My Beloved Sunshine

The Aftermath and Ellis' story

We all went to the room, it wasn't actually that late, I knew this because Ellis' phone rang and it was her parents.

I gave her the phone and she signaled me if I had any more alcohol on me before picking up the phone.

Of course I didn't have any but she wasn't willing to talk to her parents half sober (trust me, her tolerance for alcohol is through the roof). I put a half-dead Rish on the couch and gave him a small conk on the head so he'd fall asleep, and I left the room so she'd talk in private.

I met Veronica who was dragging Sylvin with her by grabbing his collar.

"Guess who decided to hit on two different women after he failed another shot with me?"

"I take it he failed again? V, do you like having him hovering around you like little bee?"

"I wish he'd get a life, but I secretly do like rejecting his advances every single time."

"Is that fun, Syl?"

"Yes it is, hey, I should not be telling you this, don't tell Veronica, but she and I have a bet."

"Sure, what?"

"If I can charm her even once, then she'll sleep with me, if I give up then I pay her tab using the money I get from solo busking, and I have to play on the streets for an entire day."

"Fine, I won't tell her anything."

V dragged him onto their room (not realising that they'll be alone), they were both absolutely shit-drunk, so much so that they both slept on one bed, in a weird way.

V threw him on the bed and then she herself fell... on him. Luckily they were both asleep after that so nothing went down.

I entered my room, unfortunately to my dismay, Ellis was about to cry.

"Oh my god, Ellis what happened?"

'My parents again drilled me about my lifestyle and my career choice saying that it's "just a hobby" and that I'll get a "real job" soon. Furthermore they decided to forgive my cousin brother despite what happened.'

'That's awful, but what's with your cousin brother?'

"Oh right, I didn't tell this to anyone."

"What, you don't have to say it if you don't want to."

"No, I've held it too long." She said while telling me to sit beside her.

"So, my cousin was often abused by his father, his only parent by the way, so my parents decided to let him stay with us as their own child."

"Mhm."

"He was a model kid, perfect kid, my parents showed him off as their own child while they were ashamed of me because I refused to abide by modern terms of success."

"Damn."

"I kinda envied him, we sorta got along. Until one day, my parents went out of town, and he seemed out of it, in a bad mood or something."

I could feel her tearing up more as she continued.

"I tried cheering him, but he grabbed me by the collar and threw me against a wall and then slapped me, hard."

"Woah! I'm so sorry."

"It didn't end there, he tried removing my clothes and I don't want to know what he was planning to do next. I ran out of there, I had no friends of course so I stayed the night on a park bench."

I kept listening patiently as she unfolded the whole thing. She had gone through hell for sure.

"When my parents arrived, I tried telling them everything but they didn't believe me until I showed them the red mark on my cheek. He said that we were only playing around and he accidentally hit me. They surprisingly didn't believe him until he confessed and said that he only accidentally hit me because he was extremely irritated at first and I was bothering him further. Now that they believed."

She wiped her tears, and then after a soulless stare into my eyes, she said.
"So after that I ran out of there, my cousin was punished of course but the fact that they are ready to accept him again and still not listen to what I kept telling them."

"Wow, you sure smile a lot despite your pain."

"That's why I'm close with you, I know I can trust you with my life no matter what. If I get overly close then I don't blame you, but I just wanted you to know that."

"Trust me, I never had a problem with you, ever."

"Wow, I feel lighter, I haven't told this to anyone ever, thank you for listening."

"Hey, my pleasure, trust me, you can always talk to me."

She came closer and practically jumped on me as an attempt to embrace me. I fell hard on my back with her still on me but I managed to hold her tight and not have her get hurt. She kept her head on my chest and was crying harder.

Although she was model-thin, I wasn't very strong, so my sorry, scrawny self somehow picked her up and put her on the bed.

"Hey, trust me, it's gonna be okay, I'm here, they're here, we're all here and we will always help you and love you."

"Thanks Shawn."

Although I wanted her to let go, she had an iron grip around my neck, although I didn't really mind it I wanted to close the lights off before we slept.

"Hey Ellis?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I close the lights off before we go to sleep?"

"On one condition, you must come back and stay the same way."

"Promise." I said as I got off the bed, close the lights off and then softly layed down on the bed beside her.

She slid her arms around my back and held me tight as she drifted off to sleep.

I couldn't sleep, I don't know why but I simply couldn't sleep. I eventually just watched her sleep, breathe and dream peacefully. I've known her long enough to know that she is the type of person who'll hide secrets behind her sparkling eyes and sweet smile, but I never knew that she was hiding secrets this painful.

I spent all night just watching her. I actually did not even move until she woke up. She gave me the sweetest smile as she got out of bed. As I got up as well, she kissed me on the cheek, punched me in the chest and said, "Well, let's go practice."

Author's note: By far my most favorite chapter to edit.