solaris viverra

CHAPTER II

    Stripes of light hit Eli's face. He started to blink being confused as he had just awoken. Considering the fact he was in an unknown environment it would have been expected that he would have slept light but it seemed like he was deep in his dreams. Eli looked up groggily to see an annoyed Declan. He had his hand on his hip and was tapping his foot, just waiting for this boy to get up.

"Mom just five more minutes-" Eli jokingly said.

"No get up we are late for orientation. You should have set an alarm."

"You could have left me ya know" he teased.

"No."

    Eli stretched and changed out of his sweatpants. He put on the warmest things possible then walked to the assembly with Declan. The assembly was being held in the field. It was probably the only place that could hold the number of students in one place. As they walked through the snow they heard murmuring from a crowd slowly increase in volume.

The principle was giving an introduction and explanation of the school layout that Eli didn't particularly care for. Then he mentioned something.

    "As per the tradition we will be holding the 'Dedicated Scholars Award'. The deadline will be next week. If you would like to participate stay here otherwise you are free to leave." After a few minutes when most students have left, mainly freshman students remained. "This award is a check for $8000 that goes towards any school related fees. These can be field trips, classes, tuition, electronics, or even materials for studying. The award requires the participating students to submit a letter with essays answering various prompts. To participate please see the schools website and sign yourselves up. That will be all." The remaining students got up to explore campus. Eli however, was still very tired. He decided to go back to his dorm to sleep.

    "Go! You never do anything anyways. Always caused problems for-" Mom's furious screaming stopped briefly as he hit her again. I didn't know what to do. I just stood there watching. How could I be so useless? I tried to move to help, it seemed like my feet where glued. Slowly realizing I was stuck I attempted to move my arms. Why, why, why, I just couldn't. Why wouldn't I do anything to help? I tried to scream and every time I opened my mouth nothing came out. It was just silence. Slowly people rose from out of the ground. "Remember what you did to me?" "You can't fight back now? Where was that when you tortured me?" A tear fell down my face. How could I be like this. So disappointing. The crowd surrounded me. My head was spinning around in circles. What the hell. Julius pushed the crowd away, I saw myself in him. I hurt innocent people exactly like that. That's the most horrifying thing. He came closer to me and was just about to-

Eli jolted awake with a yell. He was in a sweat. Declan rushed in to see him panting and rubbing his face.

"Are you okay?"

"What the fuck's your problem, leave me alone."

Declan looked hurt and walked away.

Why did I do that.

    Eli got up a moment later and went to Declan's room. He knocked and tried to apologize but Declan cut him off saying, "It's okay man, I shouldn't have bothered you." He felt like he had been stabbed. He smiled weakly and stumbled back to his room. Rafael just stared blankly.

    It was now the middle of the day. He had slept for so long. Eli took a shower and got ready for the day. He put on his clothes- he only had a couple sweaters and pants because he was in a rush when he left home. He went to the uniform store and picked up a blazer, two pairs of pants and a few button up shirts. Everything was way too expensive. After that he walked to the library so he could use a computer to apply for the award. Once he had finished he got up and saw the girl from town leaving the library. He tried to catch up with her but she seemingly disappeared in the crowd rushing through the hall. He sighed defeatedly and went back to the dorms. He didn't know what to do. Recently all he ever wanted to do was sleep. He tried to pick up a pen and notebook from his bag and saw the shirt he was wearing when he left. All he could see when he saw that shirt was the blood splatter that it once held. He picked it up and went into the main area to throw it away. Unbeknownst to him, Declan looked worryingly over to Rafael.

    Instead of drawing he rearranged his room. He put the desk by the window and moved the wardrobe so that the bed could be further away from the window. He was essentially living in a 1x1 square room. He put his new uniform in the wardrobe, hanging it up neatly so it wouldn't wrinkle. He placed his shoes on the bottom and threw in his luggage and the clothes inside of it. Satisfied with that he opened up his bag and took out his textbooks and notebooks and placed them on the shelf attached to the desk. He pulled out an empty notebook and began to work on the essay for the award.

    As the sun started to fade behind the mountainous landscape he started to feel a bit hungry. Eli got up to go to dinner. Looking at the sludge on his plate he decided that he wasn't really hungry anymore. After discarding his tray he went over to the library just to sit and read for a little bit.

Once again it was dark. Eli rose and looked around, only seeing a single light coming from behind a shelf. He walked over to see if anyone else was awake and it was the girl. He tried to talk to her whispering, "Hey, uhm whatcha working on?" The girl turned her head looking scared, her lip quivered. She was about to say something but then started to tear up and she ran away.

Jesus Christ I think I just killed any chance of that ever happening.

He noticed she left her belongings. He didn't think she was coming back so he packed up her stuff and read that her name was Violet. He decided he would return it in the morning since he could get in trouble if he went to the girls dorms now.  He half heartedly went back to his room and went into bed, he was scared of dreaming but way too afraid to be awake.

**

The next morning classes were officially starting. Eli got ready quickly. He made sure to make his bed for room checks. He did wonder how they didn't notice he was missing at lights out though. At the dining hall he brought Violet's belongings hoping he would see her. His eyes shuffled through the crowd until it met with hers. Her fair skin, dark brown eyes, slightly parted lips, all seemed immeasurably beautiful to Eli. He pushed past the other people to return her bag. As he pulled the bag off his shoulder to pass it to her, her eyes darted up towards his. A connection. She grabbed the bag saying, "Thank you."

"It's all cool. Do you want to eat breakfast together."

"Uhh-"

She was interrupted by a boy who pushed right past her and knocked Eli back. Eli looked pissed but chose to keep his cool. The boy turned around and saw the girl talking to Eli. He turned back and said, "Oh, so sorry about that. My name's Callum." He reached out his hand with a seemingly genuine smile to Violet. She shook his hand politely and said, "I'm Violet." He was quite tall so he was hunched over, with his blonde hair falling in his eyes view. He was then quickly pulled away by two boys who were trying to tell him something. Eli looked back over at the girl and she was walking away. He caught up with her and they ended up sitting together.

"So what year are you in?"

That should be a lighthearted question to ask.

"Sophomore year baby."

She realized what she said (even if it was a joke) and her distrust started to fade slightly.

Maybe this won't be so bad after all.

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Sorry this one's short yall, I promise I'll update with another chapter soon 🥵🥵