Reverie

CHAPTER III

Matt,  as nimble as he is,  grabbed the nearest piece of cloth that he found and grabbed the box cutter from Eli’s hand before she was able to puncture her skin with it. She was frantic now sobbing so loudly that all Matt can do was to grab her and draw her close to console her, gently telling her that he’ll never leave her side and that he is there. Eli was shaking so much that he had to support her so she won’t fall to the floor. Matt looked around and saw the bed and slowly moved towards it,  leading Eli with every step and drew the covers. She went in and put the blanket on her shivering body as she still sobbed uncontrollably. Matt sat beside her and moved her head to rest on his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her gently caressing her hair with his hand. He was helpless as he knew she was breaking down. He didn’t know what else to do as they stayed that way until she was too tired to cry.

Matt stared at her while she slept, her cheeks damp from the tears and her face looked sickly. Her cheeks drawn in and he would hear a faint wheeze and sometimes she would jerk in her sleep. He sighed and stared at his watch. 22:45. It has been 2 hours that she was able to sleep without waking up. How fortunate was he to be able to arrive before she did any damage to herself. If she hasn’t left her phone...  He shook his head,  dismissing the thought. That asshole is going to arrive in a bit and he had to leave not wanting to make things worse for her. Her parents just arrived a little over an hour ago. She’ll be alright for now.

‘Sometimes,  you could be so selfish.’ Anger suddenly filled him as he stood up and got her phone from his pocket and placed it on the desk next to her bed. He made sure to grab the box cutter from the floor and a pair of scissors that he saw with her pens and put them on the bottom drawer of her desk. He watched her one last time before he went out the window.


******


Her head was pounding and she didn’t want to move. She opened her eyes but it hurt and she made herself smaller and pulled the covers over her as she remembered what happened last night.

‘Please... Just let me go back to sleep.’

Suddenly there was a loud pounding at her door. She ignored it. The pounding got louder and was accompanied by her Dad’s voice,

“ELI! Eli open the door!”

She groaned and tried to open her eyes,  “I’m coming!”

She slowly moved to her door,  the glaring sun too bright for her eyes that she squinted. She unlocked her door and opened it.

“Are you just going to sleep the whole afternoon away? You went out again last night,  didn’t you?”

“No, I didn’t.” She mumbled as her dad entered the room.

“What a mess!  Why don’t you clean your room and do something productive? Are you going to be like this the rest of your life?”

She fell silent as her Dad just stared at her then scoffed saying her name in disappointment.

She closed the door as her Dad left the room and stared at her surroundings. She felt small and alone in her room. Eli made her way to where she now hid her notebook. She now had to keep it hidden in her own room because the last time she left without it and put it on her shelf her brother leafed through it and told her he had found it on the floor with the pages opened.

‘No one cares what you think. Your words don’t matter... Who do you think you are, a queen? Do you want everyone to bow to you?' He then fell to his knees and mockingly bowed his head...

She held the notebook close to her and went back in the covers,  hugging her notebook to her.


*****


Lift me up from the sorrow that envelopes me at night
Plagues my dreams and fills me with fright
Because my weary heart can’t take it anymore
Bring me up to the clouds,  up high so I can soar
Where the birds glide and the sun so bright
Where I might find my peace of mind
Even just for a minute and keep my tears at bay
For the torment I suffer doesn’t want me to stay
So much beauty that I once have known
Now shrouded in a deep and heavy fog that I now call home


Eli put her pen down,  satisfied for the time being. Then flipped through the previous pages that were filled with drawings, poems and journal entries. It was very obvious with her entries how her perception changed through time. At the beginning of her notebook were a collage of things she liked - her family and smiling pictures of herself. Drawings of women surrounded by flowers,  portraits and art that portrayed the beliefs she felt strongly for. Now it escalated into pictures that portrayed her depression;  a woman being choked by symbolic ropes and a head with a recorder. She closed her notebook in disappointment and stared outside her window. The moon was bright tonight. It was big and didn’t look pale but in a color of mustard. Still. She loved staring at the moon.


Bzzzt.  Bzzzt.


Her phone vibrated at her desk and distracted her from her reverie. Eli stood up and grabbed her phone to see who it was. She unlocked her phone and there was a message from Matt,

Matthew

      Hey,  hope I didn’t  wake you. You ok now? You left your phone at the cafe and I brought it to your house. Look,  we need to talk. Text me if you want to meet up,  alright?  Just...  Take care of yourself will you.


She put her phone down on her desk and went back to where she was sitting at before and stared at her notebook,  fidgeting with her fingers. Then,  she stood up again, unlocked her phone and opened Matthew’s message.

Ok.

*******

(A/N: hello readers! Glad to have you read my story. This is just an outlet for me... A way to keep me sane,  if you will.  I do hope you enjoyed and thank you for your time! Working on the fourth chapter now. This might only be 6 parts since it’s supposed to be a short story. All characters with the same name and situations are fictional.)