should have answered the phone, and it won't happen again." He looked at the ground, feeling overwhelmed.

"And what about trying out for the swim team?" his mother asked, raising her eyebrows.

Elijah's head jerked up in surprise. "Leo and Lily told you?" he exclaimed.

His father looked at him with confusion. "They knew?"

What? thought Elijah. Then who- oh no he didn't!

"Please tell me it wasn't Kaeden," Elijah groaned, hoping his best friend had nothing to do with this.

His mother shook her head, looking disappointed. "That's what you have to say for yourself, Elijah? You start doing things without telling us and then your biggest concern is how we found out!" Elise said, anger filling her voice.

Elijah put his head in his hands. "I didn't tell you because you worry a lot, mum! It's not like I made it to the team and didn't tell you."

"That is not the point, Lijah! It's that you can't do all this and then expect to walk away with an 'I'm sorry'!"

Elijah tried to stay calm, but all the anger and sadness that he had been keeping at bay all day was getting to him now. "You don't understand; it's not about doing something and hiding it from either of you. It is about me wanting to live normally. Can you name one other kid whose parents would be upset if he didn't tell them that he was trying out for a team at school?" He tried keeping his face neutral, but the slight tremor in his voice and his fidgety motions gave away everything he was feeling.