More Complicated Than That (Slugterra Fanfiction)

Chapter 18: Eli's POV

"No, stop it!! Please! Ahhh!!"

At 4 o'clock this morning, Trixie began thrashing around in her bed. The colour was returning to her cheeks, but just merely out of all her movement.

Riley (who was awoken) quickly called for nurses and doctors. Trixie was screaming in agony. I wanted to desperately cover my ears, but I never brought myself to. All I could do was stand there and watch my best friend cry and scream, not knowing what her situation was.

Nurses and doctors flooded the room. The nurses held her arms and legs down while doctors checked her records and other things that were hanging around her in the room.

Riley came to my side as tears began to slip out of her eyes. I let her lean her head on my chest as she sobbed uncontrollably. I hugged her, not knowing why I wasn't crying.

For a while we just stood there like that. Riley in my arms as she cried. I noticed that eventually she didn't cry as much as before. Because she wrapped her arms around my torso and held on.

"It'll be okay," I finally whispered.

I really hope I was right.
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Every few hours or so, Kord, Pronto and Trixie would individually thrash and scream. Riley couldn't take it anymore. While Kord was screaming again for the second time, I pulled Riley to the cafeteria. Her eyes were red as well as her nose. I took her to the washroom and waited as she washed up. She came back out and almost looked like she hadn't been crying for ages. Except her eyes told eyes told a different story.

The once beautiful brown eyes were now plain and lifeless. Riley's once energetic posture was now slumping. And her once happy glowing face was a little pale and a bit red.

I held my arm out, and she smiled at me before taking it. We walked down to the cafeteria and just ordered some food. I paid and we quickly sat down. We didn't devour our food. We just picked at it slowly. The food wasn't that bad (better than a school cafeteria), but it seemed almost flavourless. The burritos were filling, but we didn't eat with relish.

The cafeteria was silent. Just the sound of the kitchen clanging of pots and running water. No one else was here.

"What if..." Riley whispered. I stopped eating and looked at her. She kept looking at the table.

"What if they never come back?"

"Riley-"

"No I mean it," she said raising her voice, still not looking at me. "What if they never come back? Where will we go Eli? To your dad? To my parents? To the Surface!" I wanted to tell her to calm down. But there was some truth in what she was saying.

She calmed down and finally looked at me. A wave of sadness washed over me as I stared at her.

"What if they never come back?" She whispered. "What if we can't run home? Or go to our families?" She let the tears fall down her face freely. My vision blurred a little too.

She got up and turned away from me, her back to me. "What if this was all a dream? And nothing was ever the same again?"

I should have chased after her. But I didn't. I should have held her back. But I didn't. I should have assured her that everything would turn out. I didn't.

I angrily left the cafeteria and went to the washroom. It was empty and no one was there. I slammed a stall shut and closed my eyes. For the first time since my dad disappeared, I cried. And I don't mean just tears, I wept. Sobbed. I almost punched something, deciding to save that for later.