Reach Out to Me

|Chapter 10|

Elías woke up the next day to the sunlight shining directly on his face. He rubbed his eyes, wiping away the crust that had formed near the corners of his eyes.

As he pushed himself on his shoulders, he saw the tangled mess that he had slept in. There were a dozen or so pillows on top of bright multicolored blankets that covered the entirety of the rug that they were on. He could hear the faint sizzling of bacon coming from the kitchen.

Elías stood up, pushing down on the floor, when he felt something squishy under his hands. He looked down to see part of a leg that was hidden under the blankets. Following the trail of limbs, he saw a pile of light brown hair splayed underneath a pillow. Ava groaned under the blankets and pulled her leg towards herself.

"Crap," he murmured to himself and gingerly got up before he stepped on her again.

"Good morning," Minjoon said with a smile as he saw Elías walk into the kitchen.

"Good morning to you too. Do you need any help?"

"Yeah, could you cut up some of these bell peppers for the omelette?" Minjoon gestured towards a pile of washed vegetables to the right of the sink.

"Sure," replied Elías.

A minute passed by in silence accompanied by the sounds of chopping and sizzling.

"Was everything okay yesterday by the way?" asked Minjon abruptly. "I didn't get a change to ask."

"I couldn't stay in my apartment any longer that's all." A shiver ran down his spine like a bolt of electricity at the thought.

"Why? You got rats or something?"

Elías sighed. "I wish it was something easy to get rid of like that."

He told Minjoon what happened in London's apartment. In the beginning, he thought of taking out some parts, but realized that it was Minjoon he was talking to. He wouldn't think that Elías was going crazy... hopefully.

Minjoon silently listened. His back was turned, betraying no emotion of what he thought of the situation.

When Elías got to the end where he ran to the coffee shop, he faced Minjoon and said, "and that's all what happened. I don't know what to make of it."

Minjoon turned off the stove and looked at Elías, his face uncharacteristically serious.

"I got two things from your story. One, there is an evil spirit in London's apartment."

Elías laughed nervously. When he saw that Minjoon wasn't joking, he immediately sobered up.

"You can't possibly think that. Things like that don't exist," said Elías, trying to brush it off.

"Were you drunk and or high?"

"No."

"Then there can't be any other explanation. Come on, you've thought of this too before."

Elías scratched the back of his head. "I still can't believe what happened. But a ghost? Are you sure?"

"No, I'm not actually. This whole thing is a mess. Listen, Elías." Minjoon paused for a moment to pat his hand on the fridge for emphasis. "The only way you're going to figure out is if you ask London."

Elías shook his head. "I can't do that."

"Why?"

"I don't know, I can't go back into her apartment."

"Fine. Meet her at the coffee shop then," said Minjoon, throwing his hands up in the air.

"Alright, alright. I'll do it."

A warm sensation on his hand caused him to look down and see Minjoon's hand placed over his own shaking one.

"I'll come with you." Minjoon saw Elías's surprised expression and quickly added. "She won't know I'm there."

"I'm not a little kid that you need to babysit," complained Elías and shrugged off Minjoon's hand, but was internally relieved.

Minjoon reached over and jokingly tousled Elías 's hair, cooing as he did. Elías suppressed a smile and pushed him off.

"Shove off. What was the second thing you said you got from what I said?" Elías asked.

"That you- Elías - have the hots for London," Minjoon said dramatically and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Elías rolled his eyes. "It's not like that."

"Come on, it sounds like you care for her. Like you want to be her knight in shining armor."

"Don't be so dramatic." Elías shook his head. "Listen, it just reminds me of Sofia."

Minjoon stopped in his tracks. "Sofia?"

"Yeah, I see it every time I look at her. The yelling. The whole not wanting to talk about it."

Minjoon placed a hand on Elías's shoulder. "Your sister was in a bad situation. But you can't be 100% sure that London is the same."

"Yeah. But I just can't ignore it." Elías swallowed hard. He just felt so guilty about not being able to see that Sofia was in an abusive relationship. None of them had seen the signs. Not until the damage was already done.

"Elías. I'm not sure what to say, but don't get hurt."

"Don't worry about me," said Elías, but the reassurance sounded fake even to himself. He wasn't sure what he was getting himself into.

"Come here." Minjoon engulfed him into another one of his hugs. Minjoon's arms wrapped around Elías's as he rested his chin on Elías's shoulder.

"I didn't realize you were already in another relationship," interjected Ava, shaking her head in mock disbelief. "Here I was thinking that you and I had something special together."

Minjoon broke away and crossed the kitchen to peck Ava on the lips. Elías felt suddenly bare from the loss of contact and shivered, feeling a bit chilly despite the rays of sunshine that illuminated the rustic kitchen.

Elías walked out of the kitchen, not wanting to be privy to the makeout session that was most likely about to take place, shimmying past Minjoon and Ava who blocked the entrance to the hallway. In Minjoon's room he took a shower and rummaged through the drawers until he found a pair of clothes he left at Minjoon's apartment the last time he slept over.

He hummed as he got ready and read a poem from an email list that he subscribed to. Today, it was Dead Stars by Ada Limon.

Reading poetry always felt like a push to Elías. People who read horoscopes read how their day was supposed to turn out. It was the same way for Elías . The poem would reveal how his day would be. Dead Stars, as he read for the third time, was a poem of rising up.

Elías felt energized as if someone had injected him with caffeine and decided that today, he would not his overthinking self get ahead of him.

He would not let London hide from him or whatever was in her apartment scare him.

He would find out.

A/N: Link to the poem Dead Stars by Ada Limon is in the External Links section below if you want to read it.