This is a story about Elijah Goldsworthy, from his perspective. Thank you for reading :)

The Ballad of Mona Lisa

I heard knocking on the door, it was really loud. I looked at the clock, it said 9:30 a.m. I heard my name screamed from the door. Ugh. I lifted my body up from my bed. I was shirtless, barefoot, and just wearing grey, checkered p-jams pants. Yep, P-Jams. Ma always made fun of me for saying that, instead of pajamas. I opened my bedroom door, walked out of the room; into the living room, and swiftly opened the front door. Noticing it was her, I let go of my tired, angry face and a small smirk replaced it.

"Elijah," She whispered, tears streaming down her face.

"Hello….." I stopped for a second and looked at her dark, long hair, and continued. "Julia."

I had totally forgotten I was shirtless. I had been working out lately, so I had a 4-pack. And arm-muscles. I guess I was pretty appealing, because her eyes widened and she stood still.

I walked up to her and sighed. "Smith?" I said. Joan Smith was Julia's stepmom, Julia absolutely hated her. This chick was not a good mother. I don't even want to go over what she had done. Julia nodded and I grabbed her hands and kissed her soft forehead. She buried her head into my shoulder and I wrapped my arms around her. We stood there for what seemed like forever. My door stayed open breezing warm, spring air and pollen into the house. Fresh smells covered the room. Julia lifted her head and stared into my eyes. I looked down at her and smiled.

"C-Can I stay with you…?" Julia had been staying with me a lot lately, that's how I knew

That it was Joan Smith who had saddened her. She had stayed over every other day for like a month now. I had gotten used to it. For the first week I honestly tried to calm her down, trying to talk her into going back home and talking it out with her Step-ma, but she refused. Most of the time she would start a slow, boring conversation about my day and then she would hit me with a surprise kiss. She would slip tongue. Take off shirts, pants, panties, and the rest, you could figure out. I mean, she was so into it. She's the one who brought it on, I never thought about sex before. Before she came along, and started having problems, and staying in my room at night. I eventually told my parents about it, figuring they already knew: Same house? They were totally cool. Which surprised me, because they didn't raise me like that; I didn't have rules from them, but they never told me it was alright.

But this time I didn't want to. No, Julia. I wanted to say. She was taking advantage of me; she was depressed, so she came to me for the wrong cure.

I looked at Julia sternly and she twitched her red eyes.

I grabbed a sweatshirt off the couch and put it on. "Come on." I said, grabbing her hand and leading her into my hearse. "Where are we going?" She complained. "I want to talk to you…." Driving around town was always better for me. I stayed relaxed while driving, I never got mad when I was driving, and I always built up courage to say important things while driving. It was like alcohol, but I was safe. Plus I hate the taste of alcohol. We drove out for about ten minutes in silence.

"What the fuck, E.?" She was getting too impatient.

"You're taking advantage of me!" I screamed. "You have problems and then you just come and dump them on me. I used to be a good kid, and you came along. You-You- I never intended to have sex and you forced me to!"

"Eli! You-You could've said no! Why are you making such a big deal! We could have stopped!" And I don't know why, but I lost it.

Now you might be wondering, Was I seriously a good kid? And…I was, I guess, I was normal. I did what my parents said, I never yelled or screamed. I wasn't gothic. And right now, I'm not gothic. But Julia's turning me to it. I need space from her. I got mad at her for no reason, and I said…really bad things. I shouldn't have said it. And right as I did, she jumped out of the car, slammed the door; she walked towards the street, not even using the sidewalk. Just right then a car speeding way too fast came out, and just hit her. And she…died. My jaw dropped to the floor and the sound of her shriek, the crack of her skull, the look of her bending neck, it all replayed over and over again in my head. Right then I drove back home, ran into the house, and stayed, weeping in my room for weeks.