E

{thirteen}

chapter thirteen~

FOLLOWING Elias's car with another one of his is somewhat ironic, I think.

I've never done anything like this before, excluding the hide and seek games I used to play with mom. So I'm just guessing that if I follow his licenses plate, staying about a car away from his, then I can end up where he will. The tricky part is keeping track of him and not losing him.

Okay, there's a lot of irony here.

I don't even have my license, but I'm just hoping that no one will notice. All I have to do is drive calmly and as well as possible and things will be okay. I hate that I'm acting like an untrusting girlfriend, but—wait, did I just mentally confirm to myself that we are boyfriend and girlfriend?

I brush my thoughts aside for the moment after I spot Ellias's sleek black car take a right turn onto a road that I am almost certain does not lead to wherever he works, seeing that there is no road at all. I now realize that if I follow him then my mission will be compromised and he will be suspicious of seeing one of his cars driving behind him.

I have to think fast, and so I decide to pull over at the nearest parking lot and go by foot, I just hope he doesn't have much more driving to do. I'm a running person, just when need be. So, if it comes to it, I can keep up with his car. Just maybe not for a long period of time.

I park as quickly as possible and jump out of the vehicle, closing and locking the door and running as fast as I can to reach the area in which Ellias hopefully still is.

As I'm running and pausing in order to not be caught, I can't help but hate that I can't trust Ellias enough to just believe him when he says he needs to go to work. But I know that he's hiding something, and I'd rather find out and him be mad at me and never get to see him again, rather than believing every word he speaks and end up getting hurt.

And so I continue my running and pausing until his car finally stops at a beat-up looking house with a metal roof and blankets covering holes in the walls. Why would Ellias be here? I'm trying to think through the hints he has already given me, one being his stutter. Another being a detail he added while we were getting to know each other on our date. When I had asked him, that night, about his family he answered by saying that he's ashamed of them but that they made him who he is and that he somehow still loves them. It was all quite vague but I can't help but wonder if this may relate to what he is really doing at this moment instead of doing what he had told me.

I crouch behind a big object with a black tarp draped atop it. My outfit choice came in handy and it put me in a sort of character to help me be more sneaky and not be caught, because I would never usually act like this. And as I crouch I lift my gaze over the object to get a good view of Ellias stepping out of his car and walking towards the front door. I grab my binoculars and adjust them to my face and zoom in on the event placed before me.

I can faintly hear the pounding of Ellias's fist on the door before a stranger answers it with a facial expression mixed with a scowl and a smile. Ellias stands probably a good few inches above this unidentified man and he keeps a serious straight line fixed on his angular face.

I can only hear soft mumbles, so I can't figure out what they are talking about. But by their actions, I can point out a few questionable things. For one, I can see that Ellias looks irritated, probably because this meeting was not exactly planned. Two, The other guy seems to be pointing his finger at Ellias in what looks to be a demanding way. Almost like that guy is trying to get Ellias to listen to him, and it looks like Ellias isn't listening too well.

Ellias's bothered expression remains steady, but now his head is slumped down like in defeat and before he walks away I see something that completely and utterly both surprises and horrified me.