Chasing Air // Billie Eilish

Chapter 21

ELLIOT'S P.O.V

I finally got up after hearing another loud thump. Claudia kept hitting the wall. "Claudia?"

No answer.

"Claudia?" I knocked on the door.

No answer.

I twisted the doorknob.

It was locked.

What if something was wrong? With a long sigh, I pulled a bobby pin off of my sleeve and picked the lock to her room. I liked to keep a bobby pin on me at all times. You never knew when you'd need it. I opened her door and flipped the light on. She was asleep, her eyebrows knitted tightly together and her blankets a mess around her. I guess I should have just left her alone. She seemed fine. I went back across the hall to my room and sat on the bed. "For fucks sake," I mumbled as I heard another loud thump. I peered into her room and she was now laying on the ground, her entire body shaking. "Claudia!" I dropped to the ground beside her and helped her up.

Suddenly her hand was around my neck, anger evident on her face. Finneas walked in and pulled her arms off, guiding Claudia back to her bed. "Shh!"

"What?"

Claudia's head instantly snapped up to look at me.

"She can't see but she can hear. She doesn't like you. Be quiet."

"Can I just leave?" I whispered but Claudia still heard me.

"In a minute."

"Where's Billie?"

"Who is Billie—shh!"

Claudia got up again.

"Just run."

"I can't find the front door," I said, looking around the living room.

"You can't leave."

"Finneas." I pulled him into the hallway, lowering my voice. "Can I please just leave? She's scaring me."

"We're leaving in a minute." He walked away and I chased after him.

"Don't leave me with her."

"Just shut up and she won't know where you are—"

"She can hear me walking."

"Elliot." Billie shook me and I jumped, realizing it was a dream—a weird one at that. "You okay?"

That was a weird ass dream. And extremely unsettling in a weird way. I didn't want to be in there alone anymore. What the fuck? Next thing I knew, a blind Claudia was gonna hop out the closet or something.

"Elliot?"

I lifted my head up off of the floor and jumped again when I saw her. I could've sworn she was on the other side of me.

She laughed, setting her hand on my back. "Why are you on the floor?"

"I don't know."