Dead or Dying

{22} Bits of Time

What's going on now?" Jasmine asked, glancing down towards her phone again. "I could've sworn this whole Elliot business has been settled for good. After all, we got quite a few confessions and then we found out that those didn't even matter..."

"That's what I thought too," Neville agreed. "We know you're DA, we know who the murderer is...even though that information isn't going to leave Cloisterham's campus...but it's all come together. The confessions are done. Mr. Jasper has left the school."

"You could almost see things returning to whatever we consider to be average and typical for Cloisterham, although it is difficult to think of anything in Cloisterham as average and typical..." Rosa sighed out.

"But obviously it's not over yet," Helena added in.

"But of course," Rosa said, looking down. "It would be too convient, wouldn't it?"

Despite this sadness that washed over her, Rosa followed her friends to the auditorium. She stood amongst the chattering students, letting their confusion wash over her. But as the chattering stopped, Rosa decided to look up and see what was happening on the stage.

Rosa soon could not see Elliot properly as her eyes glazed over with tears.

"It cannot be...it cannot be them, it cannot..."

She did not realize she was collapsing until she was caught. Helena struggled to get her back on her feet with her twin brother sensing Rosa's descent at the same time.

"Rosa, it is," Helena murmured over to her, wrapping a protective arm around Rosa's shoulders. Neville, however, retracted his arms as quickly as he had let them out. "I don't know how, but it is."

But Rosa wasn't listening to Helena's words as she gazed back to Elliot standing before them all on the stage. She didn't want to miss a single word that came from their lips. She wanted to know what was happening. She wanted to know that somehow it was all real and true.

"I'm alive," Elliot said, staring out into the audience and yet at no one and nothing. "I know it's...it's crazy. I know you've all gone through all sorts of crap, trying to figure out who killed me and all of that...but () didn't kill me. I'm alive."

Elliot paused as if waiting for someone to cry out in shock or horror or delight, but the audience was stuck within a silence. The only one who seemed to make any sort of sound was the heavy breathing of Rosa. Elliot's eyes were immediately drawn to her standing there, quivering and enveloped in Helena's arms.

And when their eyes met, Elliot knew that they had made the right decision to return.

"You were far from alone when you assumed I was dead! I thought I was done for too, that moment when I first ended up with a scarf pulled around my neck," they explained. "It's...it's impossible to put into words, but I'll try. I think that Rosa would have an easier time saying this, but..."

"Go on, Elly," Rosa prompted, her voice soft. They could not hear her fully from up on the stage, but they read her lips nevertheless. With her encouragement, they knew they could speak. These were words that had been caught within their throat for months on end, building up to where Elliot could hardly breathe. Now, once again, they could speak.

"First comes the shock, that moment when you realize that your time is just about up. You feel it constrict your neck, you feel the complete panic that washes over you, and you...you can't do a thing. You can't breathe, so you can't do a thing. All at once your mind is a mess, trying to figure out what to do, but then it all just turns to a hum with no answer. It just happens, and there is nothing more to be done."

Once again, Elliot paused. No one dared to do anything more than breathe. No one dared to believe that what they were seeing was real.

"Of course I thought I was going to die! When my eyes started going dark, I assumed I knew exactly what was going to happen. I was going to have my life ended right there, not even knowing who killed me. But then I woke up, dragged off into some deep corner of a forest nearby. I didn't know where I was or what had happened, I only knew that someone had tried to get rid of me and I was soaked, frozen from the rain."