Friends To Die For (CURRENTLY BEING REWORKED)

nr. 9 - eli

"What am I still doing here?" Nellie mumbled to herself for the just about twentieth time now. She'd considered just walking down the road and seeing if anyone was driving along and could pick her up. But not only could hitchhiking end quite possibly deadly, there also definitly wouldn't be anyone out in this weather.

The brunette sighed letting herself fall back onto her bed. Nellie had been thinking about everything Ryder and Seth had said. Of course, her first thought was to blame it on this extreme situation and that they would come around and see that this was not her fault. But after the way Seth had treated her just a few minutes ago and seeing that everyone seemed to stay away from her she realized that they were sincere about everything they had just said.

This situation was hopeless. She should have stopped all four of them from running out. Now there was only her and Lyla left, and the girl would never be able to protect herself. No, not in this messy state she's in right now. How could it have come to all of this? Was she really that out of touch with her friends? Did she not realize how much they'd change, how messy their lives had become? Was she just living in her own little bubble still? This was all too much for her to handle on this night.

"I should've never come here." she said. "Me either." it suddenly sonded from the other side of the room. Nellie screamed, almost plumbetting off her bed. "Oh my god!" she screamed, looking at the boy standing in the doorway. "Eli?" she asked.

Seth and Thea had reached the generator, only there was no sign of their friends. "That's what I was afraid of!" Seth yelled to overpower the storm. "Where could they be?" Thea yelled back. "I don't know!" Seth said, looking around, hoping this might just be a really stupid prank done in poorly taste by Ryder and Liv.

But as much as he wanted to believe that, he knew it wasn't true. Not even Ryder, his best partner for any type of shenanigans, would be this reckless in this type of situation. Not to mention that Olivia would have never agreed to this.

"I think we should head back inside." Seth said. As much as it pained him, to possibly leave his friends out here, he wasn't sure were they were, if they were still alive. The three remaining girls at his side were the only thing he was focused on now. He was just wondering if Sheriff Matthews was on his way by now.

"What is that?" Thea asked, pointing in the direction in front of him. Seth, now ripped out of his thoughts, looked up ahead. There was a blob moving towards them. It was someone but he couldn't make out who. For all that he knew it could be the killer so he grabbed his cousins hand and was ready to bolt.

When suddenly, he was stopped by the persons scream. "Wait! Don't go!" he screamed. Seth didn't need to hear another word. Even over this rainstorm he'd make out who this voice belonged to everyday. He turned around, all of his lost energy returning to his body, and took off towards the boy.

"Ryder!" he yelled overjoyed. As he came closer and closer to his best friend, he realized that he was holding his arm and blood was seeping throug his fingers. "Seth!" he yelled back. As Seth reached the other boy, he engulfed him in a hug. Thea finally caught up to them.

"Come on! Let's go back inside!" she yelled as she took both boys by the hands and led them toward the house. "What happened?" Seth asked Ryder. "He killed Liv!" Ryder chocked out. Seth didn't know what to say anymore, another one of his best friends was killed.

"He tried to kill me too, that bastard! I swear to god, when I catch that son of a bitch!" Ryder yelled. "How did you escape?" Thea asked, trying to concentrate on keeping her breath steady. "I ran into the woods. He didn't follow me. I figured he was so proud he was sure he'd get to kill me sooner or later anyway. God! I'm gonna kill him. I thought I knew him better than that!" he yelled.

"Wait!" Seth asked, stopping when they almost reached the front of the house. "You know who it is?!" he asked.

"Eli?!" Nellie asked perplexed. She jumped off to bed and rushed towards him. He was covered in blood. "What happened? Where were you for christs sake?!" she yelled at him.

He looked puzzled and beat down at the same time. "I-I was in the woods." he stuttered, trying to steady himself. "Here, sit." Nellie said, helping him sit on Thea's bed. "Where's Daisy? Did you find her?" she asked.

Eli looked like he was holding back his tears. "She-She's dead." he managed to say. Nellie sighed. "I'm so sorry." she said, grabbing his hand. "I found her, behind the house. She was so, so bloody." he explained.

Nellie nodded, even though the thought of him sounding not nearly sincere enough crossed her mind in that moment. Maybe it was because she was the daughter of the Sheriff or because of simple human instincts, but something wasn't right here.

"You know who did it?" Seth asked Ryder. "Yes!" Ryder said. "Well who the hell was it?" Thea asked, wiping a drenched strand of hair out of her face.

Ryder took a deep breath, then said "It was-" suddenly, he was cut off by another huge lightning bolt that was striking the houses generator. They heard the small explosion behind the house and the whole house went dark again.

"What was that?!" Nellie asked in schock as the lights in her room went out. At this point her senses were on edge and she jumped off the bed. "Calm down. It was just the generator. Probably a lightning strike." he said.

Nellie fumbled for a phone. Despite him being her best friend, she did not want to spend one more second with him alone in this dark room. She turned on her flashlight, trying to make up an exscuse to leave the room.

She could say she'd go and check up on the generator, but he'd probably want to come with her. Every excuse to get out of the house would lead to him wanting to follow her.

"I'm just gonna go, get something to wipe that blood off your face." she quickly said going toward the door as she didn't want to raise suspicion by rushing out of the room. "Okay, I'll wait here." he said.

Nellie nodded and closed the door. Once outside, she breathed out as quietly as possible and went down the stairs to wait for the others and look for Lyla.

"It was Eli!" Ryder finally yelled when the lightning had stopped. "What?!" both cousins in front of him yelled in unision. "Yes! It was Eli! He's lost it completely." Ryder said. "We have to get the girls!" Seth yelled.

Nellie went into the kitchen, to grab a knife and at least to pretend looking for a rag to clean Eli's face in case he were to come down the stairs after all.

She ripped open the cabinetts, dodging everything she accidently ripped out in the process, then paced herself and took another deep breath. Just as she was walking toward the food cabinett, she heard a muffled sob inside it.

"Lyla?" she whispered and in response heard a silent knock on the door. Nellie opened the door quietly and saw her best friend, laying on the floor of the small room. Her blonde her now had streaks of red and her mascara was smudged across her cheecks.

Her tank top had been ripped off and she was bound and gagged. She looked up, holding up her arms as if pleading her best friend to take of the rope around her fingers. Nellie took the knife in her hand and cut open the rope. Just as she was ripping the duct tape of her mouth, she realized the girl had a bloody nose as well.

Lyla spit out the gag in her mouth. Nellie looked at the red piece cloth, picking it up with the edges of her fingers. "Is that...?" Nellie asked. "Underwear." Lyla whispered, looking at it in disgust.

"Is it-?" Nellie tried speaking. "It's not mine." she interrupted as Nellie dragged the girl toward the door. "I think it might be Daisys. Eli had to have it from somewhere." Lyla said. Nellie saw the anger on Lylas face but heard the sadness in her voice.

As they were ready to run out the door, Lylas hand was ripped away from Nellies. She let out a scream, that died down when Eli held a knife against her throat. The boy grinned at her as he said. "Bummer. I wanted it to be a surprise."