She is Real

Eli III

The bustle of the market suddenly returned as Eli's vision of the girl ended. He was pushed and shoved around until he could find an open area to clear his mind of the overwhelming thoughts swirling in his conscious. He attempted to bring the sensible ideas back to the front of his mind. He wanted to push away the thoughts that told him to close his eyes again and follow the girl. Sensibility told him to return home and make things right with Earl seeing as it was getting darker by the second. He forced himself to listen to the reasoning in his head and he began walking home. Everywhere he looked he seemed to see a fleeting picture of the beautiful silhouette but when Eli focused, she vanished. She isn't real, he would tell himself, trying to further ease his mind. It was almost pitch black now as Eli marched home, and the tall street lamps slowly flickered on and offered a small illumination of the trail. As lights in windows turned off one by one, Eli approached his own house where, he realized, the front entry light was on. His eyes darted around the house to spot any sign of movement from within the dwelling. There was nothing. It was then, in that small moment of nothingness, that everything shifted. Nothingness became panic when Eli spotted a broken Earl lying at the bottom of their front staircase. Eli sprinted toward the corpse and held two fingers up to its neck. Thump. Pause. Nothing. Thump, thump. Pause. Nothing. Faint but there; a heart beat. "Help!" Eli screamed, burning tears rolling down his face. "Help!" screaming even louder, a sensation a bursting lungs. Eli's neighbour rushed out to see the commotion. A young boy clutching on to an old man's neck and frantically examining his shattered figure. The neighbour rushed to his neighbour's, who then rushed to his neighbour and soon, the whole street was wide awake and terrified at what they were seeing. Soon enough, an ambulance arrived and carried the broken man and heart broken child away from the scene.

.......

Eli didn't close his eyes for a minute that night. A night he knew he would remember, for better or for worse. He couldn't imagine what the doctors were doing to Earl in this moment. When a doctor passed by, Eli would stand only to sit down again because that doctor's news was not for him. He watched as families and friends either rejoiced or sobbed at the news they were given. But there was another reason Eli refused to close his eyes. Eli refused to close his eyes because of the girl he knew he might see and be distracted by. He couldn't afford to be distracted because if Earl survived he needed to be there for him. Waiting for news was painfully long and every second that went by felt like a piece of him was being ripped out. But the waiting wasn't without reward. Sure enough, a couple hours later, a short, round doctor approached Eli. The doctor's eyes were blank and he spoke in a mono tone,
"I am to inform you to return home. You cannot see your guardian tonight as he is in a critical state. If you can return tomorrow visiting hours will be available."

"But he's my family!" Eli argued, but the doctor ignored him and walked away. Eli burst into tears and sat back down in his uncomfortable chair. There were so many emotions hitting him all at once. Anger at himself for upsetting Earl in the first place, frustration at the useless doctor that wouldn't tell him anything and longing to be in Earl's arms again. His mind raced and before he knew it, he was no longer in the hospital anymore. He had returned to the place where he saw the girl. The dark. He span in circles trying to spot her, but he found nothing. His emotions were suddenly soothed by a calming sensation that he could feel like an itch in the back of his head. An image of the hospital hallway started to materialize in front of him and he could see the girl, floating from room to room.

"Hey!" He called out, trying to get her attention. The girl kept going, not a worry in the world, from room to room. Eli pondered what possible reason this girl would be here for. Did she have family in here too? Eli, still slightly unfamiliarized  with his new surroundings, slowly started to follow the girl room to room. He only stopped when she did, to look at what she looked at, to imagine what she was imagining. He did this because, there was a strange connectivity between his soul and hers. Eli didn't know this yet, but he'll find out soon enough.

When the girl reached her fifth stop, it was miraculously in front of Earl's door. The door was shut but the girl wanted to go inside. This problem was easily fixed for the silhouette, she merely floated through. As for Eli, he needed to find a way to open the locked door. He pushed and pulled and used all the force he could muster, likely brought up from the immense pain he was still feeling despite the calming. The door eventually flung open and sent Eli stumbling into a room filled with doctors huddled around the patient's bed. Eli panicked when he saw the  doctors but he quickly spotted the girl as well and hid with her at the back of the room. For the second time, the girl decided, she would use her voice,

" They can't see us. Do not worry," she soothed. Eli nodded and continued to watch the doctors huddled around Earl. He thought of memories of Earl and himself dancing on the street or eating their evening meals while Earl ranted for hours on end. He sighed deeply as these recollections came in small wisps through his head and, slowly, ever so slowly, he faded off to sleep with the happy thoughts.

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Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Comment what you think will happen next... Happy reading! 👋🏻