Two Steps Behind

Part 33

 It had been three days since he'd watched her walk away from him. Eddie pulled into Debi's driveway, put his van in park, and just sat for a while. How the hell did they get here? How did Elizabeth go from asking for him in the hospital, turning to him for comfort, telling him all she'd ever wanted was to be with him, to three days of her refusing to even talk to him?

He had been calling every day, multiple times to see how she was doing. Debi told him she was locked in her bedroom most of the time and wasn't even talking to her. Angie had also tried but Elizabeth wasn't speaking to anybody. Angie had been coming while Debi had to work so he knew she wasn't alone but today they both had to work and couldn't get out of it. He knew he was probably the last person she wanted there, but he wasn't going to let her be alone with that psycho still running around. If she wanted to hide from him, fine, but at least he'd know she was safe.

Eddie took a deep breath and stepped out of the van. The front door opened and he stupidly hoped it was Elizabeth, ready to run into his arms and tell him she hadn't meant any of this, for a moment. It wasn't, of course it wasn't. Her mom stood there, waiting for him. She gave him a half-hearted smile and walked up to hug him.

"I'm so sorry," she said. "I didn't know what else to do. I have begged her to come to the phone when you call, but she won't. I've tried to talk to her a thousand times, but she just lays there, silently. She won't even look at me. She's barely eaten anything. It's like she's not even in there. She's scaring the hell out of me. It feels like she's just given up on living."

Eddie's eyes glanced up to the window that he knew was her room. He had hopped in and out of that window quite a few times over the years. He had tossed rocks at that window at ungodly hours to get her attention. He had spent countless nights sleeping in that room, the two of them talking late into the night.

"I'm sorry I asked you to come," her mom continued. "I know this is probably the last thing you want to do right now because I know you're hurting too. I just, besides you and Angie, I didn't know who else to call. I'm scared to leave her alone, not just because of David anymore, but because I'm scared she might be a danger to herself."

"Has she tried to hurt herself?" Eddie questioned fearfully.

"No," Debi assured him, shaking her head. "No. Nothing like that, but she's just...I don't know. I've thought about calling a doctor or an ambulance or something. I mean, my daughter is laying in that bed, but she's not my daughter. Everything that makes her Elizabeth has just been snuffed out and she's like a shell of the beautiful girl she used to be."

Eddie's heart sank like the Titanic after it hit the iceberg. In his mind, he could see Elizabeth's smile, the light in her eyes, so clearly. He could also see the way she looked at him a few days ago, like a page from a book where the story had been erased. He couldn't let that happen. His mind raced, flashing through memories of the two of them over the years. He couldn't let their story be erased. He couldn't let her disappear. Even if she wanted nothing to do with him, he couldn't face this life knowing she wasn't still his Elizabeth, the one whose smile shined brighter than all the stars, whose laugh was like the most beautiful melody.

"I am going to try to get through to her," he insisted. "I mean, we have to. Until she tells us what has her so closed off, we won't be able to help her. I know she's worried about David, but this feels like something else. It feels like something more."

"She said something to me," Debi admitted, and from the

look on her face, he could tell she was conflicted about whether she should break her daughter's confidence or not. "I don't know if I should tell you this, but at this point, I feel like I don't have another choice. She said he was going to get her in the end so what did it matter because no one was going to stop him. She walked away from you because she's terrified that he is going to try to hurt you, too, if he thinks you're still together. Personally, I think that ship has sailed either way. I don't think you're ever going to come off his shit list. But...it disturbed me because I think she's just accepted that he's going to kill her and so she's just disconnecting from all of us to try to keep us safe or spare our feelings or something, as if that would help. As if anything would help if we lost her."