I want to live

Chapter 13

*RING RING*

Elijah's sobbing was now only small hiccups and sniffles as he turned his hands into tiny fists as he tried to dry away the remaining tears. He took a shaky breath in, holding it for 10 seconds and then breathed out looking into the eyes of the dirty-brow haired guy sitting in front of him.

"I don't want you to get involved..." Elijah said as he finally got his breathing under control.

"What do you mean?" Another stranger to Elijah said.

"You saw what he did to me... If he did that to you too, just because you help m—" "That won't happen!" Elijah got cut off by the blond tall male. He looked up at the interrupting male and tilted his head a bit with his eyes still wide.

"Just let us help you..." Another voice popped up. A red !!!head came into Elijah's view with teary eyes. He grabbed his hands and put it over his heart. "We're going to protect you... I promise." He looked into the golden-haired boy's eyes.

"Why...? why would you help someone like me…" He barely even finishes his sentence as breathed out, closed his eyes and passed out.

"Let's get him to the nurse," Leo suggested while helping Jonathan get the passed-out male onto his back.

"Whoa~! He's light as a stick!" Jonathan said as he did a small jump making his argument stronger.

Ryan looked at him worried. "Stand still, I want to test something." Jonathan did and Ryan put one of his hands in front of Elijah's stomach and one on his back. Pulling his hands away but keeping the distance. "Okay, that is way too thin for a guy!" Now they were all worried. Elijah looked like a twig, thin and it looked like he would break if you hugged him too hard.

A flash went off in Roman's eyes. "When he wakes up, I'm going to have a serious talk about the way he eats!" The rest of the guys felt shivers down their spines as they walked out the bathroom with the sleeping boy on Jonathan's back, and they all felt somewhat relieved that all they could hear was Elijah's soft snores.

•~•

The two oldest decided to stay with Elijah until lunch and then switch with Theo and Ryan. The teachers didn't really care since they had the highest rankings in almost all classes despise their attention record got kind of screwed up.

The nurse wasn't worried, saying it was 'stress and not enough rest' the normal, but somehow that just worried Roman more.

"Ryan, help me take his shirt off," He said as if it was nothing.

"What...?"

"I don't believe that guy yesterday didn't hurt him afterward... I just want to check..." Ryan signed but nevertheless complied.

But what they saw was even worse than they imagined... his whole body was bruised, there was more black and blue spots were on his body than his normal skin.

Roman covered his mouth and looked at Ryan's face to make sure what they were seeing was real, and his heart broke when Ryan's expression which confirmed that this broken body really was Elijah's.

"No... way..." Roman felt like he was about to puke. „What kind of disgusting person could do this to another human being?!„

Not only was it disgusting... it was sad, why did such a thing happen to a person like him...? They haven't known him for long and that just made it sadder, since Elijah wasn't even worried about himself when they wanted to help him, he was worried about what would happen to them if they got involved.

Ryan slid his hand across the boy's visible rib cage and felt his heart clench when he felt Elijah breath out and it was still clear as day.

"Wait!" Roman suddenly got up. "I made an extra lunchbox because Jonathan said his wasn't enough for him. I have it in my backpack!" Ryan smile and made a head-movement as to say 'what are you waiting for, go get it' and Roman did, he ran out the room, almost falling out the nurse room but quickly grabbed the doorframe, saving himself and also swinging himself around towards the direction he wanted to go.

•~•

Elijah slowly opened his eyes and blinked to get used to the light he except... there wasn't any, it was dark... but somehow now an uncomfortable dark, it was warm and had a pleasant feeling to it.

Like a warm blanket was covering his entire body and that just so happen to include his head and eyes.

What's wrong my dear +%*$>*...? Why are you sad Elijah?

Elijah feels a strange and familiar feeling when the voice echoes in his head... it wasn't like the other one.

I'm okay... everything is fine, it wasn't your fault Mr. Duncan and I died... he's not mad either... He could never get mad at you... so don't worry...

Everything is fine, you must continue living for Mr. Duncan and me both.

Elijah felt like he needed to chase the voice like they were supposed to stay by each other's side, but at the same time it felt like he would never hear or see the voice or owner of the voice again... but why?

A tear slid down his cheek as he hurriedly sat up and trying to get ahold of the voice of the owner of it.

But ended up with a fistful of air...

"Yah! You startled me!" Elijah looked beside him but could see who it was as the stranger gave him a side hug and 0.5 seconds later, he felt like his life was squished out of him...

The death-grip got looser, and he finally got a good look at the person. "One of you guys..."

" 'One of you guys?' oh yeah! You don't know our names yet!" The blonder finally let dully go and rearranged his now messy shirt. "My name is Ryan Smith, I'm 17 and is in my junior year, I'm mostly taking IT and mathematics classes here. Pleased to meet you!" He made a dimple-rich smile and made a weird honoring bow while stretching his hand above his head towards Elijah.

Elijah giggled at his weird behavior but instantly regretted it when he felt a stinging pain in his ribs. He didn't want to worry his new companion, so he just smiled it off. "Hello Ryan, my name is Elijah Duncan I'm 18 and in my senior year. I came here to take mostly Music and art classes but also dance lessons, with some mathematics and cooking classes, pleased to meet you!"

"And hello to you too!" Roman stood leaning up against the doorframe and smiled at the two. "My name is Roman Clark, I'm 19, I'm also in my senior year. I'm taking singing, C&D (crafts and design) and cooking classes. Pleased to meet you!" Roman smiled and walks over to the two, setting a lunchbox at the small table beside the bed Elijah was on. "Now eat something before your rib cage can be seen even more~" Roman's voice sounded like it wasn't really a choice. Elijah blushed at the fact that they looked at his stomach when he was asleep and the sound of Roman's voice being so low and deep it also gave him chills.

So, without further ado, Elijah began eating from the small bento. While Roman and Ryan were talking beside him, also occasionally asking Elijah about what he likes.

So enough, there was a light atmosphere and they were all smiling, one less than the others but it was the thought that counts, he liked the feeling they were giving him.

Roman and Ryan looked at Elijah after Roman made a weird dad-joke, and they both smiled wider when they saw a big gummy smile on his face.