When Elissa woke up, she didn't remember what happened, the last thing she remembered was getting her things together. She sat up in bed, rubbing the back of her neck as she remembered what had happened. Her eyes grew wide with fear and shock. "There's...no one in this world...who I can trust...is there?" Elissa thought in her mind. She started looking around the room, seeing Rae sitting in a chair next to the bed. He sat up from laying his head on the bed, and said, "Elissa, please forgive me...I didn't want to hurt you...I also didn't want you to leave...how can I keep my promise to protect you if you just leave like that?"
Elissa looked at Rae's face. His usual smile was replaced by an emotionless look. She clenched her fist, and angrily looked at him. "You shouldn't have stopped me..."
Rae stared at her. "Elissa...what's going on? Why were you going to leave?"
Elissa looked away from him, and answered, "Rae, I've done some very horrible things...and I shouldn't even be alive right now because of them..." Elissa broke off in tears. "Someone's not here anymore...and it's all because of me!" Elissa started shaking and bawling again.
Rae's eyes grew wide, and he grabbed her arms. "Elissa...?! What do you mean by that?!" He was afraid to hear the answer to his question, but needed to hear it anyways.
Elissa just grew silent, tears still flowing out of her eyes, and pulled away from Rae's grasp. "I-I'm sorry, Rae...I...I can't tell you..." She started backing off, away from Rae, and, with tears of regret in her eyes, ran out of the room.
Rae stayed there, now standing, with his arms limp by his side. Many things were racing through his mind. "Elissa...do you really not trust me that much anymore? How could I have been so stupid as to have even thought I could have gotten anywhere near her? She's...really gone this time, isn't she?" he kept thinking. He started heading downstairs, though he didn't know what he was going to do or where he was going.
"If you're looking for Elissa, she just went running out of the front door, crying. What did you do to her to make her that mad?" Matt almost laughed.
Rae just looked at Matt, his eyes empty, yet still showing everything he was thinking.
"Whoa...what's your problem?" Matt said, waving his hand in front of Rae's face.
"I...have to go after her..." Rae whispered.
"Then go, you know where she went," Matt said, motioning towards the door.
Rae started running towards the front door, just to be stopped by his mom coming in between him and the front door.
"Rae, I know it's hard to do, but maybe you should try letting her go. I know you don't want to, but I really don't think your father would let her stay in this house anymore, especially after what he heard her say about some little boy. You know how he gets when someone says something like that, ever since what happened with...your brother," she trailed off, tears starting to form in her eyes.
Rae looked down, and whispered, "I know Mom, but...I have to save her from her dad. I promised her I would protect her! I'm going to protect her whether Dad or Elissa wants me to!" He started getting louder and louder with everything he said, until he was practically yelling at his mom. "I promised, and I'm not the kind of person who breaks a promise! You know that Mom. So, don't try to stand in my way!" Rae went passed his mom, and ran outside, to go after Elissa.
Mrs. Irving just stood there, looking towards Rae with tears in her eyes. "Rae...just take good care of yourself..."
"Where could she be? There's no where for her to run away to..." Rae kept asking and telling himself. "Elissa...! Elissa, you don't have to tell me what happened, just please...please don't run away! I told you I would protect you, and I will keep my promise! Just...please, come back." Rae searched everywhere he could think of on his block and all of the surrounding blocks, calling out her name.
"Are you calling Elissa?" Rae heard a rough, scruffy voice coming from behind him.
Rae quickly turned around to see a tall man standing behind him. "Oh, uh...no! I was calling...Melissa!" Rae denied, putting much emphasis on the M.
The man looked at Rae for a while, then turned, and walked back into his house.
"All this time...she lived so close to me..." Rae thought to himself, turning from the house, heading back towards his own house. "If she was to run away, she would run in the opposite direction of her house to escape from it! Unless..." Rae stopped where he was, and looked back with wide eyes. "Unless...he has already found her..." He stood where he was for a while, and thought about which way he should go: go back to Elissa's house, or go in the opposite direction. "I'll check her house first..." he finally decided, and started heading back in the direction of Elissa's house. When he arrived in the front of Elissa's house, there was no sign of the man that he had run into just moments before. Rae looked around, and then snuck over to the side of the house. He peeked into the first window he came to, but there were curtains covering, so he couldn't see into the window. He ventured further to the next window, peering in to see the man smiling to himself, heading into some type of a room. He ventured further still, looking into each window, but finding nothing more but empty rooms. He went back to the first window he came to, and looked to see if maybe the curtain was open yet. It was still closed, but Rae did find a little spot where one end was about an inch higher than the other side. He peeked through the little space, and saw the man, still with a maniacal smile on his face. Rae could tell that he was holding something in his hand, but couldn't tell what it was. The man's mouth started moving, as though he were talking to someone. Rae gulped, hoping it wasn't Elissa. He watched as the man went closer and closer to whatever he was facing, until Rae could see nothing but a little sliver of his backside. He watched the man closely, when he saw his hand with the weapon in it come back like he was fixing to strike something. Rae just got up, ran towards the front door, and started rapidly beating on the door. Once he heard someone coming to answer the door, he ran to the side of the house, where he watched again through the little space in between the bottom of the curtain and the window sill. He watched intently as he saw a feminine hand come in front of the window. The hand grabbed the bottom of the curtain to pull up on it, but then dropped before she could pick it up enough for Rae to see who it was. What Rae did see though, was the clothes the girl was wearing, and that was enough for Rae to know that Elissa was definitely in there. His mind raced. What could he do? There was nothing he could do, except for one thing: he needed to somehow get in the house, and save Elissa. He rushed to the back of Elissa's house, and looked into the backyard to see if there were any dogs. There weren't any, so he jumped the fence, and ran to the back door. He grabbed the handle, and very slowly and cautiously turned it, trying not to make any sound. He got the door open enough for him to fit through, so he squeezed through the crack he made for himself, and, leaving the door open, ran to the room where he saw Elissa. When he got there, he was too late to save her from being beaten. He furiously ran, and jumped on Elissa's father's back, and started choking him. "Elissa, run...!" Rae yelled at Elissa, who was lying on the floor from getting hit down.
