Certifiably Insane
The halls of Degrassi Community School were crowded, students everywhere making their way to class or going to their locker. A buzz of conversation was heard throughout. A perfectly normal day with nothing out of the ordinary. Except for Clare Edwards, who was pushing her way roughly through the crowd of students desperately.
"Adam! Adam!" Clare called trying to get her friends attention. She spotted him sitting on the bench in front of the window. He seemed to have heard and saw Clare just as she broke out of the throng of students.
"Clare what's up with you?" Adam asked, concerned at the look on Clare's face. His eyebrows knit together as the redhead sat down on the bench beside him slightly out of breath from her struggle in the crowd.
"I really need to talk to you Adam." Clare said, her voice strained. She looked around, taking notice of diminishing number of students around. "It's about Eli. I'm worried about him."
"Is it Fitz again? Did he try talking to you or Eli? I knew him coming back around was going to cause trouble..." Adam looked furious, thinking about his ex-bully.
"No...Yes...Partly." Clare was flustered, unable to think. She knew she needed to clear her head. "Eli's just...well not been himself lately. It's really starting to scare me. The story he wrote..." Clare broke off and shuddered, to disturbed to go on. She shook her head and took a deep breath. "Can we go somewhere else to talk. Somewhere Eli won't be near. I can't let him know what's up." She stood up and looked at Adam, who was starting to get more and more worried.
"Umm...Sure Clare." He collected his things and stood up. The two began to walk towards the school exit when they heard a shoe squeak behind them, Clare flinched. Confused by her reaction, Adam turned to see what had made the noise.
Behind the two stood Eli, standing casually in the middle of the hall. One of his hands was shoved into the pocket of his tan pants and the other clung to his leather jacket, which hung limply at his side. Overall he looked like the Eli they knew and loved, but something was off. The look in his eyes. They were shining, but not in a happy way. They sent chills down both Clare and Adam's spines. Without saying a word Eli started to saunter towards them, that strange glint still in his eyes.
"So where are you two going? Any place in particular." Eli raised an eyebrow at Clare while lightly placing his arm around her.
"N-nope Eli. Just going for some air. I was feeling a little claustrophobic." Clare stuttered, looking up at her boyfriend. Fear was both in her eyes and voice but Eli seemed not to notice it.
"Well why don't I go with you, like a good boyfriend should. That why Adam doesn't have to miss class." Eli looked expectantly at his friend. The message was clear. Eli wanted to be alone with Clare.
"I guess I'll just go to class then. See you later Clare...Eli." Adam looked at Clare one more time, noticing the fear and concern etched into her face. Unable to do anything else, Adam had no choice but to walk away. Eli and Clare continued to walk towards the exit. Just before the couple exited the school Adam looked back and made eye contact with Clare.
Help Me
She mouthed her distress message right as Eli ushered her out the door. Adam knew that whatever was going on with his friends was not good. Walking down the halls Adam pulled out his cell phone and quickly dialed a number.
"Hello, Toronto police station? I want to report some suspicious activity..."
As soon as Eli and Clare were out of the school building Eli took his arm away from Clare's shoulders and instead moved his hand to tightly grip her forearm. Without looking at her, he led her towards his hearse.
"Ow! Eli that hurts..." Clare trailed off. When they reached the hearse Eli didn't relinquish his hold on her, instead he pushed her up against the vehicle. Effectively trapping Clare. He released his hold on her arm only when she was tightly pinned against the hearse, he then moved his arms to either side of her. Clare saw no way to escape, and no where to look except into Eli's eyes.
"What were you going to go do with Adam?" Eli demanded. His voice was rough and uninhibited, so unlike the suave confident voice he had while in the hallway.
"We were just going to talk. Eli what's up with you?" Clare asked. Eli brushed off her question, acting like she hadn't even opened her mouth. He leaned in closer, his forehead gently touching Clares, a sneer on his face.
"It seems like every time I turn my back your with another guy Clare. Fitz, Adam... when you clearly mine." As if to prove this true, Eli roughly forced his lips onto Clares. Clare stiffened, refusing to kiss back. The soft lips that Clare had kissed so many times before bore no resemblance to the tense ones being forced against her. When Eli finally released her he went back to leaning against Clare's forehead. "How am I going to be able to make sure you stay mine and only mine?" Eli pondered. His question was obviously rhetorical, and even if it wasn't Clare was too frightened to speak. "Get in the car Clare."
"Eli I don't-" Clare started but Eli cut her off.
"Get in the fucking car Clare. Don't make me tell you again." One look at Eli and Clare knew she had no choice but to listen. Without another objection she walked to the other side of the hearse and got into her usual seat. Clare didn't even bother to look up when Eli got into the drivers side. She didn't react when he took hold of her hand. She didn't respond when he whispered "I love you Clare."
Without another word Eli started the hearse and drove away from Degrassi. While they drove down the streets of Toronto Eli stroked Clare's hand lovingly, like he had during every other ride they'd taken as a couple. Yet this simple movement seemed foreign and cold, so unlike what Clare was used to. After a few minutes Clare noticed that Eli wasn't driving to anyplace familiar.
"Where are we going Eli?" Clare asked, keeping her voice small and soft.
"Somewhere where you will be able to be mine, no distractions. No competition. Just you and me." Eli smiled a cold smile and went back to silence. The smile sent chills up and down Clare's spine.
"Are you sure you can't just take me home and we could talk?" Clare knew it was a desperate hope, but she thought it was at least worth a try.
"It's too late for that Clare." Eli said simply. Clare sighed and slumped back in her seat, crossing her arms across her chest. She went back to staring out the window, until Eli gave some sort of primitive grunt. Clare looked over and saw Eli practically seething. She raised an eyebrow at him, he contorted his mouth into a sneer. "Give me your hand Clare. I want to hold your hand."
Clare couldn't help the worried look that appeared on her face as she slowly uncrossed her arms and extended her hand towards Eli. He took it gently and kissed it before resuming his ministrations. The couple rode in a thick silence for a while longer, driving right to the perimeter of the city. Soon enough Eli pulled the hearse into the parking-lot of what looked like a run-down and unkempt apartment building. A few other cars were scattered across the parking-lot but otherwise the place looked deserted.
"What is this place Eli? Why are we here?" Clare asked nervously. Eli didn't bother answering and instead got out of the hearse and circled around. A few seconds later he opened Clares car door.
"Come on Clare." Eli grabbed hold of Clare's upper arm, tight enough that she couldn't get away but not too much to hurt. He started pulling her towards the entrance of the apartment. Clare, knowing that there was no way she could get out of it, followed without a struggle.
The lobby of the apartment building was the first indication that this place must be deserted. A layer of dust covered everything in the room. The blue carpeting was full of grime and dirt. Clare was certain that if sure looked more closly then the place would be invested with bugs. Eli didn't stop though, and kept leading her through the grimy place. He opened a door to a stairwell and began to lead her up. He kept his hold on her as they walked up four flights of stairs, and then Eli pushed through the door that lead to the hallway of apartments.
Taking her to the one at the very end, he got out a key and put it into a shiny lock. It looked brand new compared to all the rest of the apartments. Clares confusion about the lock ended when Eli opened the door and shoved her inside the apartment.
It was obvious that Eli hadn't randomly decided to abduct her. He had been planning it and had everything worked out. The whole apartment, which should have looked as disgusting as the rest of the place, looked newly scrubbed and furnished. The walls were a deep red and the blue carbet looked freshly shampooed. There was a couch that looked new and a small televsion set with out fashioned rabbit ears.
"What do you think Clare Bear?" Eli asked while locking the door. When the door was secure he finally released his grip on Clare. "I've been working on this place for weeks, getting it ready for us. I stumbled upon this building when I first started going to degrassi. I always meant for it to be my little home away from home, but keeping you here is a much better use." Eli smirked and lead Clare over to the couch. She resisted at first but was no match for Eli.
"Eli you can't do this. Your kidnapping me and trespassing on whoever owns this building." Clare told him as he forced her to sit down with him.
"No one ever checks up on this place." Eli said, waving his hand at that comment. "And I'm not some random guy you picked you up off the street Clare. I'm your boyfriend who just wants some quality time with you."
"Well why can't we do that at the Dot or at school or..." Clare faultered under Eli's suddennly stern gaze.
"Because Clare," He started, anger pouring out of every word. "There's always going to be someone or something to take you away from me. Here, your mine. You can't leave and no one knows this place exists. As soon as I get you settled in I'm going to go hide Morty to make sure no one can spot him."
"So you just going to keep me here? Until When? You know you can't keep this up forever Eli!" Clare gave Eli a shove out of anger but he caught her hands.
"Do not do that again Clare!" Eli warned. Just the fury in his gave made tears spring to Clares eyes. As soon as Eli saw her eyes start to water his expression softened. "I'm sorry Clare. I don't want to scare you. I love you." He looked at Clare expectantly, obviously wanting Clare to say it too.
"Well if you don't want to scare me then let me go." Clare said furiously. Eli released her hands immediately. "I mean let me go home."
"This is your home now Clare. And mine. We can live here for the rest of our lives." Eli gave an excited smile. Clare recoiled from him even more.
"But Eli, I don't want to live here. What I want is to go home!" Clare said angerly. She saw Eli reach his hand out, and assuming he wanted to hold her hand again Clare crossed her arms. It seemed thought that Eli had no intention of holding her hand. Instead he roughly grabbed her right wrist and pulled a pair of hand cuffs out of his pocket. Before Clare could even mutter a word of protest he had one of the cuffs around her wrist and the other around the door knob of the closet beside the couch.
"I really didn't want to have to do this Clare." Eli sighed as he checked to make sure there was no way Clare could escape. "But until you can accept that your going to be staying here with me then I'm going to have to make sure you can't leave." Eli stood up and Clare looked at him in disbelief. "I'll be right back now Clare Bear. I'm just going to go move the hearse. While I'm gone please rethink all this." The dark hair boy kissed Clares head, which she tried to dodge but didn't succeed given her limited amount of movement space. With another sigh Eli swalked to the door and slipped out, leaving Clare alone with her thoughts.
As soon as Eli was out of sight Clare couldn't keep herself from letting the tears run down her face. When she had woken up this morning her only concern was trying to catch Adam on his own, now she was sitting prisoneer of her certifiably insane boyfriend. Who apparently planned to keep her here doing God knows what. Clare leaned back on the couch and closed her eyes, wondering what in the world she had done to deserve this.
"My first love cheats on me, my sister leaves me, my parents divorce. What did I do?" Clare whispered to herself. Forgetting her wrist was handcuffed to a door, Clare sat up and tried to put her hands together to pray. A soon as she realized she could she just dropped her hands in deafeat and settled for just closing her eyes. "Please God, if your listening, let me be found. Let Adam had done something when Eli took me. Let my parents to realize I'm gone. Let someone know about this run down place. I promise to continue to hold up to my Christain values and be much more picky about boys in general. Just please let me be found."
"Is that really how you feel Clare?" Clare sat up arruptly and opened her eyes. Eli was standing by the doorway, a pained look on his face.
"Well how am I supposed to feel Eli?" Clare cried. "You took me from my life and expect me to play house with you." Eli stood leaning against the door, dumbfounded.
"Clare I-" He started. Clare never found out what he was going to say though.
"Attention Elijah Goldsworthy. This is the Toronto Police Unit. We have the building surrounded. Please come out peacefully with your hands up." A man's voice came through the closed door of the apartment. Clare watched Eli fly threw an arrange of emotions in just a few seconds, his face betraying them all. Shocked, confused, angry. All these things were reflected in Eli's expression.
"Looks like my plan didn't go through very well. Eh Clare Bear?" Eli laughed humorlessly as he walked over to Clare. Not sure what he was going to do, Clare put her free arm up in defense. It wasn't nessicary though. Eli simply took a key out of his pocket and unlocked the handcuff binding Clare to the door.
"Elijah we're giving you thirty more seconds until we break down this door." The policeman said through the door. Eli ignored him and took Clare's hand and helped her off the couch.
"Clare. I love you. I love you more then Romeo loved Juliet. Then Anthony loved Cleopatra. Then Paris loved Helen. All I wanted was to make it clear to you that I love and need you." Eli held both of Clares hands in his own and looked into her blue eyes. Clare was speechless at the sincerity in his green eyes. "I never meant for it to go this far. But I did it and I'll take my punishment. I never wanted to cause you any pain, and I deserve to be hanged just for putting a scared look in your eyes." Eli leaned his forehead against Clares. "I'm so sorry Clare." He gently placed a kiss on Clare's forehead and started to walk towards the door, leaving a stunned and breathless Clare standing in the middle of the apartment.
She watched as Eli opened the door and was faced with multiple men in blue police uniforms, who were all pointing a gun at him. Eli put his hands behind his head and walked into the dingy hallway. One of the police officers seized him and forced him onto his knees.
"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you..." The police officer droned on. Clare couldn't listen to the whole speech though, as more police officers made their way into the apartment.
"Are you Clare Edwards?" A blonde policeman asked Clare. Being unable to speak still, Clare just nodded her head. The officer gave her a small smile. "It's okay now then Ms. Edwards. Its over. We'll have your capture taken far away. Now I'm sure you want to leave this place. Come on, their are some people waiting downstairs to meet with you." He gently put his arm around Clares shoulders and led her out of the apartment. As soon as they were out the front door Clare looked around to see where Eli had gone to, but he was no where in sight. The blonde police officer who had Clare took her down the same hallway as she had come up in, and lead her down the same four flights of stairs. The officer, who Clare had finally seen had a nametag that read 'Officer Peters' didn't take his arm off of Clare until they were all the way out of the building. The parking lot looked very different then it had just a little while ago when Clare and Eli had first gotten to the dingy apartment block. At the time the place was deserted. Now their were people and cars all around. Including a small group of people obviously waiting for Clare.
"Mom! Dad! Adam!" Clare ran over to the three and hugged them each. "How did you know?"
"I called the cops as soon as Eli took you." Adam said, looking sadly at Clare. "He looked a little crazy and I was worried. Even if he was just going to take you to the Dot I thought the police should know. I never imagined he would bring you here."
"Thank you so much Adam." Clare gave him another hug.
"Yes. Thank you Adam." Clares mom smiled softly at Adam. "We're very happy that Clare has friends like you who look out for her." Clare's parents continued to compliment and commend Adam, but Clare stopped listening. Instead she started to look around the crowded parking lot, knowing exactly what she was looking for. Then she spotted it. Eli was sitting in the back of a squad car, his hands obviously handcuffed behind his back and his head hanging down. For some reason Clare couldn't take her eyes off of him, he looked so different then the boy who had pronounced their love just a few minutes ago. Just then Eli looked up and locked eyes with her. He didn't look angry, or upset, or indifferent about his situation. Just sorry.
"I love you." Clare saw Eli mouth from where he was, just before a policeman got into the front seat of the car and turned it on. Eli looked at Clare desperately, obviously wanting a reply. Instead of turning away or getting angry or having any normal reaction for someone who had just been kidnapped, Clare simply responded with mouthing;
"I love you too."
A/N I must say I think this is one of my favourite stories that i've ever written. It took me a while to do but i'm proud. I think it's intense and I think I just reached my goal of a 3000 word oneshot for my checklist. So review and tell me what you think :) And sorry for any spelling/grammer mistakes. I don't have spell check and the fanfiction one just stopped working. Hopefully theres nothing to bad in it.
-Caitii