Three Eleven Thirteen

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Three

I grabbed Ellie's hand in an instant, my fingers intertwined with his, and I hoped that this would get through to him as a sign to keep calm. How odd it was to calm him down when my own heart was deceiving me by racing quicker than ever before.

If Ellie attacks Levi, I will not be able to stop him.  

If Ellie kills Levi, his blood is on my hands.

I breathed, refusing to let Ellie's anxiety spark up my own. This is good for him. He must learn. God, please let him learn.

I roughly pulled Ellie towards me, praying that it'd catch his attention. When it didn't, I did the only thing that came to my mind, I pulled him against me, and latched onto him as if I were hugging him.

He turned his head away from Levi, and his coal-black eyes bore into mine.

I got his attention. Nearly crying from panicked relief, I began to speak to him. "His name is Levi." I said, beckoning towards the boy who was coming out direction. Why did he have to be so friendly? "And he will not hurt you, he will not hurt me. He is a friend."

Ellie tried to turn his head towards him, but with one hand, I nudged his head back to look at me. We stood there for a moment, staring at one another. "Do not attack him, Ellie. He is not a threat; do you understand me?"

His veins were protruding the color black, and his fingernails looked like something straight out of a horror movie, and I'm pretty sure his skin became a few shades paler -or maybe that's just because he doesn't get out in the sun often.

The pathetic artificial vampire with coal-black blood.

"Hey Ripley!" Levi called, and I gritted my teeth and my own fingernails dug into Ellie's flesh. I knew I was hurting him, but he seemed not to even notice the pain. His attention was back on our neighbor.

Trying to seem normal, I gave Levi a failed attempt at a smile, hoping that Ellie would see an understand there is not threat in this situation.

No threat but himself.

"Hi, Levi." I said, not even attempting to match his enthusiastic tone. "What's up?" Please go away. Please go away. Please go away.

"Nothing much," He glanced at Ellie, and his face contorted to one I could only decipher as confusion and disgust, "Uhh, what's wrong with your friend?"

My friend. My friend. My friend.

"It's nothing." I said a little too quickly, "He's just being an -an idiot." I blurted before I could stop it, "It's makeup." I pointed to his black veins, and fingernails. It really doesn't look like makeup, and only a moron would believe me. "He likes to dress up, it's a creepy aesthetic of his."

Lucky for me, Levi doesn't seem to be the smartest boy in the world.

Levi stared at him for a long moment before scoffing, "Damn, that's cool. What are you part of the drama team or something?"

"Something like that." I said, as I tugged on Ellie's arm towards the house. Ellie, at first, didn't respond. He stood there, eyeing Levi up and down as if he were about to rip him open. Levi seemed oblivious to Ellie's threatful aura, and completely ignored his presence all together.

"So, Ripley." He said as he dug his hands into his pockets. "I was wondering something."

"Hmm?" I was hardly listening to what he was saying, as I focused on inching Ellie towards the porch. I don't regret this. Not at all. Ellie needs to learn, that's what this is, a grand learning experience for the boy created in a lab.