The Violet Hour

Chapter 5 - Hearing Damage

Walking into first period the next day I still had yet to rise from my stupor. Last night’s nightmare was awful, and I was exhausted. I was brightened only slightly by the thought that I was getting to see Eli, and that maybe he was ready to talk to me again. Watching him walk into class I couldn’t stop the teensy smile that tried to force itself upon me, no matter how much I wanted to. He threw his bag down, and slid into the hard seat. He didn’t turn around. I waited a few minutes while Miss Mathers idly flipped through her magazine at her desk. When he still didn’t turn around I decided to try to trick him into talking to me. I swiftly but subtly kicked his bag over. What low had I sunken to??

“Oh, sorry Eli,” I said…waiting for a response.

He simply leaned over, picked it back up, and shrugged his shoulders in response. “No biggie.”

…was that it? No, he was going to talk to me one way or another. I was too damn stubborn to let anything happen otherwise.

“What’s with you?” I accused. “Why won’t you talk to me? I thought we were cool now.”

“We are,” he still faced forward.

“Well you’ve been acting kind of strange lately, and I didn’t know if something was wrong or not.” I calmed my harsh tone. There was no reason to be upset with him for being upset.

“I’m fine,” he said stoically.

“…you don’t seem fine.” I gently pressed. “Eli we’re friends now,” I nearly choked on the words after I realized how much truth and trust they held. Was I ready for that? “Friends can tell each other their problems. You can trust me.” I waited anxiously for his response.

He turned around the face me. The planes of his face were hard and rigid. His eyes looked like cinder blocks, a frozen liquid that held no mercy anywhere in their depths. I shivered. “Live,” he looked at me harshly. “Leave me alone.” He said each word with extreme emphasis, as if he were speaking to a young child. “The only thing wrong with me right now is you. I don’t need any more friends, and I don’t need some girl breathing down my neck worrying about my every move, ok? Just stop.” He faced the front again.

“But I…” I didn’t know what to say. “I thought you understood…how it felt to be misunderstood…I thought maybe we could…” I didn’t know what I had hoped for.

He turned back around, his eyes had melted some. They weren’t totally unfeeling anymore. “Live I do understand. But you have to understand who the right and wrong people to be friends with are. I’m not the right guy for you Live.” He held my gaze for a moment, and then turned around again.

I didn’t try to bring him back to this time. I stayed locked forward, unmoving…more curious than I was hurt. I hadn’t allowed myself to get close enough to him to actually let it deeply affect me, because I knew that this was exactly what was going to happen. Why didn’t he think that he was a good person to be friends with? He obviously had a past, a very dark one at that. The mere thought of it thrilled me and made me hungry for more. But I would never get anymore. I was never going to speak with him again; I had to think about my protection over my curiosity. If I got too close to him I was only going to get hurt. So I guess I was never going to uncover the mystery that was Eli Shaddix.

-

Walking into the living room I saw Gale sitting on the couch reading, which was surprising. She was never home when I came back from school.

She looked up when she heard me drop my bag to the floor. “Hey sweetie,” she smiled as she turned the page in her book. She seemed to have forgotten all about last night. That was Gale; bounced back faster than anyone I knew…the exact opposite of her sister.