After this chapter, there will be three more until the end. I feel like I thank you all at the beginning of every chapter, but it's only because I really am grateful for anyone who religiously follows my obsession with this couple. I am also unspeakably grateful for anyone who became curious enough to click the link to this story or Rhythm of Love. It is because of all of you that I am gratified. Thank you a million times over.

Without further mushiness, the 9th chapter of Come What May:

My thoughts were swarming like angry hornets around my head, confused and upset. Confused because of every speculative scenario that had run through my head since the night before when I had faced Eli's hidden life head on; the upset thoughts revolved more around the fact that I had lied to Sav. I knew, somewhere in the back of my head, that there would be repercussions for that. I had that uncomfortable feeling you got in your gut similar to the hollowness you feel before shouting 'don't look in the closet!' as you watch a horror movie.

Needless to say, I did not sleep much, or at all, really.

I poured myself a huge cup of coffee as I waited for Sav to pick me up for school, adjusting my dress and hair. I felt kind of like a zombie. I was not ready for school, or, more specifically, facing Eli and Sav. I needed to talk to both of them, and I doubted either conversation would be pretty. But I would make it out alive…or relatively unscathed, I was hoping.

The tiny, familiar car pulled up to my curb and I noticed that Alli was nowhere to be found. She usually rode with Sav and me, so that was odd.

"Good morning," I said unconvincingly as I slid into the passenger side, taking a big sip of my coffee. "Where's Alli?"

"Morning, Clare-Bear," Sav greeted with a squeeze of my hand, much too chipper for this early. "She decided to catch a ride with Jenna this morning; give us some privacy." I thought that was a strange change of pace, but decided not to give it too much thought. It may have been that Alli was still miffed about our fight the other day, or she could have just missed hanging out with Jenna. I wouldn't know until I saw her at school. "How'd you sleep last night?" Sav asked, pulling me out of my mental distraction.

"Like a baby," I grumbled, trying hard not to let on to the fact that the opposite was true. Sav opened him mouth, it looked like in preparation to speak, but I jumped suddenly, squeaking. I had forgotten that sometime over the course of the morning, I had placed my phone in my bra, and when it started to vibrate against my skin I was anything but prepared. As I pulled the tiny device out, the caller ID informed me that my father was calling. A small smile on my face, I shot Sav an apologetic look before answering. "Hello?"

"Clare-bear!" my dad exclaimed, sounding happier than I had heard him in quite some time.

"Good morning, Daddy. How are you; how's the new firm?"

"Everything's wonderful, sweetheart. I'm sorry I haven't gotten around to calling sooner, but I just got settled in. It's a little early to tell, but I do like my new colleagues. I miss you and your mother, though." I sighed in relief; hearing his voice was certainly the pick-me-up I had needed to brighten my less than perfect morning.

"Don't worry about it; I'm just glad to hear that you're doing well," I told him truthfully. "I miss you, too. But I'm proud of you."

"It's good to hear that, Clare; it really is. I have to get going, though. I just wanted to check in; I know you're probably on your way to school. I'll call again soon and we can talk more extensively," he promised, his voice developing the professional edge that probably meant he had called on his way to work and was getting ready to start the day.

"Okay; I love you."

"I love you, too," my dad promised before I heard a click and the line disconnected.

"Your dad?" Sav guessed easily.

"Yup," I smiled tiredly, leaning back in my seat and gripping Sav's hand tighter. "He's happy; I can tell."

"That's great, but what about you?"

I cocked my head at him. "What about me?" I questioned.

"Are you happy?" he checked. "You seem a little dazed."

I guess this was what I got for having a boyfriend who both cared about me and paid attention to my feelings. He became scarily able to perceive my moods. Especially when I least wanted him to. "I…yeah, I'm fine," I lied with a sigh. "I think I'm just stressed about school."

Sav nodded unconvincingly, but he swallowed my lie with ease as we pulled into Degrassi's parking lot. "I hate to leave you to walk to class on your own…," Sav started, an adorable smirk on his face as he held open my door. I got out and we fell into step next to each other, hands finding each other seemingly of their own accord.

"But?" I prompted.

"But I have some presidential duties to attend to; I'll see you at lunch, though," he promised, placing a quick kiss to my cheek as we reached the front steps. He was off and running toward the student council office before I even had the chance to respond. I paused to watch a moment, admiring his tall frame and graceful, purposeful lope. My heart fluttered impatiently in my chest as I watched Sav walk away.

Still, despite the fact that I was strangely wistful in the wake of Sav's exit, a part of me was also relieved. I needed to talk to Eli—the sooner the better. And Sav could not be around for a number of obvious reasons.

I had left traces of my unexpected drop into Eli's carefully hidden life, so I was not surprised to be receiving the cold shoulder when I found him leaning against his locker. If looks could kill, I would have been dead. And then Eli's look would have rehabilitated me only to kill me a second time. He looked that angry.

"So, we should talk, huh?" I asked with forced cheeriness, refusing to meet Eli's piercing gaze as I reached my locker and started to pull my books out.

"The hell we should," Eli all but growled, his hackles already raised, ready for a fight. "The only one who needs to talk is you, Edwards. Explain, now!"

"Don't attack me," I defended instantly, slamming my locker shut and spinning around to face the frightening anger. "I was just trying to be a good friend! It's not at all my fault you wouldn't let me in!"

"I have my reasons, and I needed time. I would have talked to you when I was ready. I'm not at fault here; you're the one who stuck your nose in my business. I thought you were different; I thought I could trust you, Clare!"

I saw the frightened boy taking precedence over his unbridled anger. There was the vulnerability in dizzying depths of his eyes like I had never seen before, and his voice had cracked over the use of my first name. I realized, for the first time, how much wrong I had actually done against him. This was beyond difficult for Eli—I didn't know the reasons why it was so hard for him to open up, but it was hard, nonetheless. And I had pushed past his limits. He was grappling with some kind of darkness and I was only making it more impossible for him to trust me. I had betrayed him.

Unable to stop myself, I reached out and placed my hand on the side of his arm. I felt the skin and muscle twitch under my comforting, tentative touch but he didn't pull away. "I'm sorry, Eli," I whispered. And I was. Now that I had realized what I had done, I was beyond sorry. "You can trust me…and I still don't even know anything. I-I didn't mean to push."

Eli considered me for a moment, and I saw a slight softening in his eyes. For a moment I was sure that he would accept my apology, but just as quickly as the softness had come, hardness replaced it. He shrugged off my hand and took a step backward. "But you did push," he accused, a reproachful sneer on his face. "Don't talk to me."

He started to flee, quickly pacing away while still making sure to keep his distance from the bodies around him. It took my body a second to catch up with what had just happened, but it was a step ahead of my mind. Before I had really registered anything, I was off running after Eli. "Wait," I called, pushing agitated people out of the way as I struggled to place myself in front of Eli to put a halt to his retreat. "I still want to help," I plead. It was disorienting, how the tables had turned so instantly. A mere twelve hours ago I had been seeking Eli out to let him know we had to put a little distance between each other. But now that it looked like Eli might actually walk away I was desperately holding on, afraid to lose him. "Can we talk about this; please?"

He didn't even look at me as his nostrils flared in anger. "No," Eli responded flatly, pushing past me.

Shocked, I stared at the end of the hall where Eli had disappeared for an extended amount of time. I didn't notice that all the people had scattered to their classes; my brain was on overdrive so much that I could barely even process a single thought. It wasn't until the late bell rang that I was roused out of my paralysis.

Math was already going in full swing, and the teacher didn't even bother to reprimand me as I took my seat next to Alli. She shot me a strange look, perceiving my distress, but didn't say anything about my mood. At least not until class was over. As soon as the bell rang, she pounced. "Is everything okay with you?"

Her question was laced with just the tiniest bit of petulance, so I assumed that she was still a bit upset about our fight over Eli and my motivations. It was pretty safe to assume that she had caught a ride with Jenna this morning not to give me and Sav privacy but to avoid me altogether.

"Never better," I replied in much the same tone.

"I don't buy that for a second. Sav or Eli?" she questioned knowingly.

I shot her a glare, but she had a look of open concern on her face that dispelled my defenses. "It's complicated," I hedged, "but I'll work it out."

Alli nodded and squeezed my shoulder reassuringly. Still, she shot me a look that very clearly said "you had better, or else."

It wasn't like I could blame her, though. I had done nothing to prove that I was responsible and mature enough to handle the situation on my own; least of all the stunt that I had pulled the night before. And Alli didn't even know about that.

I walked to English in silence, alone. I wasn't sure what I had been expecting, but it was like a slap in the face to find Eli seated at the furthest point from our usual desks. I tried to keep my eyes averted, and fail miserably, as I sat down. Eli was staring ahead fixedly, his nostrils still flared angrily. I had a feeling he knew I was looking, and was making a point to sit as still as possible. Giving up, I started to mindlessly doodle in my notebook until Miss Dawes started the lecture.

It was, quite possibly, the most uncomfortable hour of my life, but I made it through. Actually, scratch that, it was the most uncomfortable morning of my life. I spent most of it dreading lunch when I knew I would experience Eli's cold shoulder again. Not to mention, I had no idea how to explain my sudden change in mood to Sav. There would be no way he would just ignore my sullenness now that it was ten times more potent.

"Sorry about this morning; how were your classes?" Sav asked, appearing from nowhere to lean against my locker as I fished my lunch out of my bag. I jumped upon hearing his voice, still quite tense. "Everything okay there, Clare-bear?"

I took a deep breath, trying to find my center so that when I answered him it would be semi-true. "Yeah, everything is alright. I'm just nervous about my biology test," I lied. I seemed to be doing that around Sav a lot of late. "And I understand, really; you're here now and that's all that matters." I let Sav's natural ability to calm me take its effect, loosening the tension that had been constricting my chest.

Alli fell in step beside Sav as we made our way to our usual table, unpacking our lunches in silence. I had only started to munch on the cucumbers I had packed that morning when I felt my skin crawl with the knowledge that someone was staring at me. I looked up to find Eli glaring in my direction and swiftly averted my gaze, focusing back on the uninteresting tabletop.

"That's weird," Sav commented suddenly, but I forced myself to stay focused on the table as I answered.

"What?"

"Eli's glaring at you…and he's eating alone," Sav observed. I could hear in his voice that the abrupt change in routine didn't exactly bother him. "Did you guys get in a fight or something? Wait," Sav perked up more visibly and I finally glanced up from the table to see a pleased smile on his face. "Did you talk to him about backing off a bit?"

He seemed so happy, positively beaming, at the mere thought. I had reached a cross-road. I could either tell Sav the truth and suffer the consequences, or I could lie to him and risk getting caught if Eli ever forgave me. Neither option was appealing, really. But I had been lying to Sav all morning, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to redeem myself. It would have been foolish to pass it up, to keep digging myself a deeper hole. I just hoped that if I tried to hop out of my ditch now it wouldn't result in a huge fight.

With a sigh, I committed to the truth. "Not exactly," I started, grasping for ways to make the situation sound better than it was. I had Alli's full attention, too, and her piercing gaze made me more nervous than Eli's. Which was saying something. "Remember how I said I couldn't hang out yesterday?" I tried easing into it. Alli's eyes narrowed into slits as she caught on to where this was going much quicker than I had expected her to.

"Yeah, you were spending time with your mom, right?" Sav asked, immediately unsure.

"Not exactly," I repeated, swallowing hard. "I, um, tried to go see Eli, since he was sick and all. I went to his house." I paused, letting that sink in. "But he wasn't there," I continued, hoping that would make it just a little better. "And he's angry at me for even showing up. He won't talk to me."

"So," Sav replied coolly, trying to add up the implications of what I had said. "You lied to me, ditched me, to go hang out with Eli. Eli, of all people."

"I just, you know, gathered his homework! He wasn't there so I didn't even stay. I did end up having dinner with my mom," I told him with a pleading edge in my voice. I was begging him to understand, to not blow up. Alli was still glaring daggers at me, but she kept her mouth shut, letting Sav and me work through it.

The sudden hostility in his demeanor was not a good sign, though.

"Like that makes it better!" Sav exclaimed. "What were you thinking, Clare?"

"That my friend needed me more than you did!" I retorted defensively, my voice a hoarse whisper.

Sav shook his head, disgusted. "You know, Clare, if you had just told me why you didn't want to hang out yesterday, the real reason, I might have been upset, but I wouldn't have been angry. I just don't understand why you lied to me. I thought you trusted me…I certainly trusted you more than that." His use of the past tense certainly did not go unnoticed.

I squeaked uncertainly, tears welling in my eyes at the livid look in Sav's usually gentle eyes. "Please don't be mad," I whispered in desperation. That was the only response I could come up with. I couldn't deny or argue anything he had said. I was on the moral low-ground after all.

Sav only snorted, though, standing. "I need…I need to clear my head. Find a different ride home, Clare." And with that he stormed out of the lunchroom, leaving Alli and me in a tense silence. In comparison to some of our other fights, that had been rather subdued. But that only seemed to hurt worse, the strange distance that seemed to have opened up between us.

Alli was still scrutinizing me, her expression unreadable. "Just go ahead and say it," I snapped, the edge in my voice directed more at me than her. "Tell me I am a horrible person; that I screwed up royally. Tell me you can't be friends with someone so selfish and small minded."

Alli sipped her water calmly, her eyebrow cocked sarcastically. "First of all, drop the self-pity act; it's not you. Second of all, you did screw up royally, but I can't say that you're horrible, small minded or that I don't want to be friends with you. None of that's true. I can't really get in the middle of this, though, okay? Sav is my brother. Yeah, you're my best friend, and that's not going to change, but he's still my brother." I nodded in understanding. It was a little unnerving, frustrating that she was so calm about everything, but everything she said was fair. I had no right to drag her into the middle. "So…I'm going to talk to him. You need to fix this, Clare. Before everything blows up."

Her warning sounded so ominous and it rung in my ears as she, too, stood to leave the cafeteria, her lunch barely touched. Unlike her brother, however, she stopped to give me a slight embrace, rubbing my arm reassuringly before moving on to do damage control with Sav.

Left alone with my own thoughts, which was not exactly desirable at that moment, I scanned the cafeteria. It seemed like the entire exchange had gone unnoticed by my peers. I had singlehandedly alienated the three most important people in my life in the course of the last three hours, and everyone around me was carrying on like nothing had happened at all.

Well, not everyone; Eli was watching me with a spark of interest mixed with the furious guardedness. Apparently he had watched the entire exchange and found it very noteworthy, indeed.

XXX

Unsuccessful in actually gathering enough will-power to speak to anyone the entire afternoon, I decided to walk home after the final bell sounded. I even bypassed a trip to my locker, opting instead to escape as soon as possible. I hadn't really heard anything that had happened in my classes; my brain was too focused on freaking out.

I ran circles around myself in my head, trying to find out how to smooth things over with Eli and Sav until the very real possibility that I could lose Sav started to plague my every thought, making it quite obvious the more pressing of my concerns.

I was in love with Sav. He loved me back. I knew fighting was normal, and it usually meant that we still cared enough to argue. But Sav had basically shut down. Whenever I passed him in the hall, it was like I didn't even exist. Between seventh and eighth period I had made a point to pass by Sav's locker, even gathering enough courage to try catching his attention. But he didn't ignore me so much as seem like he had shipped off to a totally different place than Degrassi. A place I was clearly not welcome.

But I would be dammed it I was going to let this wound fester until the damage was irreversible.

After all the fighting we had gone through to officially become a couple, overcoming his parents and getting past my emotional issues, it would be foolish to let a silly mistake wreak everything we had. I would not play the victim, and I would not let Sav sulk. We were going to work this out.

As if on autopilot, my thoughts directly wired to my feet, I changed course for the Bhandari's house. Since I was much slower on foot, Sav's car was parked on the curb by the time I arrived. I took a deep breath, didn't allow myself extra time to change my mind and knocked on the door.

Surprisingly, Sav was the one to answer. I had been suspecting Alli or Mrs. Bhandari. It was almost as if Sav had been anticipating my arrival. My heart swelled with hope.

And then I registered his unnaturally overcast features and all the air rushed out of my body. It was selfish of me to expect Sav to be ready to talk about this as soon as I was. But that wasn't going to stop me.

"You have to believe me when I say that I'm sorry. Sav, I cared about no one more than you. Please don't just shut me out."

He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck, a gesture I recognized as him mulling over an important issue in his head. Finally, he stepped out onto the tiny front step, closing the door behind him. My heart raced, and I looked up, trying to catch his eye. This was a decent start.

"I don't think I can talk about this right now without yelling, and I don't want to yell at you, Clare."

I mulled that one over in my head, trying to figure out of that was good or bad. "But if we don't talk about it, you'll start to fill in blanks that don't exist. I made a mistake, but I don't want to lose you because of it."

"And you won't," he snapped, almost if the mere thought angered him. That helped to ease some of the painful buildup in my chest. "But you can't force yourself on me right now; I need time alone. I need to…calm myself down. I need you to leave."

"But what about what I need; what our relationship needs?"

"You and our relationship are taking a backseat right now. It's only fair considering you screwed up. So this doesn't really get to be about you," he shot back, his voice rising slightly. And he was right. He was being fair and rational, and I was there basically trying to push him over the edge. But I had received the reassurance I needed. This wasn't going to break us up.

I took a step down, ready to leave. "Okay. Yeah, I get that. But, you can promise me that we'll make it through, right?" Okay, so I was fishing for more confirmation that we were fighting for what we had. I couldn't help it. The anger in his eyes was so out of place that it frightened me into insecurity.

"Clare, please, leave," Sav said in the most level voice he could have mustered at that point. I nodded and he offered a weak smile. I took that as a sign. This would work. This would have to work.

Only slightly sated, I backed down the driveway, watching the front door even though Sav had already disappeared inside. As I hit the sidewalk, a few things became clear to me. I did not want to be alone at that moment. Also, there was another boy in my life that deserved an apology. And if Sav wasn't ready to smooth things over, perhaps Eli was. At the very least, it was worth a shot.

After sending my mom a text to let her know that I was at the library doing homework—what was one more lie that day if it kept my mom form asking unnecessary questions?—I walked to the bus stop. Since I had only traveled the new route the day before, Eli's house was much easier to find.

I wasn't sure that showing up unannounced, the action that had gotten me in so much trouble to begin with, was such a good idea, but I crossed the road to the rundown fixer-upper anyway. I was already there; my day couldn't get much worse so I saw no harm in simply going for it.

With a tentative knock on the door, I held my breath as I waited to see who would answer. Once again, Ted swung open the door, nearly taking it off its weak hinges. His expression started out gruff, but immediately turned into an easy smile when he saw me on his decrepit porch once again. "Hey, it's the soup goddess!" he greeted me warmly, and, after the day I had, I couldn't help but laugh. I mean, soup goddess? Chicken soup wasn't exactly difficult to make. I was hardly as talented as my mother on that front.

"Hi, Ted. Can I come in?" I tried my best to smile at him, but I don't think I was too successful because he raised his eyebrows skeptically at me.

"I don't really think that's my call, to be honest. But I can get someone who is much better equipped to assess the situation," he assured me, even going as far as to pat my shoulder condescendingly before shouting out, "ELI, IT'S FOR YOU!"

"Thanks," I muttered dryly.

"It's my pleasure. Just remember, the walls are very thin here. Everything you say can, and will, be held against Eli somewhere down the line." And, with a happy smirk, Ted basically skipped off into another room…leaving me standing awkwardly in their open front door. Oh, yes, this was off to a smashing start.

"Oh, it's you," Eli arrived at the top of the creaky steps, his demeanor icing over as soon as he saw me.

"Who were you expecting?" I tried my best attempt at sarcasm since he had actually bothered to address me for the first time since that morning. "Cause, you know, it seems like you get a lot of callers here."

"You're not even that good at sarcasm on your best day; spare us all and don't even try when you're upset." I would have been angry, or have come up with some biting retort, but Eli smirked his usual smirk and took the stairs two at a time until he was standing in front of me. "Are you going to stand in the doorway or come in, Edwards? Because it's drafty."

I rolled my eyes, but, really, his attitude had taken such a 180 that I couldn't be upset with his surliness. It was just so typically Eli that I felt more relief flood my consciousness. "Does all this mean I'm forgiven?" I couldn't help but ask tentatively as I stepped pasted the threshold into the dismal living room. Eli swung the door shut behind me and sighed, looking lost in thought.

"I might have jumped the gun a bit," he allowed, pinching the bridge of his nose between his forefinger and thumb as if the admission was causing him physical pain. "I'm still not happy with you, let's be clear, but you collected my homework and made me soup. It's kind of hard to stay pissed at someone so thoughtful."

I let out the breath I felt I had been holding since I had knocked on the door. So far, so good; this was much better than my attempt to patch things up with Sav.

Briefly, I thought about how upset Sav would be if he knew I was here and my face scrunched up as a pang went through my chest. I covered it up with a cough. After all, this was productive. I needed to fix things with Eli, too. And I would not be lying to Sav about what was going on, either.

"Is there…some place we can go and talk?" I asked, quietly, thinking about what Ted had said. The living room hardly seemed appropriate for the conversation I could sense was coming. It was almost as evident as having a third being standing in the room between Eli and me.

Eli paled, seeming to sense the next logical step as well. With a resigned sigh, he beckoned for me to follow, starting up the stairs. Each one of the steps creaked dangerously under my weight and I was afraid that they were going to open up and swallow me whole. When we finally reached the top landing, my legs were shaking nervously, and I barely registered the dank hallway I found myself standing in. There wasn't much lighting, and there were two rows of doors, each one closed.

Eli walked me to the end of the hall, stopping at a door that had a Dead Hand poster tacked up to cover the thin, scratched wood. "My room," he explained casually, letting the door fall open and gesturing for me to walk in. "I share with Ted," he continued, closing and locking the door behind us. Of course, to get the door closed, he had to kick it forcefully, and then jiggle the handle around until a click sounded to signify the latch had caught.

I turned away from Eli's seemingly habitual method of closing his door to take in the rest of my surroundings. There were two single beds, placed foot to foot, lining the far wall. On what looked like Ted's side, a mess of clothes and comics were strewn along all the surfaces. A beanbag chair covered with several pairs of boxers also resided on Ted's side of the room.

Eli's side, on the other hand, had several band posters covering the walls. There was also a tiny bookshelf filled with what appeared to be Vonnegut and Palahniuk as well as a few tattered classics. Instead of a beanbag chair, Eli's side of the room possessed a second-hand desk. The most expensive item in the entire room, perhaps even the entire house, was the shiny, new laptop that sat on top of the beaten desk.

"Homey," I commented lightly, unsure of what to do or where to go. Eli snorted behind me.

"It's not bad," he allowed, gesturing that I should sit on the bed while Eli placed himself in the chair he pulled out from under the desk. The mattress was much harder than it looked, and I tried not to wince as my attempt to bounce left a bruise on my backside. "I suppose you want the whole story, huh?"

I flushed, meeting Eli's surprisingly open eyes. I had been expecting the pain that I was sure to find there so it didn't hurt nearly as much as it should have to see Eli so scared and vulnerable. "I—only if you are honestly ready to tell me," I assured him, crossing my legs beneath me in an effort to get comfortable on the bed. I could feel the adrenaline flooding my brain as I realized how close I was to finally understanding who Eli was.

"I mean, it's kind of now or never," Eli pointed out darkly, before his tone softened unexpectedly. "And…I honestly want to tell you, Clare. You've been nothing but open with me; I want you to understand."

I nodded, feeling validated and grateful for his honesty. "Then I am all ears. Tell me everything," I smiled softly.

"Okay, but, before I start," Eli's voice took on a warning tone and he held my gaze strictly, "You need to understand that it's not a great story. In fact, it downright sucks. But, please, don't run away after you've heard it all…I don't know if I could handle that." He was wearing his heart on his sleeve for the first time since I had met him, and I was so caught off guard that all I could manage was a curt nod. "Good…fine…so, where to start?"

Eli got off his chair and started to pace, a ball of nervous energy. "How about the beginning," I suggested meekly, fully prepared to not speak a word of interruption once he really got started.

Eli nodded, slowing down only slightly in his crazed strides. "Yeah, sure; here goes everything," he took another deep breath before planting himself and looking me in the eye. "There used to be a time when I had a happy family," Eli started off bitterly. "Or at least I thought we had been happy. I had no idea that my father had been so damaged. I still don't know the story of his childhood because I haven't talked to the fucker in six years, but that's not the point, really." Eli sat back down on his chair, his eyes never leaving mine. I was frozen in place, riveted. "Whatever the reasoning behind it, he was one unhappy dude…and when he was laid off from his job when I was eight, everything just exploded. He got hooked on crank and prostitutes, and my mother turned a blind eye because she didn't want to start confrontations. It's taken me a while, but I don't blame her for how anything played out. I just—I still wish she had stood up for herself, even if she couldn't stand up for me." Eli looked so lost in his past that I was hesitant to remind him that I had no clue what he was saying. Thankfully, he snapped back to it himself.

"Anyway, my father started getting aggressive. My mom had to pick up his slack with some minimum wage job, but whenever she came home from work, Dad was high and accused her of a different crime every day. I was nine by the time he started to get physical. I'll never forget the first time he slapped her," Eli's voice shook slightly and I was pretty sure I gasp though I had kind of seen where the story was going. "Of course, it was closely followed by the second and third time. Still, it took him a month or so before he got bored with beating her up. She was weak, after all, didn't put up a fight.

"I, on the other hand, would not play anyone's victim; which only fueled his fire," Eli gulped, drawing a deep breath before continuing. "When I fought back, it only made it all the more fun for him," he pointed out, disgust coloring his tone. "He didn't have the courtesy to leave my mom alone altogether, but he certainly liked beating the living crap out of me more.

"I retreated into this shell—I had a few friends at school who tried, for a while, to figure out what was wrong with me. But I stopped talking. I wouldn't answer even direct questions. I had basically become comatose. I wouldn't let anyone touch me or get near me. I was afraid all the time and I started to hate.

"It wasn't until I turned twelve—it seriously took them that long to realize something was wrong—that I had this great English teacher. She gave us some writing assignments and I found my outlet for all that hate and pain. Of course, she was concerned when my poems alluded to suicide and a short story I wrote was especially macabre. She called child services and they took me away from my father and mother after a thorough investigation. By that time, though, the damage had been done—I had lost all my damn faith in human kind." Eli paused, giving me time to absorb silently before he continued.

"I was thirteen by the time I was placed in the foster care system. I'd love to tell you that the story gets happier at this point, but, honestly, most families are only in the system for the money they get. I was, at best, ignored by the families I was placed with. Worst case scenario, I was their own fucking personal slave. I jumped from house to house, never staying for more than six months. Still, my social worker encouraged me to keep writing," Eli absentmindedly patted his laptop as he said that, a dreamy look in his eyes. I was still stunned into an attentive silence, staring intensely at Eli and nothing else. "That helped a bit, having an outlet. And then, a year ago, I met Chet." Finally, Eli smiled, letting me know that he was nearing the end.

"Chet?" I asked, amused by the dated name.

"Yup, Chet. He's the man that lives in that awful place next door. He checks in on us every now and again, but Chet is nearing his eighties. He's adopted all the kids here…he's basically the last resort for all foster failures. If you never find a home, you come live with Chet. He's retired, so, as you can see, we don't have a lot to work with. Most of us work odd jobs to help with the bills and necessities. It's not perfect, but it's home, you know. And I've had a lot of time to adjust to my lot in life. This place is paradise compared to some of my other so-called homes." Eli took a deep breath and cocked his head at me as if waiting for a reaction. Honestly, I was still just trying to fit the story in my head. It made sense—his guarded behavior, the way he didn't like anyone to touch him. But that didn't make knowing any less heartbreaking. "Well, now you know everything," Eli prompted nervously, his eyes still searching my face.

I knew that nothing I could say would make his story less tragic. I didn't have anything but condolences that would sound flat, or unconvincing. I was sure he had probably heard his fair share of those. I let the dust settle in my brain, trying my hardest to digest all the information on command.

But I couldn't, and Eli was still expecting some kind of reaction out of me. So I did the only thing I could think of to reassure him.

Wordlessly, I stood and walked over to Eli so I could wrap him up in a bone-crushing hug. He was surprised at first, his body tensing, but then I felt his arms wind around my waist and he was clutching back:

Holding onto me as if his life depended on my never letting go.