Elijah is dozing off, propped up on the couch. His long leg is crossed elegantly over the other, a hint of the violet of his socks showing. His face, tilted downwards in sleep, is partially obscured by the brim of a fedora hat. It had been a hard day at work for him, Meredith thought.
Meredith is… standing, somewhere in the room with him, but he's not sure where. He keeps seeing different angles of the scene, and reason suggests that he must be moving around. But he feels like he's standing statically. There's a cool, hard weight pressed into his hand, but whenever he looks down nothing is there.
His hand is empty.
Lazily, Elijah opens an eye and gives Meredith an unreadable grin. He feels the smile creep under his skin. Elijah takes a long drag of his cigarette (where had that come from?) and stands up, the hairs all over Meredith prickling as his brother whisks past him and into the kitchen. The blood in his veins runs icy cold. Elijah leaves a trail of crimson behind with every step.
He blinks and it's gone.
Meredith doesn't remember sitting down, but he must have, because he gets up and follows him into the kitchen. Seeing him approach, he gives that disconcerting little smile and spreads his arms open wide. Heart thumping wildly, Meredith runs blindly in his warm embrace. And when he nears his face to Elijah's, tilting up his chin, the weight in his hand becomes very real.
The other man's eyes soften at the feeling of the gun barrel pressed onto his chest.
No. Not this. Never this. He disentangles from him and puts the gun on the counter. "You remember," Elijah murmurs into his ear.
"Elijah, I-," he starts, but never finishes.
Eyes truly open, Meredith jolts out of sleep when there is a harsh pounding at the door. He looks down at his hands and sees a gun.
Elijah is dozing off, propped up on the couch. His long leg is crossed elegantly over the other, a hint of the violet of his socks showing.
His eyes are otherworldly and empty. Even as a corpse, he means the world to Meredith.
Another desperate knock.
Oh, yes. The police.
Oh.
He had gone through with it, after all.