Map of your head (chapter 14)
Title: Map of your head
Fandom: U-KISS
Characters & Pairings: Elvin, Xander, OFC, other possible episodic characters
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance, Fluff, Humor, Drama
Summary: "Because the language confuses, like computers refuse to understand how I'm feeling today."
Eli is new to this world. Kevin makes him feel like home.
Disclaimer: The title belongs to English rock-band Muse, as well as the lyrics, extracted from their 2002 album entitled ”Hullabaloo”. I am in no way, shape or form affiliated with the named group, or any characters presented in this writing. No copyright infringement intended.
Read: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13
Month two. Day five.
-Part two-
Being as patient as possible was the best one could do, were they in Eli’s shoes. He had been drudging on the first floor ever since he had left Alexander’s office and felt uncommonly tired and hungry, despite being only 11:07 AM. He had sorted out hundreds of files, checked diagrams, talked to all residents on that level (which proved to be harder than he had expected, since they weren’t familiar with him and it was hard for them to open up) and was now taking care of their forthcoming lunch meals. Arguing with the kitchen ladies wasn’t trimming his stress either, since they kept asking why was Eli the one in charge today and if he was sure they should peel so many potatoes, until he snapped and told them to just do as they were told and walked out of the room with haste.
Working there felt like being transported into a completely new world and wished all of this could just end faster, so that he could return to the floor above, were people weren’t actually so scornful towards him all the time. And then he regretted wishing it, because that also meant Kevin being taken away faster and didn’t know how to deal with it. Maybe he was the problem for which no one seemed to trust him - after all, with the thought of losing Kevin in just a couple of hours running through his head oftentimes, he knew he must have looked cold and reserved, which resulted in others not wanting to approach him.
He also couldn’t help experiencing so much frustration like he hadn’t underwent before and that was only because he felt powerless, which was a foreign sensation to him. Even after arriving alone in Korea with very little money and almost unable to understand the language, he had still been able to keep in mind that regardless of all the hardship he was about to go through, all he needed was patience and everything would turn out alright after that. But now, patience for what?
He scrubbed a hand over his face and went to the bathroom. There was no one there, so Eli took advantage of that and leaned above the sink, with his head lowered between his shoulders and let out a deep sigh. He closed his eyes for a second, hoping everything was just an ugly nightmare and by the time he opened his eyes, all of this would have already been gone.
Of course that didn’t happen, because in the next second a weary and emotionless Eli was staring back at him from the mirror. He turned the blue water tap on and let it run for a few minutes, until it turned ice-cold, then took a few handfuls and splashed his face repeatedly. He ripped a few pieces from the paper towel nearby and rubbed out all traces of his emotional tribulation, then went by the window.
To his most outright blow he spotted Kevin immediately, sitting alone inside one of the gazebos hosted by the ample garden. Eli couldn’t really distinguish his facial expression, so by squinting his eyes he was pretty sure Kevin had a worried countenance. Neither of them moved for a while, with Eli standing there completely still and Kevin playing with his fingers, unaware he was being watched. He had a sudden urge to just screw the rules, go down there and hold him, but the already messed up situation he was in stopped him.
He managed to unglue himself from the window in the end and tried not to think about how that might have been his last time seeing Kevin. On the way out he bumped into Alexander, who seemed somewhat pleased to find him.
‘There you are.’ He said. ‘How’s everything going?’
‘Fine.’ Eli replied shortly, looking at him just for a second before turning his gaze.
‘So you’re not having trouble with anyone and you’re getting along?’
‘Yeah.’ He responded.
‘Good, just checking. I was about to go and tell Kevin. I rethought everything and I think it’s better to let him adjust to the thought before his parents arrive. You know, in case he might act weird when they’ll be here.’
Eli just looked at him and didn’t say anything. He was feeling a sudden repulsion towards him and Alexander was obviously expecting a different reaction, since he started questioning Eli’s soundness of judgment.
‘Look.’ Alexander said after realizing he wasn’t going to speak. ‘I know how upset you are, but-’
‘No, you don’t.’ Eli interrupted him calmly. ‘You can only imagine, but you will never know.’
‘Eli, I’m not going to do this again. Especially with you, who don’t seem to grasp the consequences.’
‘I understand what the consequences are better than you think.’
‘I’m glad you do. Don’t hesitate to ask one of the nurses to help if you find yourself stuck.’ Alexander said, before turning and walking towards the exit. Eli cursed under his breath and felt like the punching the wall beside him. He would have done it if it weren’t for a doctor passing by.
After his stomach let out an embarrassingly loud growl of protest, he decided to try and eat something after all, since he had completed most of his duties and frankly, the ones left could wait. So without any hesitation he headed for the lockers -which were full of noisy staff, most of them wanting to apparently initiate a conversation with him- rummaged through his backpack for the lunchbox, took it out and left the room without bothering to answer anybody’s questions.
He returned to the bathroom, locking the door behind him -one of the advantages of being a nurse there was owning the keys to most rooms- and went by the window again, sitting on the sill. He wasn’t surprised to conceive how mechanical his actions were: the walking, the talking, the everything, like his mind had been replaced with an electronic one and could only follow commands, but not cogitate on its own.
He looked outside again, awaiting to see Kevin again and maybe give him a sign. The gazebo was empty, however, the only person walking right past it being Alexander, probably looking for him. He breathed out heavily, annoyed with the fact that the stupid window didn’t allow much range and leaned his back on the frame, continuing to munch on his piece of meat.
In the next fifteen minutes he spotted Alexander passing through the same place two more times, walking much faster than before, which sort of worried him. He obviously hadn’t found Kevin yet, which could only mean he was ensconcing in one of his depression hiding spots. Eli felt genuinely happy for the first time that day, knowing that Kevin wasn’t more fond of Alexander than he was. He finished his food and descended from the window pane, heading back to finish whatever was left, hoping at the same time that Kevin would duck forever.
As he was about to check if everything was going alright with the lunch preparations, he had the loathing of coming across Alexander once more, who was panting and walking quickly towards him.
‘I swear, if you have anything to do with this, you’ll be in big trouble.’ He said, dead serious. Eli looked at his sweaty forehead and insanely austere expression, thinking he must have lost it.
‘Anything to do with this.’ Eli repeated slowly, staring at him.
‘Don’t play dumb. It was his idea and you just played along, wasn’t it?’
‘What are you even talking about?’
‘I am talking about Kevin.’
Eli’s heart stopped for a second.
‘What about Kevin? Where is he?’
‘That’s the thing, I don’t have the slightest clue. It’s like he vanished.’
They examined each other’s face for a few instants, Eli wanting to hear more details and Alexander probably wanting to hear it was all a bad joke.
‘I didn’t know.’ Eli said in the end. ‘Did you look for him everywhere?’
‘Yes, I did. Are you sure you’re not lying to me?’
‘For God’s sake.’ Eli mumbled, scratching his eyes, tired of the person in front of him. He never liked Alexander that much and for a good reason.
‘Alright, I believe you. I’ll send people searching for him. Any ideas to where he might have gone?’
‘Have you checked the library? He usually spends most of his time in there.’
‘I did, there was no one. I’ll let you know once we find him.’
‘I’m coming with you.’ Eli said, already taking a few steps ahead.
‘No.’ The older stopped him with his hand. ‘You stay here and finish whatever you have to do. There are plenty of us, so it shouldn’t take long. Besides, rules are rules. Until he leaves, you have no business talking to him.’
And with that he left, leaving Eli baffled. He wanted to show a sign of dissent, but knew it was useless. He asked himself if Alexander left that fast because he knew Eli wanted to say something in return and avoided giving him a chance.
He probably did, the bastard.
It couldn’t just end that way, though. What was he supposed to do, sit around and wait for the others to find him? And for what, so that he could return with his parents to hell knows where? It was already noon, which meant his parents would arrive in a few more hours, he couldn’t afford wasting time.
Eli decided to ditch the work that needed being taken care of and started running after Alexander. It took some time to find him and had to ask one of the nurses about his location. In the end he bumped into him just as he was walking out of the elevator.
‘Eli.’ He exclaimed. ‘This isn’t the first floor, you know. What are you doing here?’
‘Did you find him?’
‘I’m not going to repeat myself. Go back.’
‘Please.’ He begged.
Alexander looked at him, unsure of what to do or say.
‘I didn’t.’ he responded in the end. ‘What’s worse, I was talking with the residents from the fourth floor and one of them told me he saw a blond-haired person walking out of the yard some time ago.’
‘What?’ Eli gasped.
‘Calm down, it could have been anyone. He doesn’t remember how that person was dressed, so we can’t say if it was indeed Kevin. And frankly, the patients from that level are extremely deranged, you can never be sure they’ll telling the truth.’
‘But what if it was Kevin? What if he left?’
‘And go where?’ Alexander asked. ‘We both know he can’t just walk outside, he wouldn’t last five minutes alone.’
‘He is stubborn, you have to admit that.’ Eli replied. ‘Please let me go look for him. Please. It wasn’t that long ago, he couldn’t have gone far.’
‘Certainly not. Now go back. We’ll continue looking and, if needed, we’ll call the police.’
‘Alexander. I’m begging you.’ Eli grabbed his shoulders. ‘If you don’t want me around him anymore fine, but I have to know he’s alright. I can’t just wait around, I need to do something. Please?’
The older seemed more than a little indecisive, as he was gazing back and forth from one of Eli’s eyes to the other. Eli knew the interior conflict he was probably undergoing, so he instinctively kept pressuring until he would give in.
‘At this point, he only trusts me.’ He added, visibly noting the change on Alexander’s face. ‘He’ll listen if I tell him to come back.’
‘Fine.’ He eventually let out a breath. ‘Go take your phone. Hurry up.’
‘Thank you.’ Eli said, before turning away and starting to run as if his life depended on it. He accidentally smashed into a few people on his way out, but didn’t stop to apologize. Once he found himself in the yard he only stopped for a few short seconds to take a look around. It was more crammed with residents than usual, despite the chilly wind, one of them being Kyung Hee, who didn’t hesitate to wave at him. Eli didn’t wave back, just started running for the exit again, until he was outside the hospital’s perimeter.
He immediately stopped a woman passing by and gave her the exact description of Kevin, asking her if she had seen him. The woman looked at him with disregard and after noticing the building behind him she just shook her head and continued walking. Eli cursed and took a left turn, walking at a really fast pace, occasionally blockading every person passing by and asking them the same question. He maintained the same pattern for the next half an hour, until he managed to reach a taxi station. He checked his pockets to see how much money he had left -very few, apparently, since he had been stupid enough to leave his wallet at the hospital, in the backpack- so he had no other choice but to climb in and ask the driver to drive him around the city for as long as the few bills he gave him permitted. The man looked at him in the rearview mirror weirdly, but didn’t say anything and started the engine. After some few good blocks, he asked Eli if he was a tourist.
‘No, I’m not. I work here, actually. I’m just looking for someone. Could you go a little slower?’ he requested, not taking his eyes away from the window the entire time.
‘Sure.’ The man complied, decreasing the speed. ‘A girl, maybe?’
‘A boy, actually. He is a patient at the asylum a few streets from here. I’m a nurse there. We think he might have ran off.’
‘Oh, my.’ The driver exclaimed in a low voice. ‘Was it long ago?’
‘Not really. Half an hour tops.’
‘I see. Well then, shouldn’t you be calling the police?’
‘It’s a delicate situation, I can’t really explain right now, but we’ll consider calling them if I can’t find him.’
The man didn’t say anything for a few minutes, but seemed pensive.
‘How did he look like?’ he finally asked.
Eli repeated the same description for what appeared like the fiftieth time that day, not expecting a different answer than before. After all, if all others before this man hadn’t see him, what were the chances of suddenly getting a positive reply?
‘I think I saw someone like that not long ago.’ The driver said, causing Eli to look at him -more like the back of his head- for the first time since he had gotten in. ‘A boy just like that passed right in front of the lot where me and my colleagues usually wait. He had a hand half-covering his face and one of them got closer and asked him if he was alright. We thought he might have used drugs. At that he almost jumped in shock and started walking faster and just mumbled something, but my friend couldn’t tell what. That was it.’
‘And he went off in this direction?’ Eli asked expectantly.
‘Yeah, just up the road we’re driving on right now.’
‘Good. Keep going.’
They continued driving for the next minute, which soon turned into five, then ten. The man noticed that the meter showed Eli should have ended and paid for his ride a long time ago, but didn’t say anything. Eli also noticed and didn’t know if he was doing it intentionally or not, but didn’t bring it up. After all, if he had indeed made a mistake it was the driver’s fault, not his. His felt his phone vibrating inside his pocket, which slightly scared him.
‘Yes?’ he picked up.
‘Eli? Where are you?’ he heard Alexander’s voice. ‘Did you find him?’ It sounded hurried and panicked.
‘Not yet, I’m looking for him now.’
‘Well you better hurry the hell up, because his parents are already here.’
Eli’s heart jumped in his throat.
‘What?’ he asked, louder than he had intended. The driver stared at him worried.
‘Their plane arrived earlier and are now in the waiting room. They asked about Kevin and almost flipped when they heard he’s missing. His father is pacing and threatening and I don’t even know what the fuck to tell them to make them calm down. Please hurry up, just… please.’
‘What else did they say?’
‘Not much, they asked if his condition has improved lately and how they didn’t want to lose any more time, then his mother almost had a heart attack when she found out and crap, I’m freaking out. They almost called the authorities, but I managed to convince them not to. I sent more people out there, by the way, so it’s not just you right now. But hurry up, alright? Just find a way and hurry up.’
‘I will. You try to talk some sense into them meanwhile. Keep them from doing something stupid.’ Eli hung up, feeling more scared than ever before in his life. Things kept on accelerating from bad to worse at such dashy speed, that it seemed the Earth had suddenly started spinning faster, causing time to precipitate. It was a horrid sensation.
‘Trouble?’ the driver asked.
‘Yeah.’ Eli replied, scrubbing his forehead, but refraining from giving more details. The man seemed to understand he didn’t feel like talking about it, so he didn’t push the discussion further.
As clouds were starting to emerge, Eli’s fears were also growing bigger with every ticking second on the clock.
----
Notes: I am so not satisfied with this chapter. /yawns and stretches like there's no tomorrow & awaits rocks and tomatoes to be thrown at her
Fandom: U-KISS
Characters & Pairings: Elvin, Xander, OFC, other possible episodic characters
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance, Fluff, Humor, Drama
Summary: "Because the language confuses, like computers refuse to understand how I'm feeling today."
Eli is new to this world. Kevin makes him feel like home.
Disclaimer: The title belongs to English rock-band Muse, as well as the lyrics, extracted from their 2002 album entitled ”Hullabaloo”. I am in no way, shape or form affiliated with the named group, or any characters presented in this writing. No copyright infringement intended.
Read: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13
Month two. Day five.
-Part two-
Being as patient as possible was the best one could do, were they in Eli’s shoes. He had been drudging on the first floor ever since he had left Alexander’s office and felt uncommonly tired and hungry, despite being only 11:07 AM. He had sorted out hundreds of files, checked diagrams, talked to all residents on that level (which proved to be harder than he had expected, since they weren’t familiar with him and it was hard for them to open up) and was now taking care of their forthcoming lunch meals. Arguing with the kitchen ladies wasn’t trimming his stress either, since they kept asking why was Eli the one in charge today and if he was sure they should peel so many potatoes, until he snapped and told them to just do as they were told and walked out of the room with haste.
Working there felt like being transported into a completely new world and wished all of this could just end faster, so that he could return to the floor above, were people weren’t actually so scornful towards him all the time. And then he regretted wishing it, because that also meant Kevin being taken away faster and didn’t know how to deal with it. Maybe he was the problem for which no one seemed to trust him - after all, with the thought of losing Kevin in just a couple of hours running through his head oftentimes, he knew he must have looked cold and reserved, which resulted in others not wanting to approach him.
He also couldn’t help experiencing so much frustration like he hadn’t underwent before and that was only because he felt powerless, which was a foreign sensation to him. Even after arriving alone in Korea with very little money and almost unable to understand the language, he had still been able to keep in mind that regardless of all the hardship he was about to go through, all he needed was patience and everything would turn out alright after that. But now, patience for what?
He scrubbed a hand over his face and went to the bathroom. There was no one there, so Eli took advantage of that and leaned above the sink, with his head lowered between his shoulders and let out a deep sigh. He closed his eyes for a second, hoping everything was just an ugly nightmare and by the time he opened his eyes, all of this would have already been gone.
Of course that didn’t happen, because in the next second a weary and emotionless Eli was staring back at him from the mirror. He turned the blue water tap on and let it run for a few minutes, until it turned ice-cold, then took a few handfuls and splashed his face repeatedly. He ripped a few pieces from the paper towel nearby and rubbed out all traces of his emotional tribulation, then went by the window.
To his most outright blow he spotted Kevin immediately, sitting alone inside one of the gazebos hosted by the ample garden. Eli couldn’t really distinguish his facial expression, so by squinting his eyes he was pretty sure Kevin had a worried countenance. Neither of them moved for a while, with Eli standing there completely still and Kevin playing with his fingers, unaware he was being watched. He had a sudden urge to just screw the rules, go down there and hold him, but the already messed up situation he was in stopped him.
He managed to unglue himself from the window in the end and tried not to think about how that might have been his last time seeing Kevin. On the way out he bumped into Alexander, who seemed somewhat pleased to find him.
‘There you are.’ He said. ‘How’s everything going?’
‘Fine.’ Eli replied shortly, looking at him just for a second before turning his gaze.
‘So you’re not having trouble with anyone and you’re getting along?’
‘Yeah.’ He responded.
‘Good, just checking. I was about to go and tell Kevin. I rethought everything and I think it’s better to let him adjust to the thought before his parents arrive. You know, in case he might act weird when they’ll be here.’
Eli just looked at him and didn’t say anything. He was feeling a sudden repulsion towards him and Alexander was obviously expecting a different reaction, since he started questioning Eli’s soundness of judgment.
‘Look.’ Alexander said after realizing he wasn’t going to speak. ‘I know how upset you are, but-’
‘No, you don’t.’ Eli interrupted him calmly. ‘You can only imagine, but you will never know.’
‘Eli, I’m not going to do this again. Especially with you, who don’t seem to grasp the consequences.’
‘I understand what the consequences are better than you think.’
‘I’m glad you do. Don’t hesitate to ask one of the nurses to help if you find yourself stuck.’ Alexander said, before turning and walking towards the exit. Eli cursed under his breath and felt like the punching the wall beside him. He would have done it if it weren’t for a doctor passing by.
After his stomach let out an embarrassingly loud growl of protest, he decided to try and eat something after all, since he had completed most of his duties and frankly, the ones left could wait. So without any hesitation he headed for the lockers -which were full of noisy staff, most of them wanting to apparently initiate a conversation with him- rummaged through his backpack for the lunchbox, took it out and left the room without bothering to answer anybody’s questions.
He returned to the bathroom, locking the door behind him -one of the advantages of being a nurse there was owning the keys to most rooms- and went by the window again, sitting on the sill. He wasn’t surprised to conceive how mechanical his actions were: the walking, the talking, the everything, like his mind had been replaced with an electronic one and could only follow commands, but not cogitate on its own.
He looked outside again, awaiting to see Kevin again and maybe give him a sign. The gazebo was empty, however, the only person walking right past it being Alexander, probably looking for him. He breathed out heavily, annoyed with the fact that the stupid window didn’t allow much range and leaned his back on the frame, continuing to munch on his piece of meat.
In the next fifteen minutes he spotted Alexander passing through the same place two more times, walking much faster than before, which sort of worried him. He obviously hadn’t found Kevin yet, which could only mean he was ensconcing in one of his depression hiding spots. Eli felt genuinely happy for the first time that day, knowing that Kevin wasn’t more fond of Alexander than he was. He finished his food and descended from the window pane, heading back to finish whatever was left, hoping at the same time that Kevin would duck forever.
As he was about to check if everything was going alright with the lunch preparations, he had the loathing of coming across Alexander once more, who was panting and walking quickly towards him.
‘I swear, if you have anything to do with this, you’ll be in big trouble.’ He said, dead serious. Eli looked at his sweaty forehead and insanely austere expression, thinking he must have lost it.
‘Anything to do with this.’ Eli repeated slowly, staring at him.
‘Don’t play dumb. It was his idea and you just played along, wasn’t it?’
‘What are you even talking about?’
‘I am talking about Kevin.’
Eli’s heart stopped for a second.
‘What about Kevin? Where is he?’
‘That’s the thing, I don’t have the slightest clue. It’s like he vanished.’
They examined each other’s face for a few instants, Eli wanting to hear more details and Alexander probably wanting to hear it was all a bad joke.
‘I didn’t know.’ Eli said in the end. ‘Did you look for him everywhere?’
‘Yes, I did. Are you sure you’re not lying to me?’
‘For God’s sake.’ Eli mumbled, scratching his eyes, tired of the person in front of him. He never liked Alexander that much and for a good reason.
‘Alright, I believe you. I’ll send people searching for him. Any ideas to where he might have gone?’
‘Have you checked the library? He usually spends most of his time in there.’
‘I did, there was no one. I’ll let you know once we find him.’
‘I’m coming with you.’ Eli said, already taking a few steps ahead.
‘No.’ The older stopped him with his hand. ‘You stay here and finish whatever you have to do. There are plenty of us, so it shouldn’t take long. Besides, rules are rules. Until he leaves, you have no business talking to him.’
And with that he left, leaving Eli baffled. He wanted to show a sign of dissent, but knew it was useless. He asked himself if Alexander left that fast because he knew Eli wanted to say something in return and avoided giving him a chance.
He probably did, the bastard.
It couldn’t just end that way, though. What was he supposed to do, sit around and wait for the others to find him? And for what, so that he could return with his parents to hell knows where? It was already noon, which meant his parents would arrive in a few more hours, he couldn’t afford wasting time.
Eli decided to ditch the work that needed being taken care of and started running after Alexander. It took some time to find him and had to ask one of the nurses about his location. In the end he bumped into him just as he was walking out of the elevator.
‘Eli.’ He exclaimed. ‘This isn’t the first floor, you know. What are you doing here?’
‘Did you find him?’
‘I’m not going to repeat myself. Go back.’
‘Please.’ He begged.
Alexander looked at him, unsure of what to do or say.
‘I didn’t.’ he responded in the end. ‘What’s worse, I was talking with the residents from the fourth floor and one of them told me he saw a blond-haired person walking out of the yard some time ago.’
‘What?’ Eli gasped.
‘Calm down, it could have been anyone. He doesn’t remember how that person was dressed, so we can’t say if it was indeed Kevin. And frankly, the patients from that level are extremely deranged, you can never be sure they’ll telling the truth.’
‘But what if it was Kevin? What if he left?’
‘And go where?’ Alexander asked. ‘We both know he can’t just walk outside, he wouldn’t last five minutes alone.’
‘He is stubborn, you have to admit that.’ Eli replied. ‘Please let me go look for him. Please. It wasn’t that long ago, he couldn’t have gone far.’
‘Certainly not. Now go back. We’ll continue looking and, if needed, we’ll call the police.’
‘Alexander. I’m begging you.’ Eli grabbed his shoulders. ‘If you don’t want me around him anymore fine, but I have to know he’s alright. I can’t just wait around, I need to do something. Please?’
The older seemed more than a little indecisive, as he was gazing back and forth from one of Eli’s eyes to the other. Eli knew the interior conflict he was probably undergoing, so he instinctively kept pressuring until he would give in.
‘At this point, he only trusts me.’ He added, visibly noting the change on Alexander’s face. ‘He’ll listen if I tell him to come back.’
‘Fine.’ He eventually let out a breath. ‘Go take your phone. Hurry up.’
‘Thank you.’ Eli said, before turning away and starting to run as if his life depended on it. He accidentally smashed into a few people on his way out, but didn’t stop to apologize. Once he found himself in the yard he only stopped for a few short seconds to take a look around. It was more crammed with residents than usual, despite the chilly wind, one of them being Kyung Hee, who didn’t hesitate to wave at him. Eli didn’t wave back, just started running for the exit again, until he was outside the hospital’s perimeter.
He immediately stopped a woman passing by and gave her the exact description of Kevin, asking her if she had seen him. The woman looked at him with disregard and after noticing the building behind him she just shook her head and continued walking. Eli cursed and took a left turn, walking at a really fast pace, occasionally blockading every person passing by and asking them the same question. He maintained the same pattern for the next half an hour, until he managed to reach a taxi station. He checked his pockets to see how much money he had left -very few, apparently, since he had been stupid enough to leave his wallet at the hospital, in the backpack- so he had no other choice but to climb in and ask the driver to drive him around the city for as long as the few bills he gave him permitted. The man looked at him in the rearview mirror weirdly, but didn’t say anything and started the engine. After some few good blocks, he asked Eli if he was a tourist.
‘No, I’m not. I work here, actually. I’m just looking for someone. Could you go a little slower?’ he requested, not taking his eyes away from the window the entire time.
‘Sure.’ The man complied, decreasing the speed. ‘A girl, maybe?’
‘A boy, actually. He is a patient at the asylum a few streets from here. I’m a nurse there. We think he might have ran off.’
‘Oh, my.’ The driver exclaimed in a low voice. ‘Was it long ago?’
‘Not really. Half an hour tops.’
‘I see. Well then, shouldn’t you be calling the police?’
‘It’s a delicate situation, I can’t really explain right now, but we’ll consider calling them if I can’t find him.’
The man didn’t say anything for a few minutes, but seemed pensive.
‘How did he look like?’ he finally asked.
Eli repeated the same description for what appeared like the fiftieth time that day, not expecting a different answer than before. After all, if all others before this man hadn’t see him, what were the chances of suddenly getting a positive reply?
‘I think I saw someone like that not long ago.’ The driver said, causing Eli to look at him -more like the back of his head- for the first time since he had gotten in. ‘A boy just like that passed right in front of the lot where me and my colleagues usually wait. He had a hand half-covering his face and one of them got closer and asked him if he was alright. We thought he might have used drugs. At that he almost jumped in shock and started walking faster and just mumbled something, but my friend couldn’t tell what. That was it.’
‘And he went off in this direction?’ Eli asked expectantly.
‘Yeah, just up the road we’re driving on right now.’
‘Good. Keep going.’
They continued driving for the next minute, which soon turned into five, then ten. The man noticed that the meter showed Eli should have ended and paid for his ride a long time ago, but didn’t say anything. Eli also noticed and didn’t know if he was doing it intentionally or not, but didn’t bring it up. After all, if he had indeed made a mistake it was the driver’s fault, not his. His felt his phone vibrating inside his pocket, which slightly scared him.
‘Yes?’ he picked up.
‘Eli? Where are you?’ he heard Alexander’s voice. ‘Did you find him?’ It sounded hurried and panicked.
‘Not yet, I’m looking for him now.’
‘Well you better hurry the hell up, because his parents are already here.’
Eli’s heart jumped in his throat.
‘What?’ he asked, louder than he had intended. The driver stared at him worried.
‘Their plane arrived earlier and are now in the waiting room. They asked about Kevin and almost flipped when they heard he’s missing. His father is pacing and threatening and I don’t even know what the fuck to tell them to make them calm down. Please hurry up, just… please.’
‘What else did they say?’
‘Not much, they asked if his condition has improved lately and how they didn’t want to lose any more time, then his mother almost had a heart attack when she found out and crap, I’m freaking out. They almost called the authorities, but I managed to convince them not to. I sent more people out there, by the way, so it’s not just you right now. But hurry up, alright? Just find a way and hurry up.’
‘I will. You try to talk some sense into them meanwhile. Keep them from doing something stupid.’ Eli hung up, feeling more scared than ever before in his life. Things kept on accelerating from bad to worse at such dashy speed, that it seemed the Earth had suddenly started spinning faster, causing time to precipitate. It was a horrid sensation.
‘Trouble?’ the driver asked.
‘Yeah.’ Eli replied, scrubbing his forehead, but refraining from giving more details. The man seemed to understand he didn’t feel like talking about it, so he didn’t push the discussion further.
As clouds were starting to emerge, Eli’s fears were also growing bigger with every ticking second on the clock.
----
Notes: I am so not satisfied with this chapter. /yawns and stretches like there's no tomorrow & awaits rocks and tomatoes to be thrown at her