In the Mind

Chapter 19: Twisted

Elijah jolted up from his bed. He looked around to find himself in his room again, only light was shining through the blinds of his window, indicating it was morning. Confusion consumed him as he looked around with his eyebrow raised.
"But....but how?" Elijah asked quietly as he continued to look around.
"Wow, you're finally up." a voice said from Elijah's side. He jumped and looked up to see Damion standing next to his bed.

"I don't blame you though, yesterday was a long day." Damion said, smiling at Elijah.

"But.....but how am I.....is this even real?" Elijah asked, causing Damion to give a confused look.
"What do you mean?" Damion asked. Elijah looked at him, his mind spinning from the confusion.

"Maybe it was just a bad dream....yeah.......but how can I remember so much in a dream? No...it wasn't real......but neither is this either." Elijah thought to himself. He swallowed and ran his hand through his hair.
"Oh...um....nevermind....just um......a bad dream I guess." Elijah replied looking down at his blanket.
"Did it have to do with Noah and Kishiki?" Damion asked, sitting on Elijah's bed.
"Well kinda, it was just one of those dreams that seems really real, but isn't." Elijah said while shrugging.

"Oh okay. Are you feeling okay though? I mean yesterday you were kinda......actually nevermind." Damion said while looking away. Elijah raised an eyebrow.
"What?" Elijah asked in curiosity. Damion looked back at Elijah and sighed.
"It......it kinda seemed like you wanted to die yesterday. Like....you weren't just sacrificing yourself to protect Natsuki and me, but you wanted to die. So I was just asking if you're doing alright." Damion explained. Elijah sighed and looked down.
Truth was, he did want to die. A part of him wanted to just end it right then, and instead of killing himself, he was going to have Noah do it. To make it look like a murder, when in reality it was also a suicide. But the more he thought about it, the more he was glad that Noah didn't kill him. Because if he were to have died, then the people around him that he cared about would be broken. He'd hate himself for the rest of eternity if he knew that he caused someone to break apart. That was the last thing he wanted which is why he was glad he was alive.

"Well......I mean you're not wrong.....I.....I did kinda want to die, but I've thought about it and if I did die, then I would've torn apart people like dad and Noah's death....kinda tore apart me." Elijah said, he clenched the back of his neck in nervousness and guilt.
"Gee, you're a lot more messed up than I thought you were." Damion said to him, causing Elijah to give a confused look.
"What do you mean by 'more messed up'?" Elijah asked. Damion shrugged.
"I mean...when I first saw you when Natsuki brought you, everyone could tell that something was off about you. But the more I got to know you, I thought that you were just upset about Noah....but now it seems a little more than that." Damion said.

"I mean, I was upset about Noah, and I partially still am, but I'm just more scared and confused on why everything's happening, and if this is even real or not." Elijah explained. Damion looked up at Elijah and gave a confused look.
"Hold up, you think that this isn't real? The world? The place where everything's happening?" Damion asked.

"Like I told you, I got a dream last night that felt.....extremely real. Like I legitimately thought that it was real....like......apparently I just had a nightmare, and my mom came in to comfort me exactly like she did about a week ago. Then, I thought that maybe I was in the past so I could stop all the bad things from happening, but when I explained everything that happened in real life, she didn't believe me. She said that dad died from a murder at a mansion we were visiting, and you were with Noah who apparently was our cousin, and Natsuki was his cousin, and she said I was going through trauma from seeing dad dead......which is still scares me because those scenes at the mansion she was talking about I saw because of Kishiki. So I don't know whether that was a dream, this is a dream, whether both is a dream, or maybe I'm just fucking crazy." Elijah explained, he rubbed the sides of his head to soothe the headache that was brewing. He looked up at Damion who looked stunned.
"Maybe you were just dreaming of those events.....but how can you remember so much in a dream?" Damion asked. Elijah looked down, wondering the same question.
"How can I remember so much in a dream.......but......I didn't really remember in my dream....it was mom.....but if it were a dream it would be my head.....so the question still remains.....what is wrong with me?" Elijah thought to himself. The headache getting worse with every thought that passed through his mind.
"I don't know....maybe I'm just good with memory." Elijah said with a shrug, concealing his concern and fear.
"You should get ready for school. It starts in like half in hour and you have a tendency to walk at a pace of grandad." Damion teased, causing Elijah to punch him in the arm.

"Ow. You hit hard." Damion said, rubbing his arm from the recent hit.
"Don't call me granddad speed." Elijah replied. Damion let out a playful smirk and walked out of Elijah's room.

"This feels like a never ending loop." Elijah said to himself as he got up and got ready.
"Oh my god that sounds awful!" Natsuki complained as Elijah, Damion, and Natsuki walked to school.

Elijah still hadn't seen or heard anything from Noah or Kishiki since the day before. But he did say how he was going to wait it out, hoping Elijah's despair will drive him off the edge. Luckily, Elijah wasn't feeling as bad as before. Knowing that everything could be fake, but there's still a chance that it's real. Despite him feeling confused about the entire situation, he was quite glad Noah wasn't interfering. It makes him feel like a normal kid again and he could go about his day not in worry, but in happiness, which that thought itself made Elijah grin.
"What are you smiling at granddad speed?" Damion asked Elijah who looked up from his thoughts. His smile turned into a smirk as he looked at Damion.
"My fist really liked the way it hit your arm. It said how this time he wants to hit your face." Elijah said while raising his fist. Damion raised his hands in surrender.
"Okay granddad. Chill out." Damion teased. Elijah threw his fist and stopped it about an inch away from Damion's face.

"I will do it." Elijah said to Damion.
"Like I said, chill out." Damion said as Elijah lowered his fist.
"You two are hilarious!" Natsuki said, making Damion and Elijah look at her. She had a big smile on her face which made Damion and Elijah smile too.
"Wait, have you told Suki about your weird real dream yet?" Damion asked Elijah. He completely forgot about the dream, but he didn't want to bring it up again. He was sick of having everything revolve around that. He wanted at least one day where he could have normality in his life.
"No, and it's not that big of a deal so I don't think we should focus on it." Elijah said with a shrug. Natsuki looked at Elijah confused.
"Wait, you had another nightmare? C'mon, I need to know! It could give us ideas on what's going on!" Natsuki said to Elijah eagerly.

"Look it wasn't that big of a deal, there's no need to be curious." Elijah said, hoping she would give up on her attempts to get Elijah to talk about the dream.

"What, do you not trust me or something? Is there something wrong with me?" Natsuki asked, her tone of voice made it noticeable she was offended.

"No, it has nothing to do with me not trusting you. Suki you're the friend I trust the most. I just don't wanna talk about it because I'm finally not bothered by Noah, Kishiki, and other horrible things." Elijah explained. Natsuki's eyes lit up from Elijah's compliment.
"You really think that?" Natsuki asked, a smile forming on her face. Elijah nodded, but before Elijah could even blink Natsuki was already midway in an embrace with him.

"You're awesome!" Natsuki said, squeezing him tighter.
"Okay you're gonna kill me." Elijah said, his voice rattling from her squeezing so hard.
"Hey, what about me?" Damion complained, looking at Elijah with a frown.
"You're my brother, you don't count." Elijah said.
"Whatever granddad." Damion said. Elijah looked at Damion and punched him in the stomach. He let hunched and clenched his stomach.
"Jesus Eli!" Damion said shakily as he held his stomach.
"I said I'd do it." Elijah said, causing Damion to roll his eyes.
"C'mon guys, we're gonna be late for school if we don't hurry up." Natsuki said, walking at a fast pace. Elijah started to walk towards Natsuki as Damion slowly got up and began to walk with the other two towards the school.

Elijah focused on his schoolwork for once out of the entire week. He felt lost, but eventually got his school done. At the end of the school period, Elijah walked with Natsuki down the hallway and to their lockers. Natsuki's was across from Elijah's so they were able to somewhat talk to each other while they got their things.
"Places, places, get in your places. Throw on your dress and put on your doll faces." Elijah could hear Natsuki faintly singing softly as she put away her school books. She had earbuds in so Elijah thought she was just singing along to a song on her phone.
"Hey Suki." Elijah asked her, but she continued to sing to her song.
"Everyone thinks that we're perfect. Please don't let them look through the curtains." Natsuki sang to herself.
"Suki!" Elijah said a little louder to her, but she continued to ignore him.
"Picture, picture, smile for the picture. Pose with your brother, won't you be a good sister." she continued to sing to herself. Elijah sighed and walked over to her.
"D-o-l-l-h-o-u-s-e, I see things that nobody else sees." Natsuki sung to herself, but jumped when she noticed Elijah standing next to her. Her eyes widened and she yanked one of her earbuds out.
"Oh...um.....didn't see you there." Natsuki stuttered in embarrassment.

"What song was that?" Elijah asked, causing Natsuki to look at her to reach into the back pocket of her navy blue skinny jeans and pulled out her phone to pause the music that could be faintly heard from the dangling earbud.

"Oh..that was Dollhouse by Melanie Martinez...I was kinda singing to it......ha.....it's....it's nothing." Natsuki stammered with her words.
"Oh. Just wondering." Elijah said, then walking with her down the hallway and towards the school's exit. Damion soon came up to them and they began to walk out of the school together.
"Hey Eli?" Natsuki asked Elijah while they walked down the sidewalk. Elijah looked at Natsuki who had a look of curiosity on her face.
"Yeah?" Elijah asked Natsuki who then looked down and held her arm.

"Don't get mad at me for asking, but what was that nightmare you had about? I've been kinda thinking about that all day...just kinda curious." Natsuki asked shyly.

"Why are you so curious though?" Elijah asked. Natsuki sighed.
"Well, I kinda had a nightmare also, and I was just wondering if you had one like mine." Natsuki explained.

"Wait seriously?" Elijah asked in shock.

"What if this was some kind of mind trick Noah tried. Maybe that dream was actually just a dream and I've been paranoid for nothing." Elijah thought to himself. It made his feel relieved.
"Yeah...my nightmare was kinda.....weird....but also kinda scary." Natsuki said, her face becoming drained of color.
"Like how?" Damion asked, his tone of voice making it obvious that he was shocked too.
"Well......I don't really wanna go into too much detail...but basically I was in this weird like...room thing that was completely black. Then, I started seeing things from the past...bad things. But it felt like I was being forced to watch those things.....It was horrible." Natsuki explained. Elijah knew the room she was talking about. It was where he usually talked to Noah.
"I know what room you're talking about." Elijah told Natsuki, which caused her to give a confused look.
"You do? But.....but how?" Natsuki asked in shock.
"It's where I usually talk to Noah." Elijah explained.

"Isn't that weird though? How both of you have been in the same place in your dreams?" Damion asked.

"My theory is that Noah's playing mind games. He's being such a douche!" Elijah said.

"That's his new nickname. Detective Douche!" Natsuki said with a smile appearing on her face.
"So are we being Lucifer characters now?" Elijah asked, causing Natsuki to start laughing.
"Yes! You can be Lucifer and Noah'll be Detective Douche." Natsuki said.

"Speak of the devil." Damion said as they looked in front of them to see someone they know very well.