I Hate That I Love You ✔️

Moving Forward

By some miracle, Elijah had surprised himself when he became awake and his nose was breathing through tubes. He slowly opened his eyes and found himself in a hospital room. He had to blink a few times before he could make out the familiar figure of his mother, Sidney Prescott (Kincaid, now), sitting by his bedside, her eyes red and puffy from crying. She looked up when she noticed him stirring and smiled weakly.

"Hello, honey," She said softly, in that motherly voice he knew well. "How are you feeling, sweetie? You gave us quite a scare there for a moment. You were lucky, you know. The doctors said that if Quinn hadn't found you in time... Well, I don't even want to think about it."

Elijah winced as he tried to shift his position in the bed, the pain in his chest and side reminding him of just how close he'd come to death. He remembered how he came in between Sam and Quinn and took the bullet for his girlfriend. So, it really was an accident that Sam shot him and one that Elijah wouldn't hold it against her. "I'm okay, Mom," he croaked, his voice barely audible through the oxygen tube. "How's Quinn?" He immediately asked, thinking of his girlfriend, despite everything that happened.

Sidney hesitated for a moment before answering. "She's not doing very well, sweetie. She's in shock, I think. The police are questioning her right now about what happened. Turns out that her father was responsible and the mastermind this time. He's dead, honey. He killed your friend Sam. I'm so sorry, Elijah. I'm so sorry that all of this happened. I never wanted you to be any part of this like I had. I wanted you to have a safe and normal life."

Elijah's eyes widened as he processed this information. His mother's words sent a shiver down his spine. He swallowed hard, trying to find the words to respond.

He didn't expect that Wayne and Sam would die. And that he killed her. When he went to save Quinn from Sam's bullet, he didn't see Wayne just yet with them. Maybe he showed up to kill Sam before he thought he had died. But he wasn't sure how much of that added up.

And what was Quinn? He knew that Quinn and her family were killers and she only framed her father for it? Something didn't make sense. But he couldn't tell his mother that.

If it was known to the police that Quinn was the killer as well, a part of Elijah was selfish that he would lose her. But the other part of him was more concerned about what her father did to her. He was torn between the two emotions. He closed his eyes, feeling a heavy weight on his chest. He wished he could go back and change things.

"It's not your fault, Mom," Elijah whispered, his voice hoarse. "You did the best you could. You didn't know any of this was happening. I tried to protect you and Dad from this too. Is Quinn around? I just really want to talk to her."

Sidney looked away for a moment, her expression pained. "She's not here right now, sweetie. The police have her at the station. I don't know when I'll be able to see her. But I'll make sure that she knows you want to talk to her. I'm sure she'll understand." She reached out and gently squeezed his hand. "You just concentrate on getting better, okay? We'll get through this together. We always do."

Elijah nodded, trying to muster up some courage. He knew that his mother was right, that they would get through this together. But the weight of everything that had happened was starting to feel unbearable. He closed his eyes, trying to shut out the world for a moment, and focused on breathing through the pain.

But his father, Mark, arrived in his room along with Elijah's two little sisters. Elijah smiled at the rest of his family and he felt a little bit better. Mark gave him a strong pat on the shoulder and his two sisters hugged him tightly. They didn't say much, but Elijah knew they were just as relieved as he was that he was alive. They talked and gave him enough company that Elijah was able to forget about everything else.