I'm glad people are still reading this even though school has started!

At this point, I think this will be the last (or one of the last) daily updates and then there might be a period where I might just stop since I have a lot of homework and stuff to do.

I'm glad people enjoyed the Eli chapter; I thought that we should have a small Eli POV included considering Clare "stood him up."

-x-

I remember all those faces.

I walk down the halls and I see a billion pairs of eyes staring me down.

I try so hard not to look at people. I try so hard not to think about people.

But in the end, one person always comes to my mind: Eli Goldsworthy.

-x-

I walk up to his locker and smile at him. I try to offer him an apology before he cuts me off by walking away.

I look straight into his eyes before he leaves.

He leaves me stranded in a sea full of man-eating sharks with no oxygen supply.

He leaves me here while I'm dying.

I want to get out of the water. But it keeps on taking me in, pulling and sucking me into its never-ending vortex.

There's no way out. The water cascades and gushes into my body and overtakes me—it's too powerful.

I lay there in the water, floating carelessly amongst the waves on the surface.

-x-

The day passes by so slowly, yet it's all a blur to me.

Math, history, French, art class—I can't remember anything.

I walk to English when a person cuts in front of me and darts straight into the classroom.

I recognize the familiar leather jacket—it's Eli.

It's over.

-x-

At the end of the day I walk to the front of the school and I look at the picnic tables across the street and I see Eli and his friend Adam chatting and laughing.

How could he be so happy?

He must be happy to leave me, he's happy that he doesn't have to deal with someone like me.

I'm such a burden to everyone.

He looks at me and I turn away, tears threatening to come down my eyes.

-x-

I no longer imagine that I'm in water.

I now imagine that I'm in a burning building, threatening to come down.

The fumes from the fire enter my body, filling my soul and lungs. The orange flames capture my attention and grab me.

I see faces in the fire.

I see faces and they're talking to me. But I can't hear their voices. Their voices are on mute, but their mouths are still moving.

But for some strange reason, I can hear the voices in my head. All the voices telling me different things: do the laundry, get good grades, ace those tests, get into a good college, be perfect, don't tell secrets that aren't yours… and the list goes on.

All those voices pound my head till no end.

Those voices make me want to choke myself.

I come back to reality realizing my hands on my neck, threatening to strangle me.

-x-

What's the difference between a dream and reality?

What's the difference between real and fake?

People might know, but to me, they're exactly the same.

Dream and reality, real and fake: they go together like peanut butter and jelly.

They do to me.

I hug myself as if I'm shivering from the winter cold.

What's this feeling coming over me?

I walk out of my room and go downstairs. I need fresh air.

I look and see my parents talking in the kitchen. Once again, their voices are muted but their mouths are moving and I see hands making gestures. It's like watching a movie on mute.

I walk by the kitchen and my father points at me. "You!" he starts shouting, "You!"

Someone has turned up the volume again. I can hear their voices perfectly now.

He walks over to me and turns me around. "Now tell your mother nicely that you were lying the whole time." I look to see my mother crossing her arms and frowning. I can tell she's been shouting since her face was flushed.

"Tell her." He starts nudging me. "Tell her now!"

My mouth opens but no words come out. The volume has been set on zero.

My mother looks at me quizzically, my father stares me down sternly.

I'm in the middle between these two extremes.

"I… I don't know anymore." I look away and try to get off from my father's grasp. He pushes his hands onto my shoulders harder. "Tell her now." He grunts.

"I…"

I could feel his hands grinding into my shoulders. I could feel his fingers pierce through my bones. I was scared, absolutely terrified.

"I don't know anymore." I repeat again. "I don't know! Let me go!" I try to fight out of his grasp and I finally succeed.

I take a few deep breaths in. I touch my face, it feels really hot. "I have to go." I grab my satchel and leave the house as fast as I can. I run down two streets and take a seat on the curbside.

Maybe I was lying to my mother; maybe what I saw at home wasn't real.

Maybe I was lying to myself.

Then Georgia would be a figment of my imagination.

Grandma didn't really die—she's still living in the nursery home with all the other elderly people.

I wasn't supposed to meet with Eli. Perhaps Eli is a figment too.

I look around and see cars driving down the street at seventy miles per hour when they're only supposed to be driving at twenty.

I keep on walking to see cats stuck on trees, old men on wheelchairs and stop lights flashing red and green furiously.

I look again and I see myself at The Dot, where people are sitting and staring at me. A billion pairs of eyes staring at me.

I turn at and look at the street and see neon colored cars parked in a row, monster trucks exploding in front of my eyes and a restaurant burning down to the ground.

I shake my head several times. This is all a dream. I'm not really here; I'm still at home in my bedroom napping.

The server at The Dot looks at me funny and asks me if I want to have a table indoors or outdoors. I don't know what I want anymore.

Is it hot or cold today? What color jacket am I wearing? Do I want to drink coffee or tea? What's my favorite kind of food? All these questions keep on boggling me.

I can't answer any of them.

My brain isn't functioning anymore.

I'm losing my mind.

-x-

OMG, I like this chapter! It was really fun to write!

So I haven't really edited it that much, so if there's a bunch of errors, ignore it and one day I'll go and edit these chapters. I'm still having too much fun writing them.

Read and review! Your thoughts and criticism are appreciated!