Chapter 6– "A Triad of Sorts"

New York City, New York, USA

Year 2015

Elijah Miles- Age 10

Elijah hardly ever slept due to Aita tormenting him in his head constantly, so he ended up reading books instead.

If there was one thing Elijah appreciated about Aita, it was the plethora of knowledge about the known universe Aita had shared with him. Because of him, Elijah was more intelligent than most adults by the time he reached the end of elementary school, let alone kids his age.

It wasn't long before his teachers noticed this. Despite the incident with the other children at Finn's birthday party, which had earned the animosity of his peers in school and their parents, he managed to earn his teachers' trust by behaving and getting good grades. He took his therapist's advice not to lash out and hurt others, but he always felt Aita's cold-hearted gaze, staring at them through his own eyes.

The gaze of an apex predator.

His fourth-grade teacher, Ms. Leland, asked to meet with him and his mother one day after school, and said that he likely had a genius level IQ, and that he was way too smart to be in elementary school.

"I've always known Elijah was smart…" said Tori. "His father seemed pretty smart for the brief time I knew him."

Elijah's eyes went wide upon hearing this.

"I don't think you understand how much, though," said Ms. Leland. "He's told me he already knows calculus, and is reading literature and history texts commonly read in AP high school courses. What's more is he offers really impressive insight into them. As much as it hurts my ego a bit to say this, I think he may be smarter than I am… He should be in college by now."

His mother's eyes went wide upon hearing this. "Elijah, where'd you learn calculus from?"

"Ait-" Elijah then stopped himself from mentioning his name, and said, "…I used my allowance to purchase some online courses. I've been studying at night since I can't sleep."

Elijah looked down. "I'm sorry; I should've told you."

"You don't need to be ashamed, Elijah, this is incredible!" said his mother. Looking at his teacher, Tori said to her, "What do you suggest we do?"

"I think Elijah needs to enroll in high school," said Ms. Leland. "There's no point in keeping him at the grade level of the other children his age. I suspect the real reason he doesn't like to play with them at recess is because he's a lot maturer than they are. He's also growing physically a lot faster than them as well."

"I can tell," laughed his mother. "He's gotten very tall recently. I suspect he's already going through puberty."

"Yes, his various teachers, especially his PE teacher, believe so as well," said Ms. Leland, looking at Elijah briefly. "That's incredibly early for a boy his age… but that's a different topic. I think Elijah would benefit from going to high school, not just to have access to courses either at or closer to his level of knowledge… but maybe also to make friends that are at his level of maturity as well."

"You're sure this is a good idea?"

"I don't know entirely, but it'd be better than keeping him here," said Ms. Leland. "Despite that Elijah's been a pleasure to have in class, I want the best for him. I'm going to write a note of recommendation to the district's high school. The school will help you both deal with the processes regarding signing up."

"Well, thank you for meeting with us, Ms. Leland." Tori and his teacher, Ms. Leland, shook hands.

That night, at his mother's apartment, Elijah was reading a book in his bed about the similarities between the various Greek and Roman mythological figures when his mother visited him.

"I'm sorry I didn't know about all of this, sweetheart."

"I understand, Mother," said Elijah. "You were busy with work."

"I know, but I need to make more time for you," said his mother, "especially now that I know that my son is another Einstein!"

Elijah couldn't help but smile at that. But then his smile went away.

"What was he like, Mother?"

"He?"

"My father."

Tori looked at him, and said, "I didn't know him very well. He was a bartender. He said his parents were obsessed with some sort of global conspiracy, and were training him and his siblings to fight against it. He hated the training, so he ran away from home. One night, I invited him to a party for a date… and I left with you. I didn't see him again after that."

Elijah sighed, and put a hand to his head.

"Do you wish you knew him?" said Tori.

"No. I want him to be a different person than he is. One that would actually be a part of my life… so you wouldn't have to work so hard to raise me on your own."

"I know, sweetheart," said her mother, as she gave Elijah a hug. "It doesn't matter. Being able to raise you makes the work worth it."

Elijah smiled and hugged his mother in return.

An alarm on her phone rang. "Damn… I have to go to my night shift soon," she said. "My boss is going to kill me. I assume you'll be reading while I'm gone, but you should think about trying to get some sleep. Your body needs it, especially since it's growing so fast."

"I know, mother," Elijah said.

"Is… is Aita still bothering you?"

Elijah frowned. "Yes. He always has been."

His mother said, "You're a smart kid. I'm sure you can outsmart him, and try to block him out."

"Thanks. I'll try."

"In the meantime, I'm sure you'll love high school!"

"I hope so," said Elijah. "Good luck at work, Mother."

"I love you, sweetheart. Everything will be okay." His mother smiled, tucked him in, and gave him a good night kiss.

As his mother left, Elijah looked at his book underneath his bed's covers, only to see Aita staring at him underneath, with his signature sadistic grin.

At Elijah's first day of high school, he was organizing everything in his locker. His mom had packed his lunch; a ham and cheese sandwich, a blueberry yogurt, and some potato chips.

Elijah smiled, but then realized she forgot to pack him a drink.

She was probably in a hurry to get to work, he thought.

He looked at the photo of him and her that they took together at a picnic in Central Park for his sixth birthday that he decorated his locker with, smiled slightly for a moment, and closed his locker after grabbing his backpack full of his belongings.

He headed to his first class, where the teacher introduced him.

"This is Elijah Chastain, everyone."

Elijah waved to the class while avoiding eye contact with anyone, but then looked around briefly.

"He's only ten, but he's smart enough that he's advanced to ninth-grade level curriculum. I ask that everyone here help him adjust to this new transition."

"Fat chance," said someone in the back. The class snickered at this.

The voice sounded familiar.

"Logan, quiet! The last thing I want is to have to send you to the Dean's office… again."

Logan? Elijah thought as his eyes went wide.

"Why? Because the Dean and I are so friendly with each other?" The class continued to snicker.

Elijah looked in the back to find that familiar red aura returning.

It was Finn's older brother, Logan, and his friend Hayden.

"Enough!" shouted the teacher. "Elijah, do your best to find a seat. I'm sure one of your classmates will offer to let you sit next to them."

Elijah walked toward the various seats.

"Taken," said the student in the first row with a seat next to him.

"Taken," said the student in the second row.

"Taken," said the student in the third row.

Elijah sighed, and sat next to a student wearing glasses and a suit and tie. He had a badge on his shirt that said Student CompSci Triad Project Award Winner.

"Hi, Elijah!" whispered the boy as the teacher started the lesson. "I'm Tim. Tim Underwood," said Tim.

"Hi, Tim," said Elijah unenthusiastically as he unpacked his bag and got out his textbook when he felt something small and sticky hit the back of his head.

Reaching for the back of his head, Elijah pulled a spitball out of his curly hair.

Hayden snickered, while Logan looked smugly at Elijah as Elijah grimaced at him. The eye that was hidden underneath his mess of curly hair was glowing with rage.

"What are you looking at, freak?" said Logan.

Elijah grimaced, but quickly forced himself to turn away. Logan and Hayden laughed, along with some of their cronies.

"Those are Logan Joyner and Hayden Astle, the school bullies. Try your best to stay away from them in the hallways if you can."

"I know who they are," said Elijah as he started taking notes while listening to the teacher's lecture.

As Elijah saw that the rest of the class was falling asleep due to boredom, he tried not to follow suit, but it didn't help that he didn't get much sleep last night, let alone ever.

Online courses were so much more interesting than this, Elijah mused as he looked down at his things, only to realize that his notebook containing his advanced calculus notes was gone.

Elijah looked around.

"Where is it?"

"What?" said Tim.

"My calculus notebook!"

"You're taking calculus?" said Tim. "But aren't you only ten?"

"Here it is, Elijah," said Hayden with a chuckle as he handed Elijah his calculus notebook.

Elijah opened it to find several inappropriate drawings scribbled over his notes with a Sharpie, including one of a naked woman and one of a penis.

"The one on the left is your mother, and the one on the right is my dick," said Hayden. "I've heard your mother's single, and works multiple jobs. She must work pretty hard… pretty hard to suck dicks that big. I dunno if you've learned about proportions in geometry class… if you look at the size of it in proportion to her torso…"

Logan, Hayden, and their cronies couldn't help but crack up laughing at this.

Elijah's hands curled up and he gritted his teeth; he was trembling furiously.

"Logan, Hayden, quiet!" yelled the teacher.

"Pieces of shit," said Elijah.

The class went silent after hearing this.

"What'd you just call me?" said Hayden with a frown.

"You heard me."

Now the whole class was staring at him wide-eyed.

"Elijah," said the teacher, "while I understand you might be stressed out with your transition to high school at such an early age, swearing is not allowed in my classroom. You're already setting bad expectations for the rest of your time here. This is your last warning, or else you'll be sent to the Dean's."

"Yes, ma'am," said Elijah, looking away.

"Good," said the teacher, as she got back to her lecture.

"He's so dead…" whispered one kid in the class as Elijah glimpsed back at Logan and Hayden. The red aura came back.

Elijah heard Aita's voice in his head, whispering, "You know what to do, Elijah…"

Elijah shook furiously.

Fortunately, he was saved as the bell rang.

"All right, class. You have no homework for today, as it's the first day of school. I'll see you all again on Wednesday; in the meantime, report to your assigned study hall room in ten minutes."

As Elijah headed out, the teacher said, "A word, Elijah. If those two bother you again, don't respond back. It'll only make things worse. If they keep bothering you, come get me or another teacher. Fighting back will just get you in as much trouble as them."

"All right," Elijah said as he left.

Elijah went to get a Coke can from the vending machine, and took a sip to calm his nerves.

He was on his way back to his locker, when Tim stopped to say hi to him.

"H- have you considered coming to the CompSci Club?"

"CompSci?"

"Computer science. We- we do all sorts of fun projects there, and you seem like a smart guy. We're always looking for more—"

"Shut up, Tiny, no one cares about your damn club. You showed us where his locker is, now fuck off and get me and my buddies some Pop-Tarts and sodas from the vending machine. Including a spare soda. You know our favorite flavors, shuttle," said Hayden to Tim.

Elijah looked at Tim. Tim looked nervous.

"I'm sorry, Elijah; they didn't give me a choice," said Tim as he quickly ran away.

Elijah then looked at Logan and Hayden, and their various fellow buddies.

Logan said, "I never repaid you for that time you fucked up my little brother and his entire birthday party, you fucking demon."

Elijah grimaced.

"You should apologize for what you did to him. He needed to see a therapist for years after that little meltdown of yours, along with multiple visits to a doctor after his initial visit to the ER."

Elijah stayed silent.

"Well?" said Logan. "I'm waiting for one—"

"No," said Elijah, "your brother and those kids got what they deserved. They were bullies. You and your lackeys are all bullies."

Logan stared at Elijah furiously. By now a large amount of their school peers had surrounded them in the hallways to watch.

"…is he going to fight them?" one of them whispered.

"…there's no way he can take on all of them. Plus, he's only ten."

Logan said to Elijah, "You're fucking dead, demon!" and punched Elijah hard in the face.

Elijah grabbed his face; he was about to take Logan on when he remembered what the teacher told him.

"Come on, Elijah, fight back!" said Aita. "They're tools. Instruments, parasitical instruments to be used and bent to our will. Nothing more."

"Fight back, you little fucker. Fight back like you fought my little brother Finn!"

Elijah grimaced, gripped his Coke can, and started to squeeze it tight.

Logan said, "Wimp," as he proceeded to beat Elijah up.

Out of the corner of Elijah's eye, he watched Hayden grin as Tim returned with sodas and Pop-Tarts for him, Logan, and the others before hurrying away.

Elijah sighed, and spat out blood on the floor as Logan finished.

"I guess you're not a demon anymore," said Logan. "Maybe you were too busy studying to work out or practice fighting. Shame. Whatever possessed you back then, was the only thing that could've kept you safe from me. Now you're nothing. Learn to respect your elders if you want to keep your head intact, freak."

Elijah gritted his teeth as the others left; by now the Coke can's metal frame had broken underneath his grip.

The other students surrounding them started to leave too as he heard them whisper to each other.

"I thought he might actually fight them back."

"It's been a while since anyone actually challenged Hayden and his friends."

"I guess he just got mad and didn't know what he was getting into."

"I mean, he is just ten."

"Yeah, he's new. He didn't know about Hayden's Acer gang. But they're going to pick on him extra hard since he challenged them now."

"Poor kid… I was actually hoping he'd at least take Logan down."

Hayden came back to Elijah after Logan and the others left, and said, "Hey, freak. Look up at me for a second."

Elijah looked up at Hayden furiously for a moment.

"Did crushing that Coke can hurt your hand at all?"

Elijah said nothing.

"It's just a question," Hayden said with a smirk.

"Physically, yes."

"I have to admit I was impressed when you managed to beat up a bunch of kids your age back six years ago. I think Logan was wrong. He can be a dumbass sometimes, to be fair," said Hayden. "But I'm good at reading people… It's part of why I'm good at getting on people's nerves.

"I can tell what you are. You're still a demon. You don't give a shit about anyone but yourself. You're a lot like me in that way."

"I'm not like you."

"Feel free to keep telling yourself that," said Hayden as he popped open his second soda can's tab and took a sip for a moment. "But as long as you're all talk without defending yourself, you're going to keep going home with bruises and a bloody nose every day. You don't want that… and neither does your mother."

Elijah grunted.

"You're new, so I'll let this little outburst of yours go for now, but I at least had to have Logan teach you what the rules are here. My gang, the Acers, run this school. Don't try to stop us again."

Hayden downed half of his second soda, and licked his lips before putting his face next to Elijah's. He could smell Hayden's sour breath and see the tattoos on his knuckles as he cracked them, and the piercings on his eyes, lips, and nostrils.

Hayden whispered in Elijah's ear. "Elementary school was merely limbo, Elijah. Welcome to Hell High. When you're really pissed off to your limit, come find me at the center of the inferno. I want to see how good you are at fighting."

Hayden got up and poured the rest of his second soda on Elijah's head, then picked up his first again.

Elijah was wiping the soda out of his hair and eyes, when he heard Hayden say to a girl walking by, "Speaking of the second circle… looking for me, sugar-tits?" and slapped her on the rear.

The girl stood still for a moment, and said nothing as she waited for Hayden to stop grinning at her silently before he chuckled to himself and left.

"Jesus, Hayden and his thugs did a number on you. Do you want me to walk you to the infirmary?" said the girl.

Elijah looked up at her. "You…"

It was that girl from Finn's birthday party, over six years ago.

"My name's June," she said. "I think we met briefly at a birthday party once."

Elijah looked away, and shook after he remembered the birthday party, and briefly saw Aita's face looking back at him.

She offered him his hand.

"She's like them, Elijah…" said Aita. "Accepting her help is only going to lead to grief. Mark my words."

Elijah looked up at June. The aura around her face was fuzzy… was it red, or purple?

Elijah sighed, and grabbed her hand reluctantly; she helped him up.

As they walked back from the infirmary toward study hall, Elijah asked her while moving his mess of curly hair out of the way of the bandages on his left cheek, "Why are you helping me? You remember what I did to Logan's brother. Aren't you scared of me or something like everyone else?"

"You were right. He got what he deserved. What he did to you was wrong. You might have scared me back then, but I'm just glad you listened."

Elijah said, "Did you not have friends there that I beat up."

"No. I just agreed to go to that party to get away from my parents."

"Why didn't you want to be with your parents?"

"Do you really care about your parents?" said June as she stopped walking for a moment.

"Only the one of them that's been there for me. Why?"

June smiled, and looked away.

"What?"

"Nothing," said June, "forget I asked."

"Speaking of which," said Elijah, "aren't you roughly my age?"

"Yeah," said June. "I'm a gifted student, like you. I transferred three grades ahead of fifth a year ago."

Elijah said nothing in response to this.

"I miss elementary school already."

"You'll get used to the transition over time… but as for the Acers… you may want to defend yourself."

"I don't want to get in trouble," said Elijah. "I just got here."

"Your face was bleeding when I helped you off of the floor," said June. "If I've ever seen it before, that's trouble. The staff at this school won't do anything about the Acers, mainly because Hayden's dad has connections with the school board. He often spends most of the time in the Dean's office flirting with Frances, the school slut, who's always in there for violating the dress code… among other conduct policies. He's what you said he was."

"What did I say he was?"

"A piece of shit."

Elijah remembered what Hayden said to him before he poured his soda over his head.

"He and his thugs already piss me off enough. And then he comes and says to me he'll piss me off to the point that I'm going to try to fight him back."

"Just fight him back then."

Elijah sighed. "No. He's right. I've got a demon inside of me. He calls himself Aita. Those noises I made back at that birthday party? They're his language… the language of the Isu."

"Aita? Who are the Isu?"

"It… hurts… when I let him out to hurt others," said Elijah. "I'm not letting him out again. No one wants that."

As they reached Elijah's study hall, Elijah said, "Thanks for walking me to the infirmary, June," before leaving her standing alone in the hall.

He went inside the study hall, where Tim was sitting by himself with a nearby teacher, who was asleep in his chair. There was another girl with raven hair, dark eyeliner on her eyes, and a ring on her nose who was listening to some loud music on her phone. Her shirt said, "When a demigoddess chooses, her human slaves obey."

Elijah sat away from Tim since there were plenty of chairs.

He got out a pencil and his calculus notebook when Tim said, "The others are outside, hanging out at the school courtyard. No one ever really comes to study hall."

"Then why do you?" said Elijah.

"I'd rather not go outside… I… don't have any friends."

"Well, that's not surprising," said Elijah, "given you helped a bunch of bullies find my locker and bought sodas and Pop-Tarts for them."

"I didn't have a choice," said Tim. "I'm too weak to fight back against them. They'd tear me apart."

"Right," said Elijah. "Guess I'm going to have to become like you so I don't get expelled."

They sat in silence for a moment.

"What's a CompSci Triad Project?"

Tim's eyes went wide.

"What?"

"You heard me."

Tim said, "It's… a set of three contests for the Computer Science Club. We compete nationally, as well as with each other sometimes on projects. I won the award for understanding of logic and syntax, so I usually work on the server-side code for group projects and work as the project manager. June Lamia won the award for wisdom of UX concepts and creative insight, so she usually works on the client-side code and comes up with cool concepts and ideas for the projects."

"June's in the CompSci Club?"

"Yeah. She tends to collaborate on developing our programs' user interfaces with Mina Harper, who won the award for the sacred voice of the club for recruiting new members."

"Who's Mina?"

"That goth girl over there."

Mina looked up at Elijah and Tim briefly, then back down at her phone again.

Elijah could hear from here that she was listening to a heavy metal song of some kind; the artist listed on her phone's screen said 'Thy Art is Murder,' and the song's name was 'Holy War.' Hearing the demonic snarls of the vocalist, Elijah quickly turned away.

Tim said to Elijah, "Oh geez, I just realized you may not have understood half of what I just said. I'd explain it to you, but every time I try to, other students just—"

"It's all right, Tim," said Elijah with a smirk, "I'm full-stack certified."

"You what?" said Tim. In awe, Tim asked, "What bootcamp?"

"FreeCodeCamp."

"For me it was Udemy… Damn, you really are a genius if you're coding that much at your age! I mostly started coding because I loved playing video games, and thought I might want to become a developer. So, I learned C# and C along with Unity and Unreal."

"I know a little C#... mainly because the syntax is so similar to Java."

"Do you want to join the club?" said Tim. "I mean, I know you just started school, but we could always use more members."

"We have cookies."

Elijah and Tim looked over to realize it was Mina who said that.

Elijah thought for a moment. It would be a good way to get away from those bullies after school… and my mom does have to work pretty late anyways…

Elijah said, "When you said the club has cookies, if you mean the kind that has chocolate chips in them, and not the kind that tracks your data, then I'm in."

Mina snickered. "Oatmeal raisin, take it or leave it."

"Still in."

"Welcome to the CompSci Triad, Elijah… I suppose we'll have to call it the Tetrad now."

Elijah smiled.

A few minutes later, while Elijah was helping Tim with his homework, June entered the room, and said, "Hey you two, I totally forgot. Are we meeting this week?"

"Might as well," said Tim, who shrugged his shoulders.

"We have a new member," said Mina.

"New member?" said June. Looking at Elijah, June said, "You joined?"

Elijah nodded nervously.

"You two know each other?" said Mina.

June nodded as well, as she scratched her head and looked away awkwardly. Silence filled the room.

Mina couldn't help but smirk while looking down at her phone. Now she was listening to "All Around Me" by the rock band Flyleaf.

Despite Elijah's uneasiness, he realized that the three members of the Triad were all emitting blue auras now as opposed to the red ones he saw on the bullies. Oddly enough, the blue auras helped him feel comfortable again, and he shut the voices that he knew weren't real out, including Aita's.

Upon getting back to his apartment, he said to his mother, "Mother, I'm back from school… I've made friends."

"That's great, Elijah!" said Tori from upstairs. "It sounds like moving you up to high school was the right call."

Elijah said nothing about the bullies that hurt him. He was hoping she didn't notice the bruises on his face.

"I've got good news as well, Elijah. Someone who was a mutual connection of your current therapist contacted me and asked about your alter, Aita."

The blood drained from Elijah's face.

"They're saying they can treat you for your DID and psychosis, and it won't cost us anything."

"That sounds too good to be true, Mother. Who is this person?"

"A man named Dr. Richmond Payne. He works for a pharmaceutical company known as Abstergo."