In the Mind

Chapter 15: True Colors

The next day, Damion, Natsuki, and Elijah all walked to school together, almost like nothing happened. Elijah just suspected they were staying undercover in case Noah or Kishiki was listening in. Elijah was beginning to feel paranoid, knowing in the back of his mind that there were things watching him. Those things being not of the real world.

"A lot is on your mind I'm guessing." Noah's voice echoed behind Elijah, causing a knot in his stomach to form. The possibility that Noah's plotting to kill him. That all of his kindness towards him was a lie.

"Yeah.....I guess you could say that." Elijah said, badly covering the uneasiness in his voice.
"You sick or something? Why do you sound like that?" Noah questioned Elijah.
"Oh...I....um.....I kinda over ate last night so....." Elijah said, chills running down his spine.
"He's gonna catch onto me. He's gonna know. He's gonna kill me. I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead." Elijah said in his head.

"Oh okay. Just some indigestion. I gotcha." Noah said with a wink. Elijah was shocked at his reaction, but then another thought came to his head.
"Don't trust him. This is all an act. Pretending like he doesn't know you're faking it so you believe him, then the second you turn your back he's gonna kill you."

"Okay good." Elijah said, pretending like he trusted him. The two stayed silent for a couple minutes before Noah broke the silence.

"So none of your pleads for me to tell you what's going on? None of your sudden outbursts?" Noah asked in a slick manner.
"What's the point in asking what's going on if I know you're not gonna tell me anything? And I don't have sudden outbursts." Elijah said, looking down at the sidewalk as he walked behind Damion and Natsuki. Ever since he met Natsuki, he had stopped taking the school bus so he has more time to hang out with her, but now things like Noah has gotten in the way of that.
"You're right about me not telling you, but wrong about you're outbursts. You're like a volcano, any minute ready to blow it's top off." Noah said, looking up at the sky while imagining what he described.

"Whatever, I'm not arguing with you." Elijah said, continuing to look at the ground.
"You seem kinda down. You can tell me anything you know." Noah said while bumping his elbow on Elijah's shoulder to cheer him up.
"Bullshit." Elijah said looking up at Damion and Natsuki who were happily chatting. Noah raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean 'bullshit'?" Noah questioned, his voice indicating he was taken aback by Elijah's response.
"You and I both know that I can't tell you everything." Elijah pointed out.
"Is that what you think? Are you trying to hide something from me?" Noah asked. Elijah shrugged.

"Like I'd tell you." Elijah spat. Noah squinted his eyes, his friendly self slipping away.
"Listen Elijah. I'll find out what you're hiding, because I'm always watching, I'm always listening, and I'm everywhere you are. So whatever you're trying so desperately to hide from me, just know that I will find out. And if you try to stop me, I'll let Kishiki rip you, your brother, and your precious Natsuki apart. You understand me?" Noah said, his eyes becoming cold like the one Elijah remembered in his nightmares. He could feel goosebumps growing on his arms.

"Leave Suki out of this!" Elijah yelled. Noah looked at Elijah with an unreadable expression.

"You said I could tell you anything, like you were someone I could trust. The second you find out I have a secret, you're willing to kill people for personal gain. For a long time, I believed Kishiki was the monster around here, but it seems the real one has shown it's true colors." Elijah said coldly. He was shocked by how smoothly he responded to Noah. He tilted his head and his eyes grew even more empty. He walked towards Elijah and stopped when they were face to face.
"I'll know what you're hiding." Noah said then disappearing. Elijah clenched his fists, fear and rage burning inside of him. He dreaded the thought that Noah could easily murder Damion and Natsuki, but his threat made Elijah's heart pound in fury.

"Did you see him again?" Damion asked from behind Elijah, causing him to snap back into reality. He spun around to face Damion and Natsuki who were both looking at him.
"Yeah, and he knows I'm hiding something." Elijah said, his heart pounding even faster.
"He does? Does he know what it is?" Natsuki asked worryingly.

"No, but he said that he'll find out and if I try to stop him he'll kill us all.....I wanna rip out his throat and shove it up his ass because of that threat." Elijah said while squeezing his fists even tighter.


"Hey calm down! We'll find a way to deal with him. Just......say the secret was that you saw Kishiki ripping apart Dylan. You're not lying, but it's also not telling him the real secret either." Natsuki suggested.

"Good idea." Elijah replied. Damion gave a confused look towards Natsuki and Elijah.
"Wait, why hasn't anyone been freaking out over Dylan getting his face chewed off? It happened in the school and he hasn't been seen for days yet no one seems effected by it." Damion asked, causing Elijah to remember what he saw the day before. Dylan staring at Elijah with most his face gone. The memory caused Elijah to shudder.
"Yeah, why hasn't anyone been flipping out? You'd think that after an incident as bad as Dylan not having a face anymore would cause people to pay some attention." Natsuki pointed out.

"Maybe it was an illusion." Elijah theorized, causing Damion and Natsuki to look at Elijah.
"An illusion? We both saw him getting eaten alive with our own eyes!" Natsuki said.
"Rainbows are illusions. Just the light from the sun traveling through the left over raindrops like a glass prism producing different lights in a certain order. When it's created, everyone can see it, but it's not real. It's the same thing with Dylan. Noah probably used Kishiki to make it look like it was tearing apart Dylan to get our attention, when in reality it was probably Noah transformed into the body of Dylan without a face. Because yesterday I kept seeing Dylan without his face staring at me, yet no one else saw him. No one's making a fuss over Dylan getting his face torn off because it didn't happen." Elijah explained. Damion and Natsuki looked at Elijah with shocked expressions.
"That is one a really good theory, and two you just explained how rainbows work in the minute you were talking better than my second grade teacher did in a week." Damion said, causing Elijah to let out a small laugh.

"That is a really good theory though. But why would he want to get out attention?" Natsuki asked.
"It was probably getting your attention in hopes of killing you on the spot, but Natsuki came along and ruined their plan. So now Noah's acting like your friend and because Noah's acting all nice, so is Kishiki because it seems like Kishiki is under Noah's control." Damion theorized.

"You're probably right. Let's just stick to the plan we had before. Eli, tell him your fake secret, act like you trust him, and prepare for the worst." Natsuki said as the three entered the packed school.
"Right.....prepare for the worst...." Elijah said uneasily.
"I told you I'd find out." Noah's voice echoed in Elijah's head.