What He Wouldn't Give (Unedited Version)

Chapter Thirteen: Ghosts From The Past

                     

Ghosts from the Past...

"Hello, you've reached Izzy's cell, please leave a message at the beep."

"Izzy I need you, but you're at college. Something's happened. I don't know what to do. Call me back as soon as possible. Eli."

            Out of breath Eli held his phone in his heads praying she would call back. After calling Jeremy five times and no responses he prayed to death his other best friend would answer. Not ready to see him again, five letters, one word, one person. The knocking continued on the door as Eli hid behind the kitchen counter with his back against the wood. Taking a breath as he crawled to the back staircase to the basement, Eli slipped downstairs, coming back up and opened the front door, "Sorry I was downstairs."

            The person in front of him hadn't changed much except he didn't have such a rugged young out of college look and a ring on his finger. Swallowing a lump in his throat Eli looked at him trying not to slam the door in his face.

            "You seem to be doing well."

            "Yes, thank you so much for checking up on me two years later."
             "Hey I took care of you when you need someone the most!"

            "Oh really! You did?"

            "Yes I did, DO YOU NOT REALIZE HOW BAD YOU WERE BACK THEN?"

            "(PROFANITY YELLED HERE)! WHERE WERE YOU, WHEN I WAS AT MY WORST. I'VE HAD NIGHTS WORST THAN YOU'VE EVER SEEN."

            "TELL ME ABOUT ALL THE TRAGIC NIGHTS YOU'VE HAVE, WHAT ABOUT SEEING THE HAUNTING IMAGES OF A DOMESTIC ABUSE BY A FATHER TO HIS TEENAGE SON."

            "HOW ABOUT LIVING THE ABUSE! YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT ME, YEAH I NEVER CONTACTED YOU AGAIN, BUT YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN I WOULDN'T UNLESS YOU MADE CONTACT FIRST. SO SAVE THIS SHIT FOR SOMEONE ELSE. YOU MIGHT AS WELL JUST GO, YOU ABANDONED ME JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE I EVER COULD SAY I LOVED AS A FAMILY OR FRIEND."

            With that Eli slammed the door on him and slumped against the back of it attempting to keep the tears from escaping. Throwing his head back the familiar song that originally was girly but Our Last Night's cover of Maps by Maroon 5 started to play.

            "Hey Eli sorry I couldn't get your call I was in class, I'm currently in the bathroom what's going on?"

            "Declan," he choked out and the tears slowly slide down his face in a gentle stream.

            Izzy was sitting in the corner of the bathroom on the phone with Eli, helping him. Eli explained that Declan had taken care of him after Luke had beaten him to a pulp and tried to say that his son attacked him. Declan seemed like an actual father to him, however, after he never checked up on him Eli erased that and told himself he would never again talk to him. Eli talked about how pissed he was when he saw Declan pull into the drive way for abandoning him, but Iz could tell that he was happy that he saw Declan in his tone.

            The two said their goodbye as Iz had to go back to class and promised to talk to him later that week and watch next week's contest. Eli had received an email telling him he had to do a cover of a pop song for this week's entry and he would send it in himself, so he had to record it. Normally he would ask Iz to, however, she was at college hours away. It was quarter to nine and Eli wasn't ready for work.

            Pulling into the garage around nine fifteen he clocked in and asked what he was supposed to do today. Mindlessly going through the motions the day seemed to fly by and by eight he had finished the last customer's car and called them to let them know it was ready to be picked up. Walking out to his truck, Eli noticed a piece of paper stuck in his windshield wiper. Seeing the name on the paper he almost just chucked the letter on the ground and drove away, but what Izzy mentioned earlier caught him before he could just forget about it.