Orphic

Spring Fifteen - Elliot

We were in the car for hours. Carli refused to speak to me but I couldn't bring myself to fall asleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I only thought of Cass and all of my unanswered questions.

When we finally arrived at our destination, Carli snapped at me to get out and started driving off before I even had time to close the door properly.

I bit back calling her anything too offensive and turned to see a very expensive looking apartment building.

Bella was waiting outside. she smiled and gave me a moment to take everything in before approaching. She checked me over very carefully for any injuries before pulling me into the biggest hug.

She started talking but for some reason I'd tuned her out. I was tired.

"Elliot? you okay?"

"Is he here?" I managed to ask, rubbing my eyes in an attempt to stay awake.

She backed away and smiled, "Course, inside. Come in. I've got your bag and stuff. Oh, food too. If you're hungry."

I finally let all the tension in my shoulders melt away and I followed her into the apartment building.

the door she opened brought us immediately to a set of stairs that lead straight to a door. nothing else. just the door.

"Watch your step." She muttered, running up.

By the time I got up the stairs, the exhaustion had hit the rest of my body and I only felt like taking a really long nap.

Bella held the door open for me and muttered some small apology about how messy it was. I didn't really notice though, because I was completely captivated by the art all over the walls.

Hundreds of drawings were pinned up everywhere, there wasn't a blank wall in sight.

I recognized it immediately as Cass' art. The lines on each of the pictures matched the style of his tattoo perfectly.

"Wow."

"Yea. It's cool right." She smiled before being distracted by something else.

"Emily, I'm sorry, you can't be that close just yet. I need to figure out where he's at before you get all cuddly." Bella rushed, making her way into another room off to the right of the entrance.

I took a peek into the kitchen, there was pizza on the counter but for some reason the smell made me feel sick so I changed my direction to following Bella into the other room.

I was pretty sure it was the living room. Or it used to be. Bella had pulled their couch out into some sort of bed. She had an IV going for Clint and all kinds of medical carts scattered around the room.

Clint looked incredibly pale, he had the darkest bags that I'd ever seen under his eyes and even his hair seemed to be losing its color.

Emily was about to take a seat in a very uncomfortable looking chair that had been set up across from Clint before she noticed me and immediately came over. She had a nasty bump on her head and another bandaid on her cheek but she seemed otherwise unharmed.

"I'm glad you're okay." She sighed, pulling me into a hug.

"Where are the boys?" I asked, looking towards Bella, she tilted her head towards one of the doors she was standing next too, "Sleeping, in the guest room."

I nodded and glanced around for any sign of Cass while Emily finally let go and made her way back into the chair.

"What happened to you?" I asked. Emily let out a small laugh, "An angry nurse. It was quite funny. She threw a stethoscope at me."