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CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
Eleanora Hadley threw her head back in laughter as she watched the strange television program that was playing on the tiny TV in Elijah's hospital room. Neither sibling had any clue on what was happening as the volume wasn't working, leaving them with moving images and very little context of anything else.
She had tucked herself into the tiny space between Elijah and the edge of the hospital bed, careful not to injure her brother any further but having gotten too tired of her stiff back that she had received from sitting in the hospital chair for the majority of the day.
She had spent almost the entire day in the hospital room keeping her brother busy, apart from a brief stint to the hospital cafeteria in search of some food to calm her rumbling stomach, sneaking in a packet of chips for Elijah who was already complaining about the hospital food. With her Mum arriving the next day, Ellie would go back out and visit a few more colleges before returning to Forks for her high school graduation with high hopes that both her Mum and Elijah would both make it down in time.
But although the Hadley siblings had enjoyed their day of good-natured but restricted fun, they had both allowed time to slip away from them. The sun going down behind the closed blinds and it wasn't until Ellie glanced down at her watch and the time blinked at her, that she truly realised that she was supposed to have left an hour and a half ago, with the rules that she had set with her Mum.
It surprised her that visiting hours hadn't finished with the amount of time slipping away but some part of her knew that they had, the two siblings making quite an impression on a few nurses who had allowed the girl to stay a little longer.
"Oh, shit," Ellie muttered, springing up from the hospital bed. "I'm so sorry, Elijah. But I've really got to go or Mum's going to have my head for not heading back to my hotel early."
Elijah glanced to the time that was emblazoned across his phone before the realisation struck him as well. "Yeah, you better go, El. I'd like it if Mum didn't break my other leg if she found out. Not a huge fan of a wheelchair especially after that one time."
"She won't!" Ellie exclaimed. "I'll go now and she won't know the difference. I'll see you tomorrow at some point, okay?"
"Alright, Ellie. Thanks for staying with me today. It was really fun to have you here."
"It was no problem. Remember I told you that I want to be here." Ellie returned. "Besides I'd watch random television shows with no volume and no context any day with you. Maybe we'll make it a tradition when you come back home."
"I'd like that." Elijah smiled. "Be safe on the way home, El."
"It is just a short walk I'll be fine." Ellie returned with a smile before leaving the room. "See you."
She quickly found her way back through the now-familiar hospital corridors, waving to any nurses or doctors she recognised before pushing her way into the cool night. Although the path to her hotel through various back alleyways was also becoming increasingly familiar the longer she traced the path back and forth for. But with the dark, inky sky looming over her, the path wasn't as luminous or amicable as the hospital corridors had been. Moonlight followed her each step, as she walked into the darkness, it easily folding back in around her.
Ellie smiled as her hotel appeared a hundred metres ahead of her, she had regretted letting time get away from her which had forced her to stroll through the dark, lonesome streets. But as she only drew closer, a noise disrupted her from her elation, a sharp disturbance in the air.
She was trapped with nowhere to go but forward, Ellie peering around slightly for the source of sound but still forcing herself forward with the hope of drawing little attention to herself. But she knew very well that she wasn't even that lucky, a million different examples over the last year and a half popping in her head.
Her body was thrown to the side by a blur, falling out of the fictitious comfort of the moonlight. She attempted to stand up but was thrown back down once more. There was no doubt in her mind. She knew exactly what she was dealing with, what was playing with her and whoever they were didn't have golden eyes or a kind heart. She was that 1 in 583,000. A puppet tangled in someone else's strings.
A figure stepped into the moonlight, the crimson red eyes and flawless, marble-like skin confirming any and everyone of her assumptions. His face swam into her vision, the familiarity striking her. So, Riley Biers was the one pulling on the strings, the missing boy from Forks and the one watching her every move carefully.
Ellie glanced around, knowing very well that it would be pointless to even call out for help, it would just land whatever kind soul who heard her plea into deep waters. A smirk crossed her face as she met the vampire's eyes.
"Are you going to do something or are you just going to glare at him in the dark?" She taunted, accepting her fate, her only fate in that exact moment.
Her taunt did the job, the vampire streaking forward, a scalding, burning pain replacing her courage seconds later. Riley removed his teeth from the palm of her hand, injecting her with his venom. A scream forced its way out from her clenched teeth, her eyes widening in terror, her mouth hanging open rigid, her fists clenching and unclenching, her nails digging sharply into the palms of her hands. An amused chuckle reaching her ears before everything ceased into darkness, apart from the pain ripping through her.
