-Chapter Four-

Holding her mother's hand, she looked into her eyes before talking to her, feeling as if her mother was begging for her to talk- To say anything.
"I am seventeen years old and am turning eighteen next year. Will my whole life be like this?" Her hair had been let down, her light blue hair now in a side braid as she talked to her mother, still in the hospital after four days of being checked on.
"Life is confusing. You feel love, hate, sadness, happiness, fear, nervous, scared, frightened, awful, and so many other emotions, but it's worth it when you find your true love- Him." Her mother wrapped both of her hands around her daughter's, smiling.
"There's this one boy, well, two of them, but one visits me more than the other. His name is Scott McCall and he visits me daily. Almost hourly, but he has a life," Sitting up, she looked into her mother's eyes as she continued to talk. "I feel better when I am around him. He makes me feel happy, not sad like I would be when he would leave or when I'm alone. He doesn't make me feel like I want to die anymore. He almost makes me feel in love, but I can't be. Not now."
"It comes at crazy times, darling. Anyway, I'll visit you tomorrow afternoon, okay?" Kissing her forehead, her mother left as her hands left her daughter's, finally leaving the room as the door shut.

The view of Beacon Hills was seen from her window, the lights gleaming in the darkness as it was ten in the middle of the night. A voice was heard behind her and she looked to the floor, knowing who it was.
"How do you make me feel the way I do?" She asked, not looking up as footsteps got closer to her, slowly taking each step.
"There is no reason. There shouldn't have to be a reason." Scott said as he was suddenly behind her, his breath tickling her neck.
"None," She asked, only answering it herself as she continued on with what she was saying. "Sometimes there is a reason, like there is an answer. Almost everything is answered. Almost everything has a reason. We have a reason, don't we?"
"Elise," Wrapping his arms around her waist, she leaned her head on his chest, resting it there as his voice was filling her ears. "You are beautiful, funny, creative, lovely, and so many other things that it can blow anyone's mind, even mine."
"Don't you ever feel like the world doesn't need you anymore? There are over seven billion on this planet, why am I needed?" She asked, almost like asking herself as no one answered, just him holding her as they looked out into Beacon Hills.

Changing into a pair of blue skinny jeans, black converse, and a blue top that had layers falling to her thighs, showing her shoulders, her light blue hair laid upon her shoulders, her side bangs pushed over her eye. Waiting, she watched as her mother filled out her forms for her release out of the hospital, which ended in twenty or so minutes. Walking out of the hospital, she watched as Scott was walking inside, somewhat looking as if he would be visiting Elise, but she didn't bother him.
"If anyone comes over, could you send them home? I'd like to sleep for today." She told her mother as they got to the car, her mother unlocking the doors as she got in the passenger seat.
"Of course I will." Her mother replied as she got in the driver's seat, pushing the key in as the car started, starting to move as, once again, silence filled the useless air.

Laying on her bed, knees to her chest, she put her hands together by her face, using them as a pillow as her blanket covered her from head to toe, submerged into the darkness. Since she got home, her mother has been trying to get her to eat things from cookies to toast to sandwiches to soup.
Nothing was working.
As she laid in bed, being alone for hours, she suddenly felt a pain in her stomach, almost twisting in like a sharp object- A knife.
Sitting up, she scrambled away from the blankets and her bed as she fell off onto the floor, getting on her stomach as she attempted to get out of her blankets. Once she was, she ran out of the room, trying to find the nearest bathroom which she dived into, slamming the door before locking it. Leaning into the toilet, she threw up the food she had earlier, only to realize it wasn't food- It was black.
Pulling herself away from the toilet, she wrapped her arms around her knees as she heard the sound of her mother yelling for her to open the door. She just sat there, curled up, looking at the toilet as she still had some of the black substance on her bottom lip and chin.
She covered her ears at the yelling, trying to stand her best as she dragged herself over to the mirror, getting into a standing position as she saw her face.
She was pale, paler than pale, the black substance was clearly on her face, her grabbing a towel to smudge it off, it switching from her face to the towel. Flushing the toilet, she hid the towel under the sink, behind the chemicals and cleaners before opening the door.
"How are you feeling?" Her mother immediately asked her, waiting outside the door as Elise tried to make it back to her room.
"Awful, mom. Did anyone come by?" She asked, pulling herself to her room, waiting at the door for her mother to answer.
"Scott McCall." She replied, wondering why she would care who came over if she didn't want to see anyone or talk to anyone.
"Can you ask him to come over," Walking inside her room, about to shut the door, she turned around and whispered to her mother, "It's important."
"Yeah. Sure thing." She sounded breathless, but walked away to call him and to ask him to come over for Elise as she asked.

Watching her door open, a quick knock being added, Scott was at the door, looking around for Elise who was hidden in the corner of her room, next to her windows.
"Scott?" She asked weakly, her pale skin being hard to find, but Scott managed to see her in the corner and he shut the door, quickly hurrying over to her as he sat down in the corner with her, her leaning over to him and putting her head on his lap.
"I thought you were doing okay. What happened?" Scott asked, her pulling up her shirt to reveal four long, deep cuts across her side that were bloody, red oozing out of the cut.
"La- Last week I went in the woods to go for a walk, just a short one across the woods. It was raining and dark, but I needed to go for a walk. I remember hearing sounds like breathing and footsteps behind me, but nothing was there, and then it happened- A howl pierced the air, stopping all sounds, and I thought to run, but when I turned around there was a small hill and I tripped at the top. When I fell, my head hit the edge of a rock, just on the left side of my forehead," Lifting up her hair, she showed him the deep gasp that had two thin bandages on it, a few stitches sewn as well. "And I started to black out, getting dizzy. I thought I was just seeing things, but there was a creature leaning over me. It just sniffed me, around my neck, and then it raised it's claws, swiping downwards to cut at my side before running off in the distance, howling."
Scott's expression started to raise her worries as he put his arms around her, started to hold her as his chin was on her head, him closing his eyes.
"What is it?" She asked him, not sure rather to be quiet or to ask questions, but she was afraid and it seemed that Scott knew what it was.
"It either kills you or turns you." He whispered to himself, her hearing it to raise curiosity as she pulled from his arms, staring at her.
"What does that mean? Scott, what's happening to me?" She asked, staring into his light brown eyes as he looked up at her, connecting his eyes with her's.
"You're dying." He whispered, her giving a choked sob as she stared blankly, him pulling her into his arms as she started to cry, her wrapping her arms around him, grabbing onto his shirt as she cried into his shoulder, him resting his chin on her shoulder as he started blankly.

The day had gone by faster than expected, him staying the night as she couldn't do anything without him having to help her. He pretended to leave for her mother's sake and came back through the window, both staying on the floor.
Around midnight she started to talk to him.
"Why do you care about me?" She asked, holding his hands as she stayed with him, sometimes squeezing his hands when it hurt.
"You were different. A good different. I never thought I'd feel this way, even with Allison, but I do, and it feels okay." He knew that the whole school knew about Allison and him, but he didn't care because they ended their relationship a while ago.
It was never meant to be.
"If I'm to die, at least tell me why. Tell me why it is for me to die. Things happen for reasons- Fate, they call it, but my story doesn't end here, does it?" She gripped his hands better as another pain came across, her attempting to hide it, but failing.
"You've had those scratches for a week. I'd assumed, since you didn't have proper medical care or sewing or anything, you'd eventually get infected, or bleed out, and die." Scott lied, letting her believe it, just for the time being, but he knew that she, on the inside, knew he was lying, but didn't want to cause him to spill anything he wasn't ready to do.
"Scott, listen to me- If the pain catches up with me, I- I want you to stab me," She took out a knife that she swiped from the kitchen when she went on her last visit to the bathroom without Scott. "Right in the heart, to end the pain. Don't think or wonder or anything, just let your actions do all the thinking. I don't want to suffer if there is no way out, even if it means leaving you, or my mother, or whoever else is still here, this was meant to be- For me to die."
"Elise, please don't make me do that. I can't do that." Scott told her, not taking the knife, but she managed to get him to touch it before putting it back on the ground.
"I always wanted to know what it was like to die. Dealing with dying isn't the part I'd imagine. I thought that being dead would be a relief, to stop me from seeing spirits, but it seems like they won't stop coming. When I go to cross over, I know there will be my grandfather, my younger siblings, and my best friend waiting for me to come over. That's what is stopping me from moving on- The people I love." She said, not expecting Scott to start picking the conversation back up.
"What about your mother? When you die, who will take care of her, be there for her, talk with her, share this house with her? You die and she lives. That doesn't seem like it's destined to be, Elise. Not for me, for you, or for anyone else. She'd die for you and you'd die for her. You have to hold on for your mother." Scott felt her let out a sob, attempting to seal it with her closing her mouth.
She was left in her thoughts.
Choosing difficult choices.
To life or to die.
Life or death.
Life or afterlife.
Who could make that decision when so much is at cost?
When family is at cost.
Friends at cost.
Everyone.