Epiphany

Chapter 29 Part 1~Monsters

Elijah closed the door behind him softly. “Tell me what you did.”

“I…” I rubbed my shoulders, trying to heat my body in this cool weather. “I... I don’t know…”

I felt his eyes on me as we walked away from the house and on the mixture of dirt and grass.

“I think I might have gave her some hope?” I questioned myself. “I don’t know… but probably yeah.”

Ignoring the fact that she glared at me and grew suspicious of me, I thought I did good. I gave her some hope to hold on to.

Looking up at the trees on the far left, I noticed people walking across wooden bridges that connected some of the shelters.

There weren’t many people or tree houses in this part of Tresor where Elijah’s house stood. I was certain we were on the outskirts of Tresor at this point.

Elijah nudged me to catch my attention and offered me a smile. “You did great.”

I didn’t think so…

“I don’t know…”

I thought she’d talk to me, maybe open up to me—but none.

It hurt because this might be prove that we were never close friends to begin with. Didn't close friends feel comfortable enough to share their feelings to one another?

I guessed not…

I held my breath for a few seconds to allow the intense emotion to sink in back to where it belonged.

“Is it safe to leave her asleep all alone like that?” I asked, slowing down after realizing we were walking away from the house.

“I don’t see a problem with it. She’ll probably not like it if we were to cling to her side all the time. Plus, she’s asleep. Nothing will happen.”

I kicked a pebble and bit my lip. When I realized my small action, I gave a huff. Chewing and gnawing at my lips was a habit that I should quit.

Realizing this, I rolled my eyes because there were more important things to be concerned about.

I had questions I better ask.

“Were you the one who treated Julia’s stomach the first time?” I decided it was best to ask him the question directly without giving him a heads up that I was going to ask him something.

“Yeah, that was me.”

“And who brought her to—”

“Ryder brought her to me.”

“What?!”

That was impossible! This guy would hurt people, not the opposite. He would never send them off to get treated.

“Yeah, it was this dude, and if you’re wondering why would he send her to me when he’s the one who hurt her is because—I’m not actually sure, but maybe because he thought she might come in handy later on?”

And it did. Now I couldn’t move anywhere without my thoughts lingering on my friend, who was in much worse pain than I was. I couldn’t escape too. If I did it without my friend and made it out of the woods alive without being killed by a being in the woods, the guilt would surely kill me.

“Or Gunther scolded him for doing extra work that might get them into trouble. So they took her—I don’t know.”

“He’s a monster.”

A psycho. A murderer. He was everything.

I had mixed feelings. Of course, I was grateful for that—anyone would be. But he didn’t save her out of the goodness of his heart. He had none left in it. His intentions were just horrendous.