Haunted by the Past (Original)

Chapter 6

Eli led me through a maze of dark corridors, or at least what felt like a maze as we only had the light of his phone to guide us. I was still not allowed to touch my phone. From what I could sense about the building, it was empty as each room echoed, though the reverberation would change as we passed through each threshold. Some areas were narrow while others were wide and expansive. He then led me to a room with no windows, lit only by a series of monitors along a wall with a desk and old office chair, patched in several places with duct tape. The room was otherwise barren.

"I'm sorry for frightening you. I had to be sure you were not being followed or tracked," Eli spoke at a normal volume for the first time that night. He lifted my backpack up and gave it a pat. "You have a tablet in here?"

While still in the midst of gathering my thoughts, I turned to him confused, "Yes, how did you know?"

"Because I felt it in there when I tripped on it," he shrugged.

Duh, of course! I did a mental face palm.

Eli plopped the bag down on his desk, then took off his mask and tossed it aside. Before doing anything else, he unzipped my backpack and rummaging through it, "I'll need your phone too."

"Hey, invasion of privacy much!?" I exclaimed as I stepped forwards to stop him, but he brushed me off.

First he pulled out my tablet, then went back into my bag for my charger. My pill bottles unfortunately got caught up with the cord and came out with it. He hesitated for a moment, undoubtedly seeing what prescriptions they were before he tossed them back in. I watched him closely to see what sort of reaction he would have, but he didn't react at all, as if seeing my anti-anxiety and birth control pills was commonplace for him.

"Your phone," he extended his arm towards me with his hand spread wide.

"Please," I emphasized as I took my phone out of my pocket and placed it into his open hand.

"You're the one who asked me to do you a favor," he grumbled.

"And I fail to see how any of this has to do with that," I argued.

Eli turned away from me again to plug my phone into his computer, "You want me to make sure no one can track you via your devices or not?"

"Are you saying the obstacle course you sent me through, otherwise known as the New York Subway system, was for my benefit?" I frowned.

"I had to confirm no one was following you," he reasoned as he plopped himself down in front of his computer.

"Maybe for the first 20 minutes. And the stalking? Why couldn't you have just greeted me at the station like a normal person?" I demanded.

Eli didn't respond, but instead lifted a pair of headphones to shut me out while he worked at his computer. I threw my hands in the air and circled around the empty room. I didn't know what I was expecting going to Eli for sanctuary, but it certainly wasn't this. With absolutely nowhere to sit, I sat down on the ground up against the wall, hugging my knees and rested my head against my arms. I don't know if it was calming, repetitive sounds of his typing or my sheer exhaustion from the night's journey, but I actually drifted off to sleep in that position.

**

I woke up a few hours later lying on my side with my head resting on my backpack. Confused, I pushed myself up, looking around the room hazily and saw Eli still working at his computer. I felt something wet on my chin and realized I had been drooling. Wiping my mouth subtly in the hopes Eli wouldn't notice, I glanced down and saw I had drooled on my backpack as well so I turned it over out of embarrassment. Staring at the bag, it then occurred to me that I couldn't recall ever lying down in the first place. I glanced up at him and saw him looking over his shoulder.