Two Pieces of a Puzzle ✔

Chapter Seventeen

ELIOTT

After having stood on the bridge for a few minutes longer, we decided to go for a little drive around the area. It was difficult to see with how dense the fog was getting, and I was pretty sure we would end up crashing at some point - but being with Elias made me feel a strange sensation of security. 

He made me feel as though nothing in the world would dare step foot in my path or attempt to hurt me in the slightest.

He made me feel as though the only person who was allowed to hurt me was him.

Live, even if you're living for someone else.

I was living for someone else. That someone was Elias. That someone was Eric.

It has always been him, and only him.

It will always remain him, and only him.

"Have you ever been on those.. those mini car things that take you up above forests and stuff?" he questioned out of nowhere, tapping on the car's window lightly to distract himself.

"You know phrases and words that no one uses anymore but you don't know the word for a cable-car?" I inquired, biting onto the inside of my cheek in a poor attempt to hide my smile. 

He let out a quiet chuckle at that, "My brain stops working sometimes. Brain lag, y'know?"

"I've never been on one, no."

"For real?! You're missing out. We should go on one together someday."

Together.

And like that, all at once, my heart combusted for the hundredth time that day. 

All at once.

"I'm a little scared of heights," I confessed.

"But you didn't seem like you were back at the bridge," he noted. 

That's because you were with me.

I gave him a nonchalant shrug.

"I'm scared of heights too, to be honest."

"You're not scared of heights," I began, leaning back against my seat. "You're scared of falling."

He didn't say anything for a second; then a minute - as if he hadn't been expecting me to say that. Then, from the corner of my eye, I could see a small grin crawl onto his face before he looked out the window, turning away from me.

"I'm not scared of falling," he said with a sigh. "I'm scared that no one will catch me."

I didn't have anything to say.

He turned back at me, "Or.. I'm scared that the person who ends up catching me won't be the person I want them to be."

"Which person are you talking about?"

"Don't know," he confessed. "I'll have to find out."

"Tell me when you do, captain," I joked.

He opened his mouth to respond but was caught off by the sound of sirens.

I cursed under my breath as we were ordered to pull over with a warning honk. 

I obliged without putting up a fight. 

A sturdy officer with a plump physique made his way over to my side of the door and knocked on the window before attempting to look through the glass, "Step outside of the vehicle, please."

And so we did.

"Is this the vehicle?" the same officer asked the one beside him, to which he received a nod. "Right.. is this your cycle then?"

They had Elias' cycle. 

He nodded, "That would be mine, yes. Are we in trouble?"

The officers shared a look between the two of them before looking back at us, "No."

"Just be careful next time, don't cause a scene in public," the other one warned before handing the cycle over to it's rightful owner. "The world's a cruel place, kid."

Kid?

Now that I think about it, Elias - Eric - certainly did look young. At least younger than I did. Perhaps my father was right when he had said that worrying turns your hair grey. Though my hair wasn't the only one to have fallen victim to said worry, my soul wasn't spared either.

"Trust me," Elias began with a small grin before making his way over to the boot of my car and attempting to stuff the bicycle inside. "I know just how cruel the world can be."

I noticed a tinge of hurt and anger in his tone. That same anger also held a side of frustration; frustration that reflected how badly he wanted to simply punch a wall and yell out his worries till he had nothing to yell about. 

What was making him feel this way?

I tried to recall what could have happened to him in the past. 

Had he been upset of any one of those days?

And suddenly, I couldn't remember.

I couldn't remember the times we had spent together. Nothing would come to my mind.

The only memory that stayed still in my mind was the time we had spent on the rock beside that lake. 

I tried to recall what expression he had on his face when he turned to look at me.

I couldn't remember what his face looked like.

I couldn't remember how his lips had felt against mine.

I couldn't remember how his voice sounded when he told me he loved me.

I couldn't remember what I had told him last before he left.

I couldn't remember.

I was forgetting him.

I was forgetting Eric.

I was forgetting him piece by piece, then all at once.

But then again;

With you, everything is all at once.