DISCLAIMER: Unfortunately, I don't own Degrassi.
A/N: This is basically a short prologue. Nevertheless, thanks for reading.
Day 7
People told him that time cures everything, even the deepest scar. But that was a lie.
Eli still remembered what Clare's lips felt like, full of promises and the echo of forever, full of undeniable love.
Love.
Eli laughed dryly, shaking his head at his own naïve stupidity. Clare never loved him at all, did she? She ran away from him at the first opportunity, at the first sign of something being wrong. But Eli's subconscious reminded him that those thoughts weren't quite true, that she did try to help, that she did try to stay.
But Eli wasn't going to start finding excuses for Clare's behavior. No, after all, he needed to hate her more than anyone in the world.
He was holding the key in his hand, thinking of the decision he was about to make. So many things had changed for him, his life turned upside down in just one second, and all because of her.
Clare, Clare Edwards.
Eli had decided to go to college as far away as he had been able to, trying to escape the ghost of the girl he had loved so much. Having to choose between his girlfriend and the Clare Edwards, well, he wasn't expecting that at all.
He hadn't seen her for four years, for more than a thousand days. He thought he had forgotten her, he thought that he was wiser. But just one look at her, and he realized that he would never be able to give her up. She would always be his least favorite ghost.
In just seven days, Clare had managed to make him fall in love with her all over again.
Who did Clare think she was anyway? What made her think she had the right to come back and ruin his world? Did she really expect Eli to go crawling back to her? To pretend that the past never happened? To pretend that everything was okay and tell her that they could finally have their happily-ever-after?
Eli kept asking himself the same questions over and over again, agonizing over the possibility of not choosing, dreading the fact that he might have to end up alone. Because he knew he loved Imogen too, even if it was a different kind of love.
Imogen had been there to pick up the pieces that Clare left behind. He pushed her away so many times, and yet, she waited. Waited patiently as if waiting for the sun to set. When he finally made up his mind, she smiled at him and accepted him just the way he was.
He loved Imogen. He loved Clare. He loved Julia. Love was poison to Eli, he knew that. He could love deeply, he could lose his mind over love. Normal people feared monsters, death, bankruptcy. Of all things, love was the thing Eli feared the most. Imogen sort of neutralized that, dismissing Eli's sometimes erratic behavior as part of his charm, although both knew differently.
Imogen or Clare?
There was a sudden noise in the dorm room; probably his roommate back from his date, wasted and happy. Eli looked at the key one last time, not knowing what to do. He felt that the past was snapping at his ankles, trying to grab him and drag him all the way back to his senior year at Degrassi. The year when he made the decision to give up all hope of ever getting Clare back.
He gritted his teeth, throwing the key away, waiting to hear the metal hit the concrete.
Nothing. No sound at all.