The Sun And The Stars •completed•

Rattling Ribs Like A Birdcage

"Stop! Stop, please!" Phoebe's scratchy screams seemed to echo through the house. Eli lay limply on the ground, ears only tuned into Phoebe. He'd never heard her like that before.

Something bubbled up. Eli would never be sure if his anger came from a sense of justice, or from hearing Phoebe's pleas. He had a strange feeling though, that on that night his entire persona shifted. A switch turned on in his mind for the first time that told him he was more than capable of fighting back. So he did.

Eli clambered up to stand, and ran, throwing his arms out to push Mitch over. Mitch flew into the dining room table, an awful cracking sound echoing as he hit it.

"Eli!" His Mother gasped, her shaking hands coming to a close over her mouth. Eli felt a shaking in his own hands, adrenaline and fear over his sudden act of violence. Phoebe slowly moved her eyes over to him, and he could tell she was both grateful and mortified. It wasn't uncommon for conflicting emotions to override her.

The silence seemed to last both an eternity and a split second, as Eli was suddenly forced into a wall, his head smacking it with such force that he couldn't see for a while.

"Dad!" Phoebe shouted. Eli could hear the cries in her voice. He slowly started to reach his hand up to feel the back of his head, but was quickly pulled up to stand by two meaty hands. "You little weasel, you little bastard, you little-"

He felt the hands grip him by the neck, and closed his eyes, determined not to cry out. Phoebe's screams and Mitch's insults became fainter and fainter as Eli felt the world go fuzzy around him. Pixels clouded his eyes and mind. He was no longer breathing.

Suddenly, he was dropped. He hit the ground and tried to start breathing again, sputtering and coughing as he did. "Phoebe! Phoebe!" Mitch's rough screams filled the air as Eli's hearing resumed. A moment later his sight returned. From the floor he watched his Mom start to pace, hands shaking at her sides.

"How'd you let her do this, Karen?" Everything was sideways. His Mother's stocking feet with holes in the soles were stood five feet from him. He still couldn't move. "She grabbed it! I tried to take it away but she ran!" His Mom was already pleading for forgiveness.

"Get out of that bathroom, Phoebe! Unlock this door!" Mitch started to pound at the door with such ferocity that Eli was worried it might actually break. But alas, Mitch was no superhuman.

"The police are on their way!" Phoebe's voice finally rang out from behind the door. Mitch and Eli's Mother started to look around, frantic at the scene the police would find.

Eli's eyes finally met with his Mom's. There was the briefest flicker in her eyes, where Eli swore, even from the floor, he could see his Mother again. "What about him?" She asked. The flicker was gone.

"We've gotta move him." Mitch said solemnly. All of a sudden, Eli was being lifted. With a few grunts and groans, he was left on his bed, the door slamming. He stared out into the darkness, mute and paralyzed.

Eli gulped in air like water, never quite getting enough in. He finally calmed and closed his eyes, listening. He heard the sirens, the knocking, the murmurs.

Phoebe would say that she was mistaken, that her Dad never meant to hit her so hard. Something she'd actually make herself believe. Mitch would apologize and squeeze out a few fake tears of shame. His Mom would stay quiet, rubbing her husband's shoulder consolingly.
No one would mention Eli. He didn't exist.

Phoebe would regret that moment. The moment she lied to the police, knowing Eli was in the next room, barely clinging to consciousness. It was that scene that she played over and over in her head. The officers leaving the house. She knew what was right, and felt a pulling to call out to them and cry out the truth. But it never happened.